Dane Huish, 33, Highlands Ranch, won the Clydesdale Award given to the fastest male runner weighing 190 pounds or more at Saturdays' Classic 10K in Monument Valley Park. Huish said he joined the Highlands Ranch Running Club after moving to Colorado from Seattle in 2009 in order to keep fit.

“I had lost about 60 pounds at that point and wanted to keep it off,” Huish said.

Not only has Huish kept off the weight, he’s becoming a very competitive runner, finishing Saturday’s Classic 10K in 42:27.

“I’ve trained from 5Ks to half marathons and have progressively just whittled my time down,” he said. "This race, I averaged 6:50 per mile and my best mile so far is a 5:40."

Huish said his improvement is due to the training and structure he gets from his running club, which has a weekly long run on Saturdays and track workouts on Wednesday evenings.

“It’s really due to the track work,” he said, “especially toward the end of the race. You can feel the speed-work kicking in. I tell myself, ‘I don’t have to sustain it; I just have to make it that last half mile.’ But it can be hard to do without a rigorous plan. Having the track days with the club and a set workout you have to do really helps a lot.”