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2008 Littleton Stride - 5K/10K
heatherSo have you even heard of this race? I didn’t think so. It’s small and not advertised much outside of Littleton Public Schools. But, my friends, it is definitely worth looking into.
When I stumbled on this last year, I happened to read a little blip on the Littleton Public Schools website saying something to effect of “For the experienced runner, this is the most challenging course in the Denver-Metro area”. Being the snob that I am, I instantly thought “Psssh. Whatever, Littleton Public Schools.”
Yeah. They weren’t joking.
The event benifits (um, obviously) Littleton Public Schools and consists of a 10k run, 5k run, 5k walk, and 1k fun run. While I can’t speak for the 5k or 1k course, I can absolutely attest to the beastiness of the 10k course. It is hilly. And when I say “hilly”, I mean borderline mountainous. I consider myself a strong runner and this course just rocked me. After the first two miles my legs felt like marshmallow fluff, my lungs felt like they may be bleeding, and I found myself wondering why I payed money to put myself in such a position. If it means anything to you, I finished in 43:30… and I won (okay, okay, I was the first female, but 6th overall).
What I didn’t see this year was Derek Griffiths of Colorado Runner Magazine out taking pictures… Ya know, high school volleyball players seem to get more press than even the fastest runners in Colorado, so a nice little shout out in Colorado Runner is pretty awesome (even if it’s a bad picture, which it will be ’cause this race doesn’t make anyone look pretty). So I don’t know if that happened this year or not, but I’m pretty vain so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Either way, it’s suuuuuuuch a good race. When you’re done and you get over the strange and disturbing burning sensation in your bronchial tubes, you feel like you should be hanging out with the X-Men. The Littleton Stride also seems to be pretty well organized - there’s a ton of parking, plenty of port-a-potties, a fair price tag, and a well marked course which employs a lot of high school students to cheer for you (which they do quite well - thank you to all the girls in the tie-dyed shirts and the folks on the corners going “First Girl!! Woo!!!”).
This is one tough but tasty cookie. I highly recommend giving it a try if you haven’t, and I will leave you with a bit of advice: hill repeats are indeed your ally, and keep your eyes peeled for folks jogging with strollers and dogs. Hope to see some more of you out there next November!
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5 Responses to “2008 Littleton Stride - 5K/10K”
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Great job for a first timer to this race (winning no less). I warned friends of mine that came out for it today about the hills. Oh its just a 10 K they said, no big deal they said until the finish when they all whined “Those hills were brutal!” I was only fifth 48:00 (women) but not bad for 41, next year I am in it to win it!
congrats to you too (5th place is awesome)! this was actually my second year but i must have suppressed the pain from ‘07 into the nether regions of my brain and i foolishly thought i was really prepared. are you a teacher? it seems to raise a lot of $ for littleton schools.
Not a teacher, just a parent of a student. The run does raise a fair amt of money. If they would get some more advertising going it would be more. I think alot of runners would like the butt kicking quality of the course:)
did anyone else see rod mackey of 9 news there? or was i just hallucinating?
No, you were not hallucinating, he was there. I think he and his kids ran the 5k. He didn’t say anything about it on the news though-pity.