The Pikes Peak Ascent played host to the World Mountain Running Association Long Distance Challenge. Basically, on top of an already deeply-talented field, an extra 75 or so runners from around the world were invited to represent their countries in the Challenge. Happy to say that Team USA won both the men's AND women's challenges, but damn were there some fast runners from all over the world. The highlight of this race for me - and basically the main reason I was able to run the time I did…

My third year racing this race and finally I laid claim to one of the coveted gold pan awards. All it took was a 1:15:55 to get 9th overall and 3d in my age group...crazy amount of talented runners that show up to this race year-in, year-out.

Drove up to Georgetown last night so I could avoid a stupid early wake-up and deal with the traffic this morning. It also allowed me to have dinner with Leah and Brent in Silverthorne last…

Second leg of the Triple Crown Series, and also my second race in 48 hours. I won't lie, walking to the start line, I did NOT want to race this. I actually questioned if I wanted to just scrap it and go for an easy trail run. But then reality set in, I realized it was less than 8 miles of running and it was mandatory if I wanted to hold on to second place in the Series.

A few fast guys at the start - Andy Wacker, three Kenyans, Neil McDonaugh...so I knew they were going to throw down…

We'll see how banged up my legs are tomorrow at the Summer Roundup after yesterday's half marathon!

Article from the Gazette -