This was my first time running any distance for the Colfax Marathon weekend and it was a pretty good experience. The t-shirts are always cool. I see people wearing them around town which prompted me to sign up for the run.

Scenery - it was ok. I was on the relay team running down Colfax. There is not much to see there.

Expo - There were a lot of vendors and a lot of swag. It was like a maze and you had to go from start to finish. I went to get my t-shirt from the other side and was not allowed to go backwards. I understand the reason behind that, but I had to walk through the expo, exit, walk around the stadium outside, then come back in and start through the expo a second time to get back to the point I needed to be. That was SUPER annoying.

The other ‘complaint’ was the food at the end of the run. I was on the relay so at the point I handed off the baton, there was limited selection of food. The marathon, final leg of the relay, half marathon, and 10 mile run all ended in City Park. There was sandwiches, fruit, ice cream, and on and on at that point. I did not have access to this area so I could not have any of the goodies at the finish. I got on dry bagel. :-( There needs to be a way to let the team members go through the finish to get some of the treats.

It was an overall pretty good experience and I would do another run, although I am not sure what distance. All I know is that I am going to finish at City Park so I can partake in the goodies.

The Cherry Creek Sneak is a staple in the Denver running community and this year was the first year I did this run. Maybe it was because I lucked out with the weather this year. The run is held on the last weekend in April in Denver. You can have sunny and 60 or cloudy, snow and 20 weather...you never know. That said, I had a great day and I would recommend this to everyone.

This year, just like every year, they have a great t-shirt. I got a really cute long sleeve blue t-shirt that is super soft. It has become one of my favorite long sleeve shirts in my collection. They always have a great design and I love the little running cherry logo.

There are three starts for different distances (10mile, 5 mile, and 5k). The course is laid out well and the starts offset enough that everyone finishes around the same time but you are not running over each other. You have enough room to sprint to the finish without having to weave around slower runners. That is one of my biggest pet peaves...trying to sprint to the finish and people walking a shorter distance are walking 4 wide and blocking the route. The Cherry Creek Sneak does a great job of separating the runners for the different distances near the finish so you don't get tangled up with other runners.

Some people think parking in Cherry Creek is not very convenient. The mall has several multi-level parking lots and parking is free before noon on run day. It is easy to get in and out of the mall parking lots, avoiding runners and the post-race party.

The course is also laid out well and there are more than enough aid stations for the run. I run all over Denver but I found some new places to run that are part of the route. The race organizers do a great job positioning the water stations where they can be accessed from two sides with runners going opposite directions.

I was not excited with the ‘free’ photos that they advertise and offer. They offered free photos to all runners but they have not associated bib numbers to the photos. You have to search through thousands of photos to find yours. I thought it was just me or my bib #, but I looked through other runners and nobody had any photos associated with their account. If you want a photo, have a friend take one because you probably won’t get one on the course unless you are one of the top finishers. That is why we wear our bibs on the front, so they can associate photos with the individual runners.

The website is not very informative. Registration was not a problem, but I could not find anything on the site about the race directors, the history of the run, and any other information. I use the website as a resource and there is a lot of information not provided that most other runs offer.

That said, I would recommend this run. It was a great day and based on the organization on race day, the organizers know what they are doing and are probably runners.

We started off the year with the Resolve 5K in Denver. This run, like many in Denver, is held at City Park just east of downtown Denver. The good part about this is that it is all inside the park so you do not have to deal with any cars or have any police to control traffic. It is a relatively flat course so you can run a pretty good time. The bad part about being in City Park is a lot of runs in Denver are in City Park. I get bored running the same route for all of the organized runs.

The t-shirts were ok...nothing special but not horrible. The log is nothing great and with all of the runs out there and fun shirts available, I expect a little more. You get a technical shirt which was a bonus.

There is a lot of parking at the school across the street and in the neighborhood so getting to the run was very easy.

The group that manages this run does a whole series but they have not really moved forward and kept up with the other runs throughout the year. This is just an ok run in an ok series. It is the first of the year and gets us running...which is always a good thing.

The Colder Boulder is put on by the same organization that runs the Bolder Boulder and you can tell. This is a well organized run with great food, beer, and swag at the finish line. The entire 5k is run through the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder. There is no traffic to deal with. And it is a beautiful campus which is another bonus. This year, there were even elk on campus that some people saw.

Similar to the Bolder Boulder, they start this run in waves. This really helps keep the congestion to a minimum on the course and at the finish. If you are in a later wave, you can get a good parking spot from some of the early runners that are leaving as you are arriving.

This is a smaller version of the Bolder Boulder...same quality, same high standards. A must do winter run.

As with a lot of runs in Denver, this run was held at City Park. And you will see in my reviews that I am not a fan of running at City Park because it is the same route over and over for a lot of the organized runs. But for the Pumpkin Pie, they actually mixed up the route enough to make it a little different. That was a bonus. The other bonus was the group that managed this event. They had everything in order from registration to packet pick-up to the run to the pie. Yes, there was pie and yes, I ran a little faster to get to the finish and get my pie. It was just a fun environment and a great day.