Ok, so maybe my subject line is a little misleading. Even though I'm Midwest born and raised, I can adapt to running at mile high pretty quickly. So I landed in Denver on a Friday, and was set to run the Cherry Creek Sneak on Sunday.

Turns out, racing less than 48 hours after getting into Denver is a bit different than just running. But more on that in a minute.

Packet pick-up was the day before the race at one of the Boulder Running Company stores in Cherry Creek. It was efficient and easy, plus you were in a running store! The only drawback is that we didn't get (or I missed) pins. But I picked up some at the hotel I was staying at, so all was well.

You're given a ton of directions on where and how to park for the race, since the start is actually right by a mall. To this day, I'm not sure if I actually parked in the correct spot, but there were other runners parked in the ramp I did, so I assume it was fine. It was a little bit of a longer walk than I would have liked to the starting line though.

So the start. There are two start chutes (right next to each other) and you can start in either one. The 10 mile starts first, and I think the 5 mile after, followed by the 5k. I'm don't remember the order of the 5 mile or 5k, because I was already out on the 10 mile.

The first two miles of the course are a big circle and are pretty darn flat. You head past the parking ramp that you parked in (which also means leaving early from the race is virtually impossible). Then off to the north where you hit an aid station, followed by the biggest climb of your run. In actuality, it probably wasn't a HUGE hill, but on a hot day, in altitude, it sure felt big to this Midwesterner.

After going up the hill, you do another mini loop before headed up the street on an out and back. To me, this out and back took forever to get to the turnaround point. If I remember, it's a little over a mile one way. There is an aid station back here as well.

Once you're headed back, you head down the hill you ran up, and are heading directly back to the start, not on the long loop you did to begin the race. I remember consciously thinking this was a weird part of a race. The road is about 3 lanes, and it's all closed for the race. So if you're in no-man's land (a place I find myself in almost every race) it feels odd running in the road. Did I mentioned it was black topped, and a hot day?

With about 200 meters to go, you merge with the finishers of the 5 mile race. There's a lot of crowd support here at the finish, especially as the 5 mile is the largest of the three races.

The finish area is actually very substantial for a 10 mile race. Lots of vendors, food, and other such things.

A few other notes. The shirt was got in 2016 was super nice. A great royal blue with a nice design on it. One of my top 5 race shirts, easily. If you're an age group winner, you'll get your award in the mail a couple of weeks after the race.

Overall, this is a really good race! I would say it's the premier race in the Denver area for the spring, but that's not true. The premier race is the Colfax Marathon. But if you want the opportunity to run a 10 miler, it's an excellent event. If I ever find myself back in Denver on the last Sunday in April, I'll run this again.