Jessica Griffiths 572 posts 0 comments

There was a time, in my younger days, when I thought I would never walk during a run. I abandoned that philosophy about two-thirds of the way up a mountain in Slovenia, where I was competing in the 2010 World Mountain Running Championships. The course climbed a little over 4,000 feet in 7.5 relentless miles. During one particularly steep section, I finally gave in and started to walk. To my surprise, I didn’t lose any ground to the runners around me. Lesson learned, and I’ve been less dogmatic ever since.

You're probably painfully familiar with New Year's resolution statistics, if only because you're one of them: Whether it's a small, (seemingly) easily achievable goal or a huge, life-changing goal, people tend to fail at the same rate: Approximately 80 percent of people who make New Year's resolutions have dropped them by the second week of February.

The Christmas Sweater 5K took place at Washington Park in Denver on Sunday, December 20. The 5K was won by Cayce Reese of Louisville in 16:14. The fastest female of the day was Amy Rivers of Westminster in 18:44. Runners and walkers wore festive Christmas sweaters, holiday leggings, reindeer headbands, light-up necklaces and more on the chilly Colorado morning. In all, 356 runners and walkers completed the 3.1-mile course around the park.

Dan King of Boulder set three (pending) U.S. Masters 60-64 records this month after competing in the Five and Dime Athletics Meeting in Columbia, South Carolina. King competed in the 1 mile and 5000m.

Thirteen athletes from the Colorado association competed at the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Paris, Kentucky. A total of 1,346 athletes from across the country competed in the championships. Historically all ten championship races have been conducted on one day but this year the meet was conducted over two days to ensure proper COVID-19 mitigation procedures could be achieved. One of these procedures included races being broken into wave starts which created an unprecedented level of suspense as athletes in each division had to wait to the final wave to learn of their placing. The course, considered challenging by most, included an uphill finish.

Officials in El Paso County say vandalism has been found at Paint Mines Interpretive Park near Calhan, and they are taking steps to try to prevent more. Spray painted graffiti was found on the fragile rock walls and people have carved their initials in the painted rocks. Fencing will be going up around the overlook areas in the park, as well as at the ending and beginning of non-official trails, or “social” trails. A very high number of people have visited the park during the COVID pandemic, according to El Paso County Parks.

Sitting motionless in a room for an extended period of time might seem like an odd way to improve your running, but meditation is a tool used by some of the world’s best runners to take them to the next level.

Cold weather doesn't mean that you have to banish yourself to the treadmill all winter long. Thanks to new technology in winter running clothes, runners no longer have to trudge through outdoor winter runs wearing lots of heavy and uncomfortable clothing.