Races & Journey Runs
Runners only get a limited number of big days. Some of those days are races, some are not. Below is a list of the ones I consider worth putting on a list. It includes all races, regardless of distance, performance, or effort, and somewhat arbitrarily, my days of longer, more interesting training.
Most folks know what a race is. Pretty straightforward: any organized event, almost always timed, typically with some sort of awards and posted results. I do a decent number of races but, just as – or more – important (to me) are what I recently heard referred to as “journey runs”.
There’s no set definition or set of criteria but, generally, journey runs are long, challenging training runs. It is more likely to be a journey run if it was in the dark, brutal heat or cold or rain or wind, and/or there was tons of climbing and/or bushwhacking, injuries or ailments, wildlife encounters, getting lost, or pooping outside. For my purposes, I’d say they would need to be at least 4-5 hours long, though there’s no upper end. (There are plenty of 4+ hour runs that are decidedly NOT journey runs, however. In fact, the vast majority of my training runs in the 15-25 mile range don’t make the cut. A more semi-comprehensive list of my longer days is in the right nav.) They can be on any kind of terrain, in any conditions, solo or with a group. They may or may not be timed but the focus is rarely on speed.
“Journey runs” will be noted below with a “JR”. While I’ve had a whole lot of long runs and races over the last few years, I’ve only started recording runs this way for 2012. Reports/accounts for many of the pre-2012 runs (and many of the 2012 runs not worthy of this page) are scattered across the blog archives.
2012
Jan 1 – Resolution Run 5k (20:15) 15/345 REPORT – RESULTS
Mar 12 – JR: 30mi solo night trail run St. Edwards Park-Forest Ridge [Austin, TX]
Mar 24 – Manzano Mile (5:52) 5/8 REPORT – RESULTS N/A
Apr 7 – Hells Hills 50mi (8:43:06) 6/101/129 starters REPORT –RESULTS
Apr 15 – St. Louis Marathon (4:39:04) pacing REPORT – RESULTS
May 5 – Pandora Box of Rox Trail Marathon (4:40:55) 11/81/108 starters REPORT – RESULTS
May 13 – Rogue Trail Series 30k (2:57:52) 16/91 REPORT – RESULTS
May 19 – JR: 20 Hill of Life repeats – 16mi, 6000′ climb, 5hr [Austin, TX]
May 31 – JR: 22mi solo night trail run on Barton Creek Greenbelt [Austin, TX]
Aug 4 – Mt. Werner Classic 50k (6:02:02) 16/50/56 starters REPORT – RESULTS
Aug 11 – JR: Buchanan-Pawnee Pass Loop – 27mi, 7000′ climb, 7.5hr [Indian Peaks area, CO]
Aug 18 – JR: Leadville 100 pacing – 52mi, ~8500′ climb, 13:20 [Leadville, CO]
Sep 1 – JR: Pawnee-Buchanan Pass Loop – 31mi, ~8000′ climb, 8.5hr [Indian Peaks area, CO]
Sep 14-15 – JR: 2 runs totaling ~45 miles in and around Boulder
Sep 17 – JR: 8 repeats on the Hogback Ridge Loop – 15.6mi, 5000’+ climb, 4:50
Sep 20 – JR: almost-a-marathon meander through Boulder – 25.9mi, 5:08
Sep 30 – The Bear Chase 50k (4:55:32) 28/180 REPORT – RESULTS
Oct 27-28 Cactus Rose 100mi (27:44:48) 18/47/81 starters REPORT – RESULTS
Nov 25 – JR: Boulder Brass Knuckle Shuffle Fat Ass Run – 25mi, ~7000′ climb, 5:56 – REPORT – RESULTS
2013
Jan 26 – JR: Frozen Front Range “Marathon” – 28.3mi – ~9000′ climb, 9:09 REPORT – RESULTS
Feb 9 – JR: Frozen Dead Guy “50K “- ~30mi – ~5500′ climb, 6:58 REPORT – RESULTS
Mar 16 – JR: High Line Canal “”100K” – ~59mi, 13:11 REPORT – RESULTS
May 5 – Greenland Trail 50k (5:07:36) 45/125 REPORT – RESULTS
May 11 – Quadrock 50mi (12:15:33) 77/111/180ish starters REPORT – RESULTS
June 1 – Dirty 30 50k (7:08:54) 131/255/300ish starters REPORT – RESULTS
June 7-9 – JR: Leadville training weekend – 50mi – ~11000’climb, 12:23
June 22 – Capt’n Karl’s Night-time Trail 60k (6:52:14) 13/67/105 starters REPORT – RESULTS
June 29 – Leadville Marathon (5:09:56) 71/489/517 starters REPORT – RESULTS
July 14 – Silver Rush 50 (9:57:24) 121/403/449 starters REPORT – RESULTS
August 17-18 – Leadville 100 (28:21:55) 287/494/943 starters REPORT – RESULTS
October 12 – 24 Hours of Boulder 100k (14:48:00) 8/8/11 starters REPORT – RESULTS
2014
May 31 – Dirty 30 50k – 33 miles (7:47:34) 129/226/300ish starters REPORT – RESULTS
June 28-29 – Western States 100 (DNF, Mile 80) NO REPORT – RESULTS
2015
June 28-29 – Bandera 100k (17:44:11) 144/220/295 starters NO REPORT – RESULTS
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