by Travis Duncan

Women’s Masters Division winner Eva Hagen, 44, and her husband, Michael Hagen, 50, love training and running races together, but the Colorado Springs couple said it had been a long time since they’d run a 10K as flat and as fast as this year’s Classic 10K.

“It was my first 10K in 5 - 8 years,” said Michael. “I’ve been doing triathlons and XTERRAs and trail racing, so it was a little moment of truth to see how much I’ve slowed down over the years.”

Michael said Eva signed him up for the Classic 10K without telling him, but he didn’t mind. He’s been doing a lot more running after breaking his wrist mountain biking five weeks ago.

“Yeah, it was a high-speed dismount,” Michael said. “It broke my radius at my wrist. My 5-year-old daughter wanted me to have a pink cast so I did it. I figure I’ll catch a little grief for it, but that’s all right.”

Michael, who finished the Classic 10K in 35:53, said he was glad Eva signed him up for the Classic 10K because, “I like to race, but I don’t like to train. Racing is my speed work.”

“My husband and I do a lot of mountain running and trail running,” said Eva, who finished in 38:49. “We just did the Vail Hill Climb last week. This is actually my first flat run in a long time. And we do a lot of ski mountaineering in the winter time for cross training … I grew up in Austria and we moved to Colorado Springs 10 years ago. Colorado is a great state for running and skiing. It’s one of the best in the U.S.”