Have you always wanted to get into running? Or maybe you used to run, but the last time you did a 5K, Pikes Peak was just a sandy beach on some prehistoric ocean.

The Colorado Running Company wants to help you get started (or start back up), with our Couch to 5K Training Team!

We’ll have group runs, information clinics, and a discount shoe night to get you started off on the right foot (pun intended). Our program will finish with the Take 5 In The Garden of the Gods, Saturday, May 5.

The 411

Weekly Group Runs: Wednesday nights @ 6:00PM, Saturday mornings @ 7:30AM

Sign-Up Deadline & Training Start: March 1, 2012

Race Date: May 5, 2012 (8-week training program)

Early Bird Registration: $40, Feb 1 – 22, check or cash

Registration Fee: $50, Feb 23 – Mar 1

What’s included:

• A technical CRC Couch to 5K Training Team shirt.
• A training program tailored to where you are at with your running.
• Access to team activities (group runs, gait clinics, etc.)
• Exclusive Discount Night at CRC.

Registration does not include the cost of registration to the Take 5 In The Garden of the Gods. More information about the race can be found at http://take5inthegarden.eventbrite.com/.

To register, you can do so online by clicking here, or download the form, fill it out, and bring it to either CRC location.

A few months ago, I ran The Pikes Peak Ascent, and for those of you who don’t know, that’s a grueling half marathon from Manitou Springs, all the way up Barr Trail to the summit of Pikes Peak. Just over 13 miles of “running”, gaining 7,815 feet and ending up at just over 14,000 feet of elevation, where oxygen is as rare as birth control in the Duggar family.

Overall, I had a fantastic day, and most runners would agree that the race staff and volunteers put on one of the finest endurance events in the world.

I finished. But I finished in the bottom 10. 6 hours, 24 minutes and some change.

“The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare.” - Juma Ikangaa

Now, don’t get me wrong. Just finishing this race is something of an accomplishment. Most people take upwards of 8 hours or more to travel up Barr Trail. And I passed (and was passed by) several people with hearts of steel that wouldn’t let them stop when that’s all their bodies begged them to do. So, I’m proud of finishing, yes…

…but I’m not satisfied. Everyone has their own level of fitness, their own level of health, and their own level of ability. The beauty of this crazy sport we call running is that personal challenge – that quest to improve ourselves and do better, always using our past successes (and failures) as benchmarks. I did not live up to my personal level of ability. I didn’t even come close to my own PR!

I succeeded at finishing the race. I failed at preparing for it. I simply did not perform at my best because I did not prepare at my best. And as Juma Ikangaa famously said, “The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare.”

I was complaining about this fact to John, manager of The Colorado Running Company, and he nodded his head understandingly. John coaches some of the most prolific Pikes Peak runners in the world. Hell, he’s married to one of the most successful female runners Pikes Peak has ever seen. The Colorado Running Company even maintains a 2-mile stretch of our beloved Barr Trail, and John sits on the committee that puts on the Barr Trail Mountain Race (BTMR). If anyone understands what it takes to compete on that field, it’s John.

I proceeded to tell him that if I’d just taken training more seriously, I wouldn’t have had such a terrible trip up the mountain. After nodding,John looked at me and said, “You know what? I dare you.”

“Dare me to what?”

“I dare you to take it seriously this year. Instead of just talking about it, actually train for it.”

This intrigued me, because I thought I’d considered this before. I mean, I’ve been running on Pikes Peak for years, and I signed up for the race this year, right? But when the words left his mouth, I realized that I hadn’t trained. Not really. I’d sold myself short, and my finish time reflected that.

So I asked John if he’d like to make this interesting. If I take training seriously this year, and take John up on his dare, would he give $10 for every minute I am under 5 hours in 2012 to Friends of the Peak? (a local non-profit organization dedicated to Pikes Peak and its preservation) I thought that this might be an easy sell, since CRC and the BTMR already contribute financially and in other ways to Friends of the Peak.

Much to my annoyance, he took me up on it.

Over the next 8 months, I’m going to train. Not just for the race, but I’m going to work on improving my health, fitness, and overall mental outlook through running on America’s Mountain. I’m going to take training seriously, approaching it with intensity (and with intelligence…no point in hurting myself, because then how much money could I earn for charity?), and I’m going to see just how far under 5 hours I can get in one year.

And just to make the pot even more sweet, if I fail to prepare, for every minute OVER 5 hours, I’m personally going to give $10 to Friends of the Peak.

Oh, and I’m going to blog about my progress here at CoRunCo.com. If you’d like to keep up (or, you know, help me figure this out), visit here or like us on Facebook. So I’m not just going to aim for an ambitious goal, I’m going to let anyone who visits this website watch: whether I rock it…or fall flat on my face.

So here’s to another exciting year on my running adventure, and to making John dig deep…into his pockets!

Stadium Bar & Grill is located on Barnes Road, at 6120 Barnes Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80922. You can find more info about them and the run here.

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It’s almost September as I write this, and the low today is over 80 degrees. The high? Scary. Heat stroke scary. A cold front moved in to Wichita Falls, Texas a few weeks ago and pushed the temperatures down to highs of 101-102. In the middle of 52 consecutive days of +100 degree heat I drove back “home” to Colorado Springs for a wedding. Well, I attended a wedding. But I was really heading back to go run. I’d missed running in Colorado and didn’t even realize how much until I felt the crisp morning air on my run a few short hours after we got in.

I was only going to be in the Springs for a little over a day and had to pack light because I was carpooling. I had the clothes I was wearing, my military dress uniform to wear to the wedding, and two sets of running clothes and shoes. Whenever I travel, my running stuff always finds its way into my bag first, my backup running stuff somehow gets in there next, and then I fill in the empty spaces with whatever normal clothes fit. I thought I brought enough to be prepared for an early morning Colorado run in Cottonwood Creek Park. It was almost half the temperature I was used to, and I was freezing.

It’s always the little things about home, like drastic temperature change during the day, that I forget. “Home” is the only way I can describe how I felt stepping outside and seeing the mountains for the first time in over six months. Because home is the way Colorado feels, and the way Colorado becomes. For me, identifying Colorado as home took a while.

Though I spent my four years at the Academy running track and cross country for Air Force, I couldn’t wait to leave. I hated the wind on the Santa Fe trail. No matter which way we ran, Palmer Lake to Woodman, Woodman to Palmer Lake, it was always a head wind. And not just a normal headwind, but a howling twenty-second-a-mile headwind that made me turn my head just to hear what one of my teammates said (which was usually something about how much the wind sucked). I hated walking down to practice in 60 degree weather, changing, and walking out into a blizzard. I hated dodging lighting every day in the summertime at three o’clock. I hated the hills on Kipp’s Loop. And Section 16? Never running that again.

But after I did leave, I couldn’t wait to get back. My few runs over that wedding weekend showed me that the thousands of miles I’d run in Colorado had left an indelible mark on me. The memories I’d made on those trails all came flooding back fondly: battling with a friend through 18 miles of headwind/rain/sleet and not knowing when we would ever be warm again, hiding under sparse pine trees waiting for the hail to stop, treading through over a foot of snow because treadmills are an abomination, blueberry banana milkshakes at Rosie’s Diner in Monument after a Saturday long run. Running anywhere else just isn’t the same as running in Colorado. In a world where so many things change, there is comfort in Pikes Peak. The air really is cleaner in Colorado. The sun really is brighter. And when I’m in Colorado, it actually does feel like I’m a little closer to heaven.

Sadly, I only got two runs in during the 31 hours I was in Colorado Springs for that wedding weekend. But I left with more than a few additional red blood cells from “training” at altitude. I’d left with the realization that Colorado–its trails, its crazy unpredictable weather, and its natural beauty–will go with me. Every time I lace up my shoes and head out into 110 degree heat, I remember Colorado. And in that memory I can capture a bit of home no matter where I am.

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Daniel Castle is a miler.  His attention span is way too short for any of the longer races.  In high school, he discovered a strong dislike for cross country but a love of running in circles.  He suffered through cross country seasons for four years in college as a walk on to the Air Force Academy distance team but managed to make it to track season every year.  After graduating in 2009, his first Air Force assignment was Colorado State University for a 12 month master’s degree program. While not writing his thesis, he was skipping cross country season and running track for the Brooks ID program.  In 2010, Daniel ran a 3:40.75 1500m and later came in 21st at that year’s USATF Nationals.  Currently, he is stationed at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Texas learning how to fly airplanes, not running track for the first time in 10 years, and nursing far off Olympic dreams while trudging through 110 degree heat whenever he finds the time.  Daniel still competes for the Air Force/Newton Running team and finds himself running races much longer than a mile despite his better judgement.

This past weekend was The Ascent-the first half of the Pikes Peak Marathon and the final leg of the Triple Crown of Running-and CRC’s team did us proud!

CRC had 3 top 10 finishers on the men’s side. Tommy Manning took 2nd place, Peter Maksimow was hot on his heels with 7th place, and Alex Nichols wasn’t far behind in 9th. The ladies were fierce competitors, too; Connilee Walter and Cindy O’Neill took 6th and 7th respectively. Amanda Ewing also turned in an impressive showing and finished fifth in her age group.

As if racing 13.1 miles up a mountain…the top of which cannot even sustain tree life…isn’t crazy enough, some belonging to a special breed known as “doublers” run back down the hill, too. CRC’s team, of course, boasts one of these special tribesmen. Sean O’Day did well in both the Ascent and the marathon finishing in the top 5 for his age group and 8th in the marathon.

But Peter and Alex didn’t stop there…they carried on running in the Transrockies Run (where Peter finished 4th!)

Congratulations to all the CRC team runners for being fierce and determined competitors. We’re proud of you!

Now, imagine doing both, back to back.

Team CRC runners Peter Maksimow and Alex Nichols are doing just that.

Follow their exploits on their Transrockies Run Blog at Colorado Runner’s website.

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