Yesterday I ran the Snowman Stampede 10 mile race in Littleton Colorado. This was the third part of the Winter Distance Series, that consisted of three races one in December, January and February. For each race you can choose between two different lengths. The December race has a 5k and 10k, January has a 5mi and 10mi and February has a 5mi and 10mi option as well.

I like this series, it keeps me racing during the “off” months and a lengths I don’t race a lot. You can run the races individually (last year I only ran Snowman Stampede) or save money by singing up for all three. If you sign up for the series you can choose from the short (5k, 5mi,5mi) mid (5k, 5mi, 10mi) or long lengths (10k, 10mi, 10mi). I ran the mid distance because I liked that the length changed each time. The races all run along the Platte River Trail south of Denver, for the shorter races this was fine because they started early and weren’t on the trail for very long. For the 10 mile race it became an issue. Because the races didn’t start until 10am and were on the trail for much longer cyclist and other trail users were on the trail as well. This became a problem when poor cyclist were trying to pass the hundreds of runners and calling to pass on the left but the runners either couldn’t hear because of their headphones or just wouldn’t move over. I think one of the most popular bike paths in Denver might not be the best choice for a race especially on a warm, sunny day in February.

It was a beautiful day and I had a good(ish) race. My legs were not completely fresh still after our 16 miler on Monday and the last few milers were definitely slowed by the quarter sized blister on the bottom of my foot (want to see pictures, I seriously took some). I am ok with my time of 1:35:56 with an average of 9:35 minute miles. Cory did GREAT with a time of 1:14:something and a 7:24 minute mile (how did he get SO fast)

Even though I am not super happy about my time I did go back to see what I ran the 5 mile portion of this race in last year and found that my pace this year for a 10 mile was faster than last years 5 mile pace (9:42 mm) so I am getting faster and I am happy about that.

The swag for these races isn’t spectacular, for the first two races we received cotton t-shirts but for the last one we got a cute tech shirt. Overall I think these races are well ran and nice to do in the winter months.