Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day!

This St. Paddy's Day weekend a few Team Colorado members took to the streets for some Irish-style racing and some down under ultra running in the country of New Zealand.

Days after turning 47, Simon Gutierrez showed that age doesn't matter when it comes to running fast. The 5k on St. Patricks Day in Colorado Springs, CO is always a competitive race and attracts some of the state's top runners. Gute placed 8th OA with a quick 15:56 (at 6,000 ft of altitude) and held of 45-year-old Justin Chaston, a 3-time steeplechase Olympian for Great Britain, by one second. Happy Birthday Gute!

Gute (2132) taking the lead pack                          photo: www.PikePeakSports.us

Slowly coming back from injuries, Peter Maksimow managed a 11th place OA finish (12th place if you count the guy that didn't put on his timing chip on this shoe) in a time of 16:20.

Gute and Peter post-race with an Irish cow with no utters...weird!              photo: Donna Garcia

Results

And down under, in the country of New Zealand, Team Colorado's Rickey Gates ran what appears to be an ultramarathon relay with his Salomon teammates. The Tarawera UltraMarathon has numerous distances along with team categories. We are not quick sure what team he was on but feel free to attempt to figure that out based on their results page. Things are obviously more confusing in New Zealand!

Rickey appears pretty happy finishing with his teammates in his ultra running sandals           photo: look up

Confusing Results

Gute's Birthday Mile

Today, March 13th, 2013, the famous (infamous?) Simon Bert Gutierrez, aka "Gute", turns 47 years old. Every birthday, he sets out onto the oval to run a mile. This year, his goal was to run 4:47 to commemorate his 447 years on this planet (well, you can't just get rid of that first 4 now, can you!?).

Gute still thinks he's 44...the first thing to go with age is the mind             photo: Donna Garcia

He showed all those other masters-runners-approaching-grand-masters-runners out there (take note Gerald!) how to get things done by laying down a 4:45.8 mile. 

Some people ask me what he's on, WHAT IS HE ON!!!??? Gute is on the same thing Matt Carpenter was on…old age! Sort of like Old Spice, but waaaaay more potent and you can never get the smell out of your clothes. Gute is definitely going to test positive for PEOS (Performance Enhancing Old Spice). Good thing for him they are not testing for PEOS at this year's Pikes Peak Ascent.

Happy Birthday Gute! May you run sub-5 minute miles for the next 47 years or until you are 94, which ever comes first.

Racing in the Dirty South to the Wild West

It has been a busy couple of weeks for Team Colorado racing all across the country from Savannah, GA to Little Rock, AK and Pasadena, CA and in the home state of CO.

Savannah, GA

On February 23rd, Peter Maksimow ran the rainy Seacrest Partners Race for Preservation 5K/10K in Savannah, GA, capturing the win in the 10k in 34:08 after starting the race planning on running the 5k. The problem was that there was no volunteers at the turnaround point and no course markers (well, there probably were but they might have been chalk markers and it was raining fairly hard--you can probably figure out what happened with that!). 

After a high school kid wearing a florescent yellow shirt with the name "Calhoun" across his back baseball-style took the race out like a bat out of hell, there was another race that had begun. A guy on a bike cheering on the leaders (probably Calhoun Senior) bid us a good race and said "beat the train!" No, he was not kidding. The loud horn of the train could be heard from quite a distance away and the pace quickened as the leaders and train approached the intersection together. The first two leaders made it through and a second high school kid (maybe another Calhoun???) had to sprint before the train bisected the race course, cutting off the rest of the field.

Two miles into the race, Peter realized that he had not yet seen a turnaround point and stopped to ask a police officer along the course. "Oh, yeah, you passed it a long time ago! You might as well keep going, you're winning the 10k!" Luckily, there was a lead police car and a badly fading Calhoun who also expected to run the 5k. The rest was uneventful other than alcohol could be consumed on public streets in Savannah!

Results

What a great photo!                                   photo: Savannahnow.com

The Running USA 10th Industry Conference was taking place in Savannah, GA, February 24-26.

Black Forrest, CO

Nice socks, Gute!                                                    photo: PikesPeakSports.us

In the forth and final race of the Pikes Peak Road Runners Winter Series, Simon Gutierrez laid down a 35:25 10K time en route to a 4th place finish in Black Forrest, CO. The course included snow covered dirt and paved roads and took place at an altitude of 7,300 feet. This secured the overall team title for Scrambled Legs.

Gute (#4489) and fellow teammate Logan Wealing finishing       photo: OutThereColorado.com

Little Rock, AR

And down in the dirty south in the little town of Little Rock, AR, Justin Ricks ran the Little Rock Marathon, placing 8th OA in 2:34:32. He used this marathon as preparation for future races. Ricks has been on a tear lately, recently winning the Red Hot 33K in Moab, UT in course record time, the first race of the La Sportiva Mountain Cup Series.

Ricks got instagramed at the Little Rock Marathon                       photo: Denise Ricks

Results

Pasadenda, CA

Glenn Randall gave the road runners a run for their money at the Rock 'n' Roll Pasadena Half Marathon. He battled it out with Hungarian mountain runner Adam Kovacs to finish 2nd OA in 1:07:08. Are the mountain runners taking over the roads!!!???

Randall (#4) and Kovacs (#15) duel it out in the final miles                                                      PhotoRun.net

Results

Red Hot Snowmen!

At the Red Hot 33K in Moab, UT, Justin Ricks not only won the race overall, but smashed the course record with an impressive 2:09:00.

The 33K was the first race in the La Sportiva Mountain Cup.

Read the TrailRunner article.

Results

Who put that sign there!!??

Ricks is being shown up in this photo by a finish sign              photo: La Sportiva (obviously not photographers!)

Simon Gutierrez and Peter Maksimow ran the Snowman Stampede, which is put on by Colorado Runner, in Littleton's Hudson Gardens to place 2nd OA in 27:15 and 4th OA in 27:37, respectively.

Results

Running Up a Snowy Slope - Winter, 'Tis the Season

This past weekend a couple Team Coloradans took to the slopes in a slightly different manner: running upslope rather that skiing down it.

John Tribbia and Alex "Axel" Nichols duked it out with the top winter/adventure/XTERRA athletes in the country at the Winter Mountain Games' Vail Uphill. This 2.06 mile race climbed a lung- (and sometimes a nut-) busting 2,475 feet from Lionshead in Vail Village up to Eagles Nest at 10,328 feet. Sounds horrible, doesn't it!?

Tribbia was in the money with a repeat of this 3rd place finish from 2012 in a time of 32:54. Nichols placed 6th OA with a time of 34:44.

Axel rockin' the Kenyan-born Obama beanie                                      photo courtesy of Matt Trappe (trappephoto.com) 

Results

On the Scrambled Legs side of things, Simon "Gute" Gutierrez and Peter "The Prez" Maksimow ran race #3 of the Pikes Peak Road Runners Winter Series, a 5 mile run into the wind, placing 6th OA in 27:57 and 8th OA in 28:48, respectively.

Gute taking an early lead in Winter Series #3                     photo: Tim Bergsten

This race catapulted Team Scrambled Legs into the lead in the series, ahead of Team H.A.R.T. (High Altitude Running Team), which recruited a ringer, Justin Chaston, a three-time steeplechase Olympian from Great Britain.

Note the socks--hence the team name: Scrambled Legs        photo: Tim Bergsten

Video of the start. Results.

Misch takes 16th at USA XC Master's Nationals, Manning footballs it, and Rickey climbs some stairs

Team Colorado's Mark Misch, after recently entering the realm of "master," place 16th OA at the 2013 USA Cross Country Nationals in the Master's 8k race running an impressive time of 27:56. The race was held at Forest Park in St. Louis, MO on February 2nd.

Here is his review:

The conditions were about as expected for St. Louis in early February. There was a brisk wind, the temperature was probably mid 20's, the course was a 2k loop with three good hills each lap. The ground was soft / muddy in spots from the snow melt that week. I started fairy conservative and moved up the whole race to the finish. I felt great aerobically, just no leg speed. I think I needed another lap or two! There were 127 men in the master's race, I finished 16th. I think I need another cross country race or two to knock the rust off and get the rhythm back of racing on grass, mud, etc. and the back and forth tempo that comes with racing cross country.

Mark is the head men's cross country coach at UCCS and will be hosting a Kenya Dinner Night after recently returning from a trip to Kenya with his team. At this event, Kenyan food will be served and funds will be raised to in order to supply more teachers at a school which the UCCS team adopted in Kenya.

photo: Michael Scott

In Colorado Springs, Tommy Manning took the win at the Game Day 5k in 17:15, which was part of the Super Half Marathon.

Tommy getting chased down by legendary race timing extraordinar, Dave Sorenson, of the Pikes Peak Road Runners
photo: Tim Bergsten

Tommy is now a proud citizen of Macedonia! Yeahhhhh!

In stair climbing news, Rickey Gates placed 3rd at the 36th Empire State Building Run-Up on Feb. 6th. This race up 1,576 steps and 86 floors took Rickey 11:01 to complete. This is his 3rd time in that he has been runner up to the runner up.

Gates getting crushed against the marble wall                                                photo:AP

Nice eye patch                         photo: Rickey Gates

2013 - Happy New Year!

Year 2 for Team Colorado! Yeahhhh, dogg!

This last month has flown by but Team Colorado has been at it as usual. Gute has been wearing the fat shoes, Tommy is coming back from injury, Peter is still injured, Rickey has been doing some stair climbing, Mark has turned 40 and feeling younger than ever, and Glenn has been schooling the roadies on the road...heh, I thought we were a mountain running team!?

Yes we are!

Here is the news:

Simon Gutierrez ran the January 1st Rescue Run 5k in Colorado Springs taking 2nd OA in 17:27. He next ran the Nielson Challenge 2 Mile in 10:51 for a 2nd place finish on January 5th. Gute has also run the Pikes Peak Road Runners' Winter Series Race #1: 3.3 miles in 18:37, 3rd place & Race #2: 4 miles in 22:35, 9th place.

Gute rockin' the Scrambled Legs socks at the PPRR Winter Series #1

Peter Maksimow won a small 5k in Montpelier, VT in 18:37, fittingly called "New Year's Eve 5k"on the last day of 2012 (December 31, 2012 for you Luddites) after not having run a step for 8 weeks due to injury. "Wow, I forgot how difficult running was!!!" Maksimow exclaimed.

Beer and Running: Peter's two favorite things!

Maksimow also ran the first two Pikes Peak Road Runners' Winter Series Short Course in an attempt to get back into shape as part of the team Scrambled Legs. Race #1: 3.3 miles in 20:14, 7th place & Race #2: 4 miles in 22:51, 11th place.


Tommy won the first two Pikes Peak Road Runners' Winter Series Long Course Races #1: 7 miles in 45:05, 1st place & Race #2: 8 miles in 46:58, 1st place. He is coming back from an ankle injury.

Tommy sporting the Ireland shorts (he's the one that looks like a Leprechaun)

Mark Misch will be competing in the USA XC Masters Championships in St. Louis on Feb. 2.

Glenn Randall rocked the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon, placing 4th OA in 1:07:27. Proof that mountain and trail runners can still duke it out on the roads with...well, the roadies!

Rickey Gates will be running up a bunch of stairs at the Empire State Building Run-Up.

Alex Nichols is gearing up for some uphill snow running at the Winter Games Vail Uphill.