Alex Hoag Run for Sunshine

Sailin Shoes 10k

Well I haven't been at this very much lately due to no real specific reason. I think trying to get one all the time and let everybody know what I am doing every day for training would be plan boring. So, I look at this post and reflect on what has been a very different year of running so far to this point.

For many people who follow me in racing around Colorado, they most likely have not seen my name much recently in results. Since the beginning of the year, I really started to run less races and really focus on ones that were important to me. In the past I would run the Winter Series, the race on new years day and some random ones in between such as the races in Pueblo last year. One of those races, the Cinco De Mayo Run For the Rose decided to drop the pretty nice prize purse that was offered last year, so I had no reason to drive to Pueblo for a race I was not really wanting to do. I also spent a pretty good chunk of time driving from the springs to Pueblo three days a week for school during the spring, so I try to not do it in the summer if at all possible. Another factor this year has been motivation to race. It just hasn't been there like in the past. I stopped doing workouts basically last April, and did just a few in January and February. I did run a few indoor meets which are always fun, but that was about it. Getting sick in March didn't help at all and made racing a chore rather then something I enjoy doing. I have found that there is a thin line between doing something such as racing all the time and getting sick and tired of showing up just to be there and I don't want to end up on the bad side of that line. The last factor is one that has made a big difference as well: I no longer run for a running store team and have to pay fr all of the races I do. I didn't have to pay for races for almost 2 and a half years which saved me alot of money. Now if I want to race here and go to Denver the next day it costs a pretty good amount of money when you factor in gas and food.

Lately I have raced a little bit, running Alex Hoag Run For Sunshine here in the Springs, the Mile High Mile in Denver and Sailin Shoes here in the Springs. I had the chance to race the Boulder Bolder citizens race winner in Denver and was blown away as many of us are now. I have never seen someone run 4:16 like it was nothing, and run 29:46 the next week, run 50 minutes for 10 miles in the Garden and then turn around and run 14:34 in Denver the next week. If this dude runs the Classic or one of the races at Evergreen we could see times that may never be approched again. What a runner!


On a side note about races, I wish that if a race director says the course is 6.2 miles, it was actually 6.2 miles, not 6.33 or 6.34. How hard is it to actually make an effort to get it right? We pay good money to race, so it should not be too much to ask to have an accurate course.