The Fast and the Flurry-ous

Fast and the Flurry-ous Cross Country 4.1 Miler

Sat. 19 Jan. 2013

One of the things I like about racing it that it keeps you honest. I can tell myself that I feel great in training, but a race give you a true assessment of where you are at. For my first race of 2013 and at 32, I chose the Fast and the Flurry-ous. The bottom line is that this is a well-run race and with a challenge course and stiff competition.

I chose this over some other attractive races in Denver (Snowman Stampede is a fun one that I’ve done in the past) because this one was 1.25 miles from my house. It also had the added attraction of being one of the races in the Boulder Track Club series. Even though I am not part of the development team, it is still fun to race with the guys that I train with.

 

This race is also fun because it’s an old-fashioned cross country race. I felt like I was back in high school as I toed to the line. The course is three laps on a grass course near the South Boulder Rec Center. The weather was unseasonably warm (high 30’s, I believe) and the course was virtually free of snow. I actually ran in a singlet in January.

In spite of these ideal conditions, I found the running on grass to be more challenging than expected. The uneven surfaces made in hard for me to get into a rhythm. I also went out too fast (5:29). However, I hung in for a 24:07 which made for 5:53 miles. 

 

I really liked the course. It has a good mix of hills and turns. The worst I could say about it was that the 2-mile mark was only about a kilometer past the 1-mile mark. Or I ran a world class mile.

The registration and sign-up was easy and well run. The results also posted pretty quickly. I would also give the race administration and logistics a solid score.