Tortoise & Hare, Lake Sonoma 50 and the Boston Marathon

It was a busy, exciting and eventful weekend for Team Colorado.

To start it off, team members Simon Gutierrez and Neil McDonagh ran a local Colorado Springs race, put on by the Pikes Peak Road Runners, called the Tortoise and Hare 5k. This race had a handicap structure, which was based on each participant's age, height, weight and gender. So, in theory, the slower runners would be given a head start of those who were faster. The first runner had a 17 min headstart on those who who were "faster".

Big McD showing all teeth en route to running a 15:24 5k, having to pass everyone but one person in the field   photo:  PikesPeakSports.us

Gute had a 2 min 20 sec handicap while Big McD was given a 56 sec handicap. They finished in 3rd and 4th overall but captured the 2nd (16:27) and 1st (15:24) fastest times, respectively.

Had he worn less voluminous shoes, Gute might have won!       photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Tortoise and Hare 5k results

Out in California, at the Lake Sonoma 50 mile race, new team member, Sage Canaday, faced off against some of the best ultra runners and won in a new course record time of 6:14:55. Rickey Gates had a difficult day, after being among the leaders, finishing 17th in 7:14:19.

Canaday goes bare chested on his way to winning the Lake Sonoma 50               photo: iRunFar

iRunFar.com had live coverage of the race.

He found his shirt along the way                                                          photo: iRunFar

iRunFar.com interview with Sage Canaday.

At the 117th Boston Marathon, Glenn Randall kept to his typical race tactics and confirmed that "pulling a Glenn Randall" is not a showboating way to get TV time, but shows how aggressive he is when it comes to important races. Randall went through the 10k only 2 seconds slower than in 2012, with a 31:04, which just goes to show that the the Kenyans and/or Ethiopians who ended up winning were really dogging it at the beginning.

Randall did have a successful day posting a 23rd place overall finish in a time of 2:20:56.

That is what we call "Randalling it."

"Randalling it"

Sadly, at the 4 hr 10 min point in the race, two synchronized explosions occurred near the finish line wounding over 150 (and growing) and killing 3, including an 8 year old boy. This was a tragic turn of events from a celebratory and historic event to a scar on the marathon, the city of Boston and the international field of athletes who participated.

In the above photo, Glenn is passing the exact spot where the first explosion occurred 1 hour and 49 minutes later.

Our thoughts are with all of those who injured and lost their lives. It's difficult to imagine anything positive in this, but Mr. Rogers summed it up best.