June

Well, the month of June has pretty much come and gone and summer is in full swing. The heat is here, and the rain is not, but nothing can be done about that. Its interesting talking to people who live up in the high country and hearing about how much snow is there right now, and how green everything is. Back in 2005 when I moved to Gunnison, over that summer high altitude running was not a problem at all and all of the trails were clear of snow. I hear that running the trails near Crested Butte or even near the Taylor Park area is a no go due to the high amounts of snow, and down here we just would like to have some rain to keep things somewhat normal. So far this season has reminded me of the 2002 year when temps were high and rain was scarce. We also had to deal with the massive Hayman fire among other things such as water restrictions. Well enough about things out of antibody's control, here is a quick recap of whats been going on.
I didn't really race much in May and used the time to train. June has come and gone and racing is in full swing. Many BRC runners have been having great results such as Tommy Neal and the Man Mario Macias, so I wanted to say congrats to the both of them. I have raced 3 times this month and they have all been top quality fields which I have been glad to be part of. I ran the Uni Hill 2k in early June getting beat by James Hatch who ran a great time of 5:49 on a rather hilly and difficult course. I ran 5:55 and another BRC teammate Peter Remien was third in 5:57 I believe. A week later I ran our local Sailin Shoes 5k which is by far the most deep road race in the springs. I have been dealing with a little Achilles tendon issue on my right leg that just doesn't want to give up, so training has been good but not great. The Wednesday before the race didn't help things as I rolled my right ankle during a run. The end result was a 3rd place finish running 15:29. Agustas Mayo tore up the course and broke the record of 14:48 by 1 second, so congrats to him as he is really getting in shape quickly! The most recent race was the Stadium Stampede which was also the USATF Colorado 5k road champs. A pretty good field was assembled with many very good local runners and BRC'S own Scott D, as well as recent CU grad Matt Tebo. It was a bit of a late start (8:30) which did not bode well for anybody as the temps were already in the mid 80's not counting the additional humidity running along the Plate River. Matt would go on the run 15:12 for the win, and I was second in 15:24 (5 seconds were added on to the times for some reason), but there is a twist to the story. Being that this was a Colorado state champ race meant that all qualifications had to be met and the most important one being a USATF Colorado member. Thinking that I had finished second and being very happy about that , I was later informed that I was the winner due to I believe a processing mistake with Matt's membership. I want to make sure that first and for most Matt Tebo gets the credit for the win. He ran a great race and was gracious in what happened and I hope to see him again on the roads, so Matt Congrats. I has a great time with friends Andy Rinne and Chris Bittinger/Joseph Bittinger who went on to win the kids 1k race as well. I also wanted to say congrats to Robby Young, Amanda Ochi, Cassie Slade, Ali Williams and everybody else who has been running well. That's all for now!