Team Colorado Welcomes Kim Dobson

Name: Kim "Queen of Uphill" Dobson

Age: 29 years old

Hometown: Born in the mountainous region of Midland, Texas, grew up in Littleton, CO.

Current residence: Grand Junction, CO

Sponsors: Runners Roost (team supported by Mizuno, Honey Stinger)

Personal Bests:

5k – 17:41 (road)

Half Marathon – 1:20:32 (road)

Pikes Peak Ascent (13.32 miles) - 2:24:58 CR

Marathon – 2:45 (road)

Notable Achievements:

Ø  Trail Runner Magazine’s 2012 Trail Runner of the Year (TROY)

Ø  2012 Colorado Sportswomen award winner for trail running

Ø  2012 USA Mountain Running Champion (Mt. Washington)

Ø  2012 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier

Ø  Two time Mt. Washington and Three time Pikes Peak Ascent champion

Ø  Pikes Peak Ascent course record holder

Future goals:

Ø  Run happy and healthy, strong and fast

Ø  Improve my personal best at Jungfrau and Mt. Washington

Ø  Run the Pikes double

Ø  Continue to coach high school and adults

Ø  Qualify for the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials (sub 2:43)

Ø  Try new races outside of Colorado and the US

Ø  Qualify for the US Mountain Running Team

Favorite trails:  Nellie Creek Trail up Uncompaghre, Capitol Creek Trail, most trails up 14ers

Favorite workout: Running up 14ers, mile repeats, any uphill workout

Favorite races: Pikes Peak Ascent, Mt. Washington Road Race, Jungfrau Marathon

Michele Yates joins Team Colorado

Name: Michele "Bomb 'chele" Yates

Age: 31

Hometown: Alpena, MI

Current residence: Littleton (Roxborough Village), CO

Sponsors: Pearl Izumi, Ultimate Direction, Icespike, GU Energy, The Simply Bar, Body Armor Super Drink

Personal Bests:

5k – It’s been so long I don’t remember! 17 flat –ish?

10k – 34:17 Salt Lake City, UT 2009

Half Marathon – 1:17 Ohio 2009

Marathon – 2:38:37 (road) Seattle WA 2009

50 Mile – (trail) 6:53:25 Nueces Rocksprings TX

100k – (trail) 10:08:48 Bandera TX

100 Mile – (trail) 17:35:18 Indiana

Notable Achievements:

* 2x Olympic Trials Marathon Competitor                                                                                     

* USA Team - World Mountain Trail Championships 2011, World Championships Trail Ultra Team 2013

* USA Team-NACAC 2012, 2013

* 9 Marathon Wins

* 3x National Champion (50 mile Trail 2012, 2013-record holder and 100k Trail 2013)

* Overall winner - Indiana Trail 100 17:35:18

Goals:

Win USA Marathon Trail Champs, Run Rabbit Run 100 mile, North Face Endurance Challenge.

Favorite trails: Is there ever a not favorite one?

Favorite workout: Any trail runs!

Favorite races: Nueces 50 mile, Pikes Peak Marathon, Cranmore Hill Climb

Website/Blog: www.dreamliverun.com

Pikes Peak Mile, Ascent and Marathon Week

Whew! It was a busy week on Pikes Peak with Team Colorado first taking on the High-Altitude Mile atop the 14,115 foot peak, next running up the mountain on Saturday, and finally up and down on Sunday.

Now you see why we are so exhausted!

The Inaugural Pikes Peak High-Altitude Mile

 McD, Axel and Gute race at 14,115 feet                       photo: PikesPeakSports.us  

On Tuesday, August 13th, an exclusive 1 mile race at the top of Pikes Peak was held and Simon "Gute" Gutierrez, Neil "Big McD" McDonagh and Axel Nichols were part of the exclusivity. It's like that exclusive lounge at the airport that you always wonder who they allow in. These guys got to use that lounge!

Special thanks to Dan Cockrell for his handy editing on the Team Colorado Pikes Peak Mile footage. For a rough edit, it came out pretty damn good!

In the competitive field that included the likes of 3:53 Bristol Mile winner, Daddy Long Legs and Lost Boy of Sudan, Dey Dey, Kenyans Sammy Kiplagat (winner of the 2012 & 2013 Dallas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Half Marathon) and Leonard Korir (2013 Garden of the Gods 10 Mile champion), Boulder Running Company's Scott Dahlberg, among others, Team Colorado held their own with some impressive performances. Big McD and Axel battled it out on the final lap to place 5th (4:55) and 6th (4:58) respectively and Gute felt "flat" (not to be confused with "fat", as in fat shoes because he was wearing a slimmed down version of Hokas, the Kailua) but was able to pull out a 5:27.

This is like a fairytale picture: a giant befriending a hobbit with purple rabbit ears     photo: Dr. Seuss

Axel showing the guns!                   photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Big McD finishing with Axel in tow                                     photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Two feuding team members bury the hatchet on the mountain and made up in the same fashion that Rocky and Apollo did...with an embrace. We are all one happy team again!


Big McD and Axel Make Up ...in slow mo'.

Pikes Peak Ascent

                                           Big McD attempting to "Pull a GR"                              photo: PikesPeakSports.us

On Saturday August 17th, Gute and Big McD take out the Ascent in true "Gute" fashion...by gapping the rest of the field from the gun. Don't believe us, here is video evidence.

Gute ran a strong race and finished 3rd in 2:27:27 while Big McD, after working with Gute through Barr Camp, acquired some Big McCramps in his quads and finished in 23rd in 2:49:36.

    Team Colorado takes it out hard                                 photo: PikePeakSports.us

Gute does the Hoka Shuffle in his Hokas             photo: PikesPeakSports.us

McD was quoted (1,000 meters into the race, in fact) that it would be a "race to tree line", and it was for him, as his quads seized up and he lost 20 places in the last 3 miles of the race. He teaches a graduate level course on how to hit the wall. He is currently working on his doctorate. 

Big McD still secured 2nd place overall in the Triple Crown of Running Series (Garden of the Gods 10 Mile that included "no bodily emissions", Summer Trail Round Up, PPA).

"It's a graduate level course that I teach" says Big McD            photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Gute giving some skin to the RD, Ron Ilgen                     photo: PikesPeak Sports.us

Friend of Team Colorado Eric "Quadazilla" Blake of West Hartford, CT went on to win the Ascent in 2:13:45 (he had a flight that same night so he wasn't able to buy beer for everyone with his prize winnings like he did at Mt. Washington. We'll take a rain check, Eric!). Greg Ruckman of Breckenridge, CO placed 2nd in his first attempt that the Peak.

Kim Dobson, Lisa Goldsmith and Amy Perez represented Team Colorado for the first time and we can't be more proud of our ladies.

The "Queen of Uphill" keeps true to her bib number       PikesPeakSports.us

There's gold in them thar hills: Goldsmith searching for her namesake atop Pikes Peak    photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Kim "Boo" Dobson frightened the shit out of our camera man before she went on to claim a Hat Trick for the Pikes Peak Ascent in 2:41:43 (see "video evidence" above). Lisa Goldsmith has been battling an unidentified injury recently but still placed 2nd in the 45-49 age group and 21st woman in 3:24:42. And our very own Chef d'équipe Amy "Half As Fast" Perez officially earned her nickname after her 3:45:44 finish. 

Amy, on her way to body checking a guy who cut the course        photo: Michael Ciaglo, The Gazette

The challenge was Amy's Ascent time vs. Axel's Marathon time. The verdict: Axel is victorious as he ran a 3:43:46 in the Marathon.

No stranger to breakin' the vinyl, Dobson takes her second straight win on the Peak              photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Pikes Peak Marathon

On Sunday August 18th, three Team Colorado members made the trek up AND back down the mountain in the Marathon.

It's all fun and games...for the first mile, at least                            photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Golden boy, Axel Nichols, has no more golden locks              photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Being no stranger to the mountain (but just looking like a stranger with his new haircut) Axel Nichols comes back from 3rd place and a 6 minute deficit at the summit of the mountain to catch and pass the Jason Delaney and pull up side-by-side with race leader Touro Miyahara in the last mile of the race. It came down to a kick and the Japanese runner used his speed as a road runner and his experience as a Mt. Fuji record holder to take the victory in 3:43:23. Axel finished 2nd in a close 3:43:46. Jason Delaney, 2012 Pikes Peak Ascent Champion, of Polson, MT finished 3rd in 3:53:45, after being the first to reach the summit in a time of 2:16:21.

photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Axel was crowned USATF National Trail Marathon Champion, although he placed 2nd, because, well, the winner was Japanese.

Also in her first appearance as a Team Colorado member, Michele "Bomb 'chele" Yates did just that and bombed downhill finishing 5th female in 4:56:09. She had some of the fastest downhill splits of anyone, men included, and was second in the nation behind Stevie Kremer (4:16:10) for the USATF Trail Marathon National Championship.

Watch out, she'll drop a bomb on you, I mean in the dance club sort of way (the Gov doesn't like when that word is used--hey maybe they are following Team Colorado now!).

Michele coming into the finish                         photo: Amy Perez

Peter "The Prez" Maksimow had the most colorful outfit of the day, with matching Inov-8 buff and TrailRoc 245's, but stunk it up in the marathon, running 3:29:54* 4:29:54 (you suck!) for 17th place for his debut PPM. The Prez sports a mustache worthy of a gold medal...at least he won something on Sunday!

The Prez, putting the Hip back into Hippie   photo: PikesPeakSports.us

Results
PPA Article
PPM Article 
The Axel interview

*CJ Hitz wins a pair of Inov-8 shoes for pointing out how the The Prez tried to lie about his time. The Prez gets a "you suck!" and CJ gets a new pair of Inov-8 shoes!

How to Hit the Wall: A Graduate Level Course

Over the past five months living and racing in Colorado, I've amassed a cornucopia of mid-race implosions (or assplosions). Don’t bother trying to inform me of how I should ‘do this or stop doing that’ because I bonk in every variety of fashion on the suffer spectrum.

Pikes Peak Ascent is a race up to the top of Pikes Peak. I live along the course and figured running around here daily would substitute race specific training. As a self-proclaimed ‘soul runner’, I start races according to my mood ring on race morning. When I feel good, I just go, scoffing at future consequences for real-time actions. I’ve been running for over 20 years, so I am fully aware of the risks that I take.

Good vibes at the bottom                           photo: Gary Gellin

On a blow-up scale my Pikes Peak Ascent race was Haley’s Comet. I led the race up Ruxton Ave before the trailhead. Cruised through Barr Camp (technically the halfway point) in 2^nd with fellow Team Colorado stud ‘Gute’. Roughly a mile and a half past Barr Camp I began to start cramping in my quads. Once at tree line my race faded faster than a Rick Perry/Herman Cain/Elliot Spitzer/Anthony Weiner campaign. The last three miles was NOT a mixture of walk/running. In layman’s terms, the front part of my legs did not work. Sorta essential to getting to the top of a 14er. I finished in 3^rd……..woman that is. Losing over 20 spots in the last three miles as I peg-legged to the top of America’s Mountain was a blast. I crossed the line confident that there may be no better blow-up artist than I.

Fooling everyone by running the last 10 yards                            photo: PikesPeaksSports.us

Hangin' with the Team Colorado ladies is a surefire way to cheer up                       photo: Amy Perez