colorado vs

a few weeks ago scott jurek posted something on twitter that got me thinking. it was a question he was asked regarding whether boulder could compare to seattle. huh? really? colorado is kind of the best...

okay so i haven't always felt that way. we first moved to durango when i was 7 and while there was a ton of cool stuff to do (hello nordic skiing!) there was also a lot of culture shock - durango, colorado is NOT similar to bay village, ohio. i hated my parents for making me move away from everything i knew to the extent that i started hoping my life was some weirdo experiment where i was placed in foster care to see how well i'd adapt and then someday be returned to my real family. the move to denver made things easier, but it wasn't until i started running (and there seems to be some controversy over this: i started running RECREATIONALLY 9 years ago and started participating in races 4 years ago, mmmk?) that i really began to appreciate what colorado has to offer.

and what colorado has to offer is awesome. crazy unpredictable but for the most part really pleasant weather (for real - it's january 29 and in the mid 50's, yesterday it was in the mid 60's, monday it's supposed to be like 10, but then back up in the mid 40's later in the week), stunning wilderness complete with mountains and gorgeous national parks and monuments, culturally stimulating cities to balance out the wild side, and some of the fittest people in the nation. and for all those fit people, some of the coolest races.

so as a runner, i have the opportunity to train outside, pretty much year round, and some really amazing places to do that. sure, other states have some cool places to run... blah blah blah. but colorado is a mecca for runners.

it's pretty obvious that there are some killer places to run here (mt. evans road and the barr trail up pike's peak come to mind) plus the advantage of training at altitude, but one of the things i've come to like the most is the local competition. now it doesn't happen at every single race, but there's usually a pretty good chance that you'll be sharing the start line with some RIDICULOUSLY fast folks. i was scanning the results from the u.s. 13.1 championships and seeing quite a few names that regularly pop up on runcolo's local weekend race results. just a few weeks ago i raced against paige higgins (placed third behind her and kara roy, and to place in a race with those girls is feeling pretty awesome) and in just a couple more i'll likely see girls like tera moody at colorado runner magazine's snowman stampede, which doubles as the state 10 mile championship (a faster new course is gonna make the times pretty damn interesting!!). it's completely nerve racking to know that at any given time you could be up against some of the fastest girls in the country (and guys too, holler at mario macias who scared ritz away from the denver marathon), but when you can place well with that level of copetition, it's that much more awesome. um, not to mention you'll bust your ass and get that much faster!

so seattle? depression and fish. every town in colorado? awesomeness.

i thought i had a race tomorrow but i got the dates wrong... duh learn how to read a calender heather. soooo tomorrow i'm heading over to our run club in aurora and looking forward to a good long-ish run through cherry creek state park. the sunday thing is so much different than our wednesday night party but i'm really getting to like it! NEXT sunday is a 5k and then the 10 milerin a few weeks. ow ow!