The 31st Annual Golden Leaf Half Marathon in Aspen, Colorado

Once again for the second year in a row, we traveled west in search of the hardest trail run in the world....to us....that is, but the coolest trail run ever. This year we welcomed an addition to the Run Forrest Run team....Chris Fortner. She was awesome. Here we are about to begin the race....the race starts in Snowmass and ends in Aspen.

Gary, Lindsey, and I barely got in this year. We called to register and the race was full. The nice man in Aspen opened up some spots for us and we were probably the last three people to get in the race. They had a waiting list of about 100 people that wanted to run and could not. Hollie and Chris were on top of things and registered early.

Since there were about two hundred more people this year than last year, we had to start in waves. Gary was in wave 3 because of his time last year and Hollie, Lindsey, Chris and I were in wave 4. Like the end of wave four, but that was cool. The gun shoots and we are off. It is about a mile and a half climb up a ski resort. It is nuts.

Lindsey and I were able to stay together for pretty much the whole race. We were determined to enjoy ourselves and have a good time, because last year it seemed like it all went by so fast. This year, I brought my camera on the trail. Sadly, this is the only shot that I got on the trail. But, Lindsey looks way cool running through this mountain.

Here I am with about 15 yards to go.

The girls ran with me to the finish line. They are a great support. We all were a lot slower this year, but we all wanted to look around and enjoy the scenery. It is amazing up there. When you run on a trail like this one, you have to look down the whole time. Because if you don't you will trip on a root, step wrong on a rock or step in a hole. It's not a relaxing run, I will tell you that much.

That night we had our victor's dinner at Boogies. The kids love this place because you get pins that say, "I picked Boogies".


Here we are in our shirts. I don't know if you noticed this by now, but Gary is the only guy running with us. We really could use some more guys stepping up and joining the fun. What? Are you scared of a bunch of girls?

It was sad to leave Aspen. It seemed like it all went by so fast.

When I tried to take some pictures before the race, I guess my video was on instead. Here are some bonus videos, that I thought Lindsey, especially would love....you might too.