upcoming races

In a last ditch effort to regain some of my old leg speed, I've decided to start doing more shorter runs (half marathon and below). I'm certainly not giving up on ultras by any means, as today I will be mailing in my rego for the Oil Creek 100 in October, but lately I've been missing the days where I could easily run a 5K in under 17 minutes. By contrast, today that's a good time for me at the two mile mark of a run.

I'll be running the PPRR Panoramic 4 miler this Saturday at Bear Creek Park. Not a goal race by any means, and I'm gonna run for two hours before the race, run the race hard, then run another hour until it's time to help with the monthly trail clean up (9AM at the 8th street wal mart).

Of course the Triple Crown starts soon, and the Garden 10 miler is already upon us. Hope to run 66 or so this year. The Summer Roundup follows shortly, and despite what this article had to say about last year I will be there this time around, as I need a finish there to run in the Pikes Peak Marathon. Pikes Peak and Leadville in back-to-back weekends, woohoo!

Saw some other goofy shit out there I thought I'd try. Saw this pic and immediately knew I had to run this race:

The Denver Gorilla Run is on October 31st. Real steep rego at $100, but you do get to keep the gorilla costume they give you. As a bonus, the run starts and ends at Wynkoop Brewing. As a double bonus, I'm guaranteed a PR as I have never run a 5.6K race before.

Another one that looks pretty cool is the Fans on the Field 10K on September 13th. You start at Invesco field, run to the Pepsi Center where you run across the floor, head over to Coors Field for a lap along the warning track, then head back to the finish which is on the turf at Invesco. Being from Pittsburgh, I'm not a Denver sports fan by any means, but that sounds like a cool run.

Would like to get back to the point where I can qualify for the A wave at Bolder Boulder. Need an 18:20 5K (which I can easily get), a sub 38 10K (which I would like to run next year at BB), a 1:24:05 (I'll go for that at Platte River next year) and/or a 2:55:34 marathon (Boston '10!).

Oh yeah, and as part of my 50/50/50 goal, BLOS and I (and Katie, though she doesn't know it yet...) are gonna go run the Route 66 marathon in Tulsa this November. We'll hit the Black Mesa on the way home. Oklahoma's state highpoint is a not too shabby 4,975 feet above sea level, but they kinda cheat as the point is just a few feet from the state border with Colorado.