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.

Team Colorado in the Media

Simon Gutierrez on the cover of the November issue of the Pikes Peak Road Runner's the Long Run in his win at the Pikes Peak Road Ascent 10k (Peter Maksimow just writes an article about being injured) and graces the pages of Competitor Magazine with his cross training tool, the Elliptigo.

Team Colorado's Rickey Gates plays around in the mud with his fellow Salomon teammates and imitates that very large Jesus on that mountain in Rio de Janeiro. You are going to hell, Rickey!

Gates also is also a Contributing Editor for Trail Runner Magazine and likes to upset his readers with articles full of profanity. Clean it up, Rickey!

Rickey wrote an article about what motivated Rickey to get into trail running.

Also read his feature article in the same issue (December 2012, Issue 84), THE ICE. There is nothing like frozen nostrils in the morning.

In the latest issue of Trail Runner Magazine (Jan. 2013), Rickey also twits or tweets--or whatever it's called--with Lance...

Oh, and by the way Mayans...I will never trust you again!

Simon Gutierrez 2nd at Masters' USATF XC Nationals

The Gute does it again....impresses the Golden Years ladies to take 2nd OA in the Masters' 10k race of the 2012 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships in Masterson Station Park in Lexington, KY. It was carbon copy of the 2009 Masters' race where he took the runner up spot at the same venue. His time for the 10k course was 32:53 behind Malcolm Campbell of  the Atlanta Track Club.

In his words:

XC nationals went well....we dropped the eventual winner with 1.5 miles to go which I made the mistake of getting complacent and not pushing the pace...with 800 to go I dropped the eventual third place guy easily only to have Malcolm come screaming by me with 500 to go...I guess you can say I was xc ring rusty....this is the exact race I ran here three years ago, identical, finish too ...got, out kicked last 500 in 2009. Last time I hurt my knee here so, getting back on this course was nerve racking, but satisfying...

Gute finishing 2nd in a tightly fought Masters' race in 32:53

Results
USATF Press Release

The North Face 50 Interview with Alex Nichols

Team Colorado's Alex Nichols placed an impressive 5th overall at the chaotic ultra race, The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile which took place on December 1st in San Francisco, CA. We were able to get a few words in with him around all his other publicity and interview since the race.

Axel after a tough 46.94 miles                                                      photo: Brett Rivers

Team Colorado: Nice race out there in San Francisco! 5th place among some of the finest ultra runners in the country, were you expecting that? Give us the lowdown! 

Honestly I thought I would place better. I'm not disappointed in 5th but I was kind of shocked by how fast everyone was on that day. It's good though. I think ultra running is getting faster and I'm happy to be a part of that.

TC: So, in 2011, you were leading TNF 50 and the next thing you knew is that you were laying on the ground with what you thought might have been a broken ankle. What happened? How many 50 milers have you run?

In terms of ultras I've only ever run the North Face 50. Last year was a huge disappointment because my training leading up to the race was perfect. I spent the first half of that race just sitting behind people and waiting to make my move. When I did I was shocked by how easily I was running, but soon enough gravity caught up with me and my ankle imploded. This year I had 6 weeks of running before the race but managed to finish in a good spot. In some ways 2012 was kind of the opposite of 2011.

TC: Back in August you place 2nd at the Pikes Peak Marathon, in front of World Mountain Running Champion Max King and probably one of the most versatile trail, mountain, ultra, cross country, track, etc. runners out there, and even gave Killian Jornet a run for his Euros. That was when your name got out there and all the running groupies wanted your autograph. Were you expecting the same thing at TNF 50--with the running, that is, not the groupies? 

I think what I've learned about this year is that I need a blog. Everyone has a blog, and without one my groupies are lost. Or maybe I should get into twitter, then I could let hoards of fans know what I'm doing at all times. But then again my groupies may be disappointed to find out what I do on a daily basis. There's only so many times that reading about an 11 mile mesa loop in the morning can be interesting. I'll work on it though, maybe then people will let me line up at the front of the start line.

TC: You have also been successful at the shorter distances and on the oval. What was your preparation leading up to TNF 50?

I definitively don't consider myself an ultra runner. But I have always done a fair amount of mileage  and some pretty solid long runs. I think that the volume over the years, and being very comfortable on 20+ mile runs has allowed me to run a range of distances pretty successfully. I try to alter my training to better suit my next race but my weeks are generally structured the same year round (as long as I'm not injured. Something that seems to happen way too often). For north face I got my long run up to 40 miles but kept the rest of the week pretty normal.

TC: We witnessed the sloppy wetness which was TNF50. How bad was it?

It was pretty bad, but not horrible. My main issue was the visibility for the first 9 miles. I think the 5 AM start is a little too early. When you combine the darkness with sideways rain from the ocean it makes things pretty tough. I remember staring directly in front of my feet for at least the first hour and a half. After that there was a lot of mud and a lot of people to pass but I had enough other stuff on my mind that it didn't frustrate me too much.

TC: A lot of the men's elite field who went off course tried to make up by adding in the missed loops later in the race. Is this true? Who were they? Did you go off course? What the course difficult to follow? Was it as chaotic as it was for us watching the live stream of the race? (Sorry, that is a damn well loaded set of questions, you don't have to answer all of them or feel free to rant and accuse if you would like).

I'm still not exactly sure what happened in the lead pack. They were so far in front of me in the first half it seemed like they were in a different race! The day before I had requested that my crew tell me how far back I was from the leader at the aid stations, but when I failed to get any sort of update from  my Dad and my girlfriend Maddy I just assumed that I was so far back they didn't want to tell me. Turns out they had no idea of who the actual leader was or how far in front of me he was.

Looking back at it now I think my conservative start benefited me in several ways. Since I wasn't worried about where the leader was I was able to stop and find out where the course went at several key intersections. I still went out and back in a couple of spots, adding on some extra distance, but every time I was confused I was able to talk to someone or I would just take a moment to think and get back on track. I've been in more than one race where I was too focused on racing and went off course simply because I was so focused on the guy next to me. And of course by going out at my own pace I didn't slow down nearly as much as the rest of the field. It was pretty chaotic overall but I just stayed in my own little world and things worked themselves out around me.

TC: How many marriage proposals have you had since the race? Lots I bet!

It's true actually. I keep getting weird emails and calls from Peter Maksimow. I wouldn't mind so much but lately his beard has started to creep me out. I heard he keeps pens in there for storage. 

TC: Who??? Never heard of him, but I have heard of the epic beard you speak of. Thanks, Alex!

In the swamp of TNF 50                                                                         photo: Gary Nichols

Here is the data from Alex's Garmin: