Cherry Creek Sneak Write-up

Cherry Creek Sneak 5 Miler
Denver, CO

I woke up with sore calfs from taking a 4 mile shake out run yesterday where I tried out my Zoot OTEC racing flats (which I've warn before but not that often). I had been hydrating properly so I didn't think it would affect my race potential too much, it would just be an added pain id have to suffer through.

I got down to Denver an hour early and its a good thing that I did. There was a 5k race at 8 and my 5m race was at 9:15. Apparently they shut down the roads at 7:30 and wouldn't let anyone get to the designated parking area. My suggestion for future races is to have an alternative parking area in mind and know the area in case traffic turns into a nightmare and threatens your getting to the start on time. I always try to get there an hour before hand even though my warm up on race day is only about 10 mins. I cheered on some people I knew in the 5k race and then found the Native Eyewear tent(one of our newest sponsors).

I took care of attaching my bib number and timing chip. The chip, true to my triathlon roots I attached to my timing chip ankle band. After that I milled around the finish area as 5k competitors were coming in and around 8:30 I began my warm up dawned in gloves, calf sleeves and under armour. My warm up consisted of a series of short jogs with intermittent stretching. I was trying to loosen up my calfs and hamstrings enough just to get through the warm up let alone become race ready. After that I did some drills. @9:00 I changed into my Zoot OTEC's, chilled with some of my teammates and headed to the start. I was a little early in getting to the start and they were just about to start the kids 1.5 miler. As I stood there a feeling came over me, now normally its that feeling of having to go to the bathroom one last time as your race nerves finally catch up to you in your crazy morning prep, but no, this time I was warm. It couldn't have been warmer then 46* but I was ready to ditch the Under Armour and go in just my thin tank top jersey. Its safe to say that I was warmer at this start then I was at the Shamrock 8k in VA Beach.

By the time I did that and walked back to the start line it was packed with at least 600 more people, but there weren't corrals. There were only suggested pace sections and I lined up at the 7:00 mile pace and under with at least 100 people in front of me by the time the gun went off. We were off right on time and it only took me a few seconds to cross the line. Within 400m things were loosened up enough to get at my own pace without much fighting.

I left the people I had started with behind me within 800m and didn't know if that was a smart move, but I went with it because I ROLL OUT! I had some great RR and Boulder fans along the course as I settled into a pace and tried to stay with a few people I had marked as "my pace." There was a short up hill and longer downhill in the first 2 miles followed by a 600m uphill that was almost steep enough to cause some damage. That ended with a U-turn down hill and that's when I started rolling. I also got a chance to wave to my RR teammates both in front of me and behind and survey the scene. Courses like this are great for that, but don't exactly lead to the best times in the world. By mile 3 I was confident that this race was going to be great, I was loving the course (yea even the U-turns that kill your stride). Mile 3-4 I know I slowed down and had a rough patch. My left hamstring started to hurt like it needed more stretching right behind the knee. My form turned more into a limp but the uphill section and view of the finish line made it go away. It was at this point I got passed by 3 people, trying to fight off one of them but ended up letting them go. I wasn't ready to start my finish phase. 400m later the finish line was in view but I had a sneaking suspicion that there were going to be more turns to come first. I was right.




The course twisted 2 blocks away and back about 600m from the finish with a series of incline and decline. Just before the final turn with 200 to go my fans were there to offer some sparks and I lit a small fire for 50m or so and then hammered back. I had to slow down for the final turn and was sort of in no mans land with no one to out kick for the finish.






I turned the corner however and there about 20ft in front of me was one of my RR teammates John. I reawakened my kick and closed like a MFer. I never ran with John but apparently he has a kick of his own and was in no mood to be passed 30m from the finish so he fought me. I thought to myself "no, come on lets not do this" at first but I'm stubborn. I reached deeper and lifted my legs higher with each cycled explosion. We were neck and neck at the wire and I out leaned him with a little elbow action at the finish. We came in at full speed and almost took out a camera man and a few other keeled over runners just beyond the finish. It was exciting to say the least!


I almost feel like I won something. I leaned out not only my RR teammate John at the finish but also I beat myself. A weaker version of me has been replaced by one that is on a 1 in a row count for PR and I'm going to keep this momentum going. Big shout out to my fans Kylee, Jax, and Emma for the words of encouragement and support, and I wanted to thank the volunteers and my RR team for just being awesome. Great job out there.

Chip 00:34:14
Clock 00:33:21
Overall place: 105/3751
Place Men: 91
Age Group: 16/199

1. 6:29
2. 12:55 (6:25)
3. 19:50 (6:55)
4. 26:?? (7:??)
5. 33:14 (7:00?)

OA pace=6:38