Dear Athlete!

As I type this, it's below zero and I freely admit I blew off my 5:30 a.m. training run (so did the guys that run with me!). No lectures here from me about super cold training...if you're curious about best practices, talk to the good people at Boulder Running Company, Runners Roost, Runner's Edge of the Rockies or Jeff Galloway's Training Group. They deal with these questions every day and are your resident experts!

Super Bowl Sunday is always exciting and that's why we host a Super Bowl 5K at Denver's Washington Park. 40+ degrees will seem balmy by that time and we have great refreshments and you can still sign up either online or in person at all the metro Runners Roost stores or two of the Boulder Running Company stores! Come on out and help support our official charity partner, American Cancer Society's DetermiNation.

Here are the quick topics that are on my mind:

1. Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon & Half Marathon new courses are official and certified! Visit the web site and check out the photo tour. We also added a 5K on Saturday, May 14th and we've moved the 2 day Health and Fitness Expo to the Denver Athletic Club (also the location for the  Running Hall of Fame ceremony on April 19th (6-9 pm and tickets will go on sale shortly).
    
2. Our Denver Running Mayoral Candidate James Mejia! OK, I know the tone of politics these days is tattered and disappointing. Finding good, honest people that are smart and dedicated is getting tougher and tougher. Good people just run in opposite directions. That is most good people: I personally know one who is running toward the finish line to help our metro area! You may not have a "dog in the hunt" or maybe you don't reside in Denver (I don't!) but you have to care for our growing and vital region. If you're not already persuaded to vote or support someone else, please join my running friends Dan Grossman, Ellen Hart, Andrew Hudson and Nicole Rodarte at the Highland Tap on Friday, February 25th at 5pm and meet this incredible gentleman! By the way, the Tap has a running club and recently hosted our latest meeting on the Step Up For Cancer.
    
3. Terry McGrath, Kevin Fitzgerald and Jim White (the fun triumvirate that lead the charge every year for the Runnin' of the Green Lucky 7K) just had a significant meeting and are making several changes to the course and the pre and post event area! Check out the web site and plan on joining us!
    
4. Running legend and friend to thousands, Olympian Lorraine Moller, a student of my late friend Arthur Lydiard, has launched the Master Run Coach site with customized Lydiard Schedules from 5K to the Marathon! Parameters such as distance, longest run, number of days you want to run per week, and estimated VO2 Max are all embedded into the pyramid schedules of Lydiard adjusting for the time period you have to training (12 - 24 weeks) and is running a special which ends this week where the one-time schedule special price of $26.2 will allow a user to get consecutive programs until the end of the 2011.  I've looked at it and know you'll be happy with the product!

Finally, we just finished measuring the newly minted That Dam Run Half Marathon  that will run together with the Dam 5K on Sunday, March 6th! It's a safe, out and back course with some hills in the middle but the first 3 and last 3 miles are FLAT (on top of Cherry Creek Dam)!! We'll have liquids 7 times on the course and bathrooms at each station. medals to finishers and again, benefiting Team DetermiNation  Please consider joining us for the 5th and final event of the RunDenver Series!

Stay hydrated, stay warm and embrace your training!