I knew it was going to be hot Sunday morning especially since I allowed myself to sleep in and knowing I was going to tack on the lollipop loop at Spruce Mountain for a planned outing of six miles. So I thought, this would be a good time to bring out the singlet for comfort, style and to promote the great Triple Crown of Running. Well, I had no idea the experience that…

One thing the June 8, 10-mile run in the Garden of the Gods proved to me is that I have a lot of work to do before the Ascent. The Ascent is 3.2 miles farther. And there are a few more hills involved. Looming like those hills is the second leg of the Triple Crown, the 12K (7.8 miles) Summer Roundup at Bear Creek Park. While preparing for the Roundup two years ago I devised a route that proved to be a pretty good training run for this particular event. I only did it once but it helped.…

So I made it through the Garden of the Gods 10-miler with virtually no damage to the old machine. The distance doesn’t bother me, the hills don’t bother me. It’s the pavement. About 3 weeks before this run I came down with some painful achilles tendinitis (self-diagnosis) after running 7 miles of this course so I assiduously stayed away from it until the day of the run. It is a beautiful run to be sure but the surface is brutal for a bod with as many miles on it as…

Unlike my previous Triple Crown adventure (2012) I've only taken one practice run in the Garden of the Gods this time around. Call it self-preservation. I know the course well enough and my knees won out over familiarizing myself with a course I already know, choosing softer trails instead. Still, I wanted to get in at least one 10-mile run before the Garden event June 8. So a little over a week ago I went to my favorite trail and did two trips around Spruce Mountain for a little over 10…

So another PPSTCR alum, Don Solberg, my teammate in 2012, told me I had to blog about my personal best in this year’s Bolder Boulder. Actually it was a personal first.

After running the BB in 2012 and having passed up the offer of free beer along the route (for those who have never run in this event, you may also find pancakes and popsicles offered along the way by generous residents in the many neighborhoods you pass through), I…