This article was written by Corinne Shalvoy for ATRA’s spring 2023 quarterly newsletter. Corinne is an avid trail and ultra runner, mother of two sons, and has been married to her ultra-running husband, Graham for 16 years. She recently joined the ATRA advisory board.
“That Sounds Awful, Sign Me Up!”
In 2014, with the impending birth of our second son, my husband Graham and I returned to Colorado after a short but intense year living in the East Bay of Northern California. We decided to make Castle Rock our home. We were drawn to the area for the highly rated school district that our older son would soon be entering along with the proximity to multiple trail systems and an elevation 1000 feet higher than the mile-high city of Denver.
Circa spring 2015, our training started increasing and as we explored our new neighborhood – often pushing our son Bob in a stroller – we looked for a local running group to join. We didn’t find one, and one day, Graham looked at me on a run and said, “Why don’t we start one?”
“Really?” I asked, surprised by how matter-of-fact and confident he was. And then I quickly replied, “Sure.” That day, the Castle Rock Run Club was born.
Our first year we had one loyal member, Steve Swanson, who joined us every Wednesday afternoon for a 4.6-mile loop around the Meadows Boulevard paved sidewalks. With his dog Lily in tow, we learned about Steve’s life, work, family and running history, and his aspirations for the future. He told us when he came that first day, “I’m committed to joining every week.” And sure enough, he was. Steve is now one of our strongest advocates.
The following year, we maintained our weekly sidewalk run but also added some local trails. The addictive app ‘Strava’ had been introduced to us by a cycling friend a few years before and we started making note of a few ‘segments’ around the hood. Graham ran one such route, which we all still refer to simply as ‘The Segment,’ and a couple of members of the community commented on his post. Little did we know that others, like Chris Fagnant and Russell Ditsworth, had been running around the Meadows neighborhood for years, and just like that we expanded our network of crazies. And what a network there was. Under the cover of a suburban layer of big box stores and HOAs lay a community of people who had made running their lifestyle. A community that pined for long, mountain adventures on the weekends as they juggled kids, work, and daily commitments with a deep passion to better themselves as athletes.
On the trails in Castle Rock with club members.
Our group grew organically and slowly over the subsequent years, but those who were at its core established the soul and culture of the club. We affectionately started calling ourselves the ‘Meadows Muertes,’ a mashup of our neighborhood name and the sugar skull emblem that embodied Graham and my love for Halloween and my Hispanic heritage. The name was also a bit of an homage to the then-popular Coconino Cowboys of Arizona. We were all super fans and many of us own the original Fine Print merch that was released by the group.
Today, the Castle Rock Run Club consists of more than 450 members. We have Facebook, Instagram, and Strava pages and we banter about trail running and geek out over races, sponsorships, blisters, and fueling over a more intimate GroupMe chat. We meet rain, shine, snow, or wind every Wednesday and Friday mornings at 5:30 at the Bison Park trailhead for a classic 6.4-mile trail loop on the Ridgeline trail system which Strava has even recognized as the start of our group runs – spontaneously naming the start of the loop Castle Rock Run Club on their maps.
One of our members – Kristin – has run the loop a whopping 200 times since she joined the club and has broken the Strava cap of 200 tines on the same route (she’s put in a ticket). We coordinate multiple groups every weekend for long runs anywhere from Greenland Open Space to Barr Trail in Manitou Springs, from Palmer Lake to Indian Creek. Waterton and Rampart Range Road are also commonly traversed routes, especially in the winter. Sundays are for either ‘dirt church’ at 10 a.m. at Pine Cliff road or SUC (Sunday Ultra Club) runs on Plum Creek before meeting for beers at a local brewery.
The community has flourished and our support of one another has led many (including me), to accomplish things we never could have imagined possible. I can’t say it nearly as eloquently as our members so here are some of their incredible words about what our group means to them.
“Throughout the past (almost) 5 years, I have found a community of incredible humans, many of whom are now my closest friends. Maybe most importantly, I’ve found myself. I’m excited about the future, have pride, drive, purpose and feel valued. I’ve been lucky enough to see the club grow and hope that I can give back to this community and the running community at large for all that I’ve received and show others how to find similar riches.” – Todd Dill
“This Club, this Family; extends beyond the runners….to their wives and husbands, sisters and brothers, cousins, and children. Through training and injury, highs and lows, victories and failures, the Castle Rock Run Club has shown that while they are a great resource for my own path forward as a competitive ultra-runner, I have grown so much more and my potential is so much more by the association of its great members.” – Greg Cooper
“In all my years of team sports, I have never experienced a group of people that have seamlessly come together to bring out the best of each individual while simultaneously making the group stronger as well. The support that has developed around crewing for each other at big races might be my favorite thing about the club. Still to this day one of my proudest moments as a person (not just as a runner or a member of the club) was pacing Todd to the finish at Leadville in 2019. And one of my least favorite memories was doubting that YOU would finish in 2021. I was so worried we were putting you in harm’s way by letting you continue on that I was making myself sick when we saw you continue on through May Queen. Ultimate highs and ultimate lows and we were all together for it each time. I appreciate it, I am in awe of it, and I know that it is bigger than any one of us. My friend Mike Shafai was famous among the Colorado Springs runners for saying, ‘The world would be a better place if everyone could just go for a run.’ For me that saying has morphed into something like, ‘The world would be a better place if everyone had a run club like CRRC..Best Damn Run Club on the Planet.’” – Chris Fagnant
“The camaraderie of this group is unmatched. The enthusiasm and energy of the club members are contagious and inspiring, making it a wonderful environment for a casual trail run, a long adventure, or a race series. Beyond that, though, the runners care about each other as people. We have casual gatherings and holiday parties as well as regular runs. I know that I can bring questions to the group and get advice on anything from shoe traction and watches to coffee shops and deer carcass removal.” – Kristin Schmidt
“What I found (and why I love the group) was an incredibly fun and supportive group who showed me that crazy amazing things are possible, who thrive on adventure like I do, and encourage me to push the boundaries of my current abilities.” – Matt Simms
“It is an amazing group of people all rooted in positivity, encouragement, and an uplifting spirit! There is a saying that you can bring light into a room or you can take light out of a room. CRRC brings a light into the running community! It’s like the Ted Lasso of running communities 😉 BELIEVE.” – Steve Swanson
As we continue to grow, we want to do more. More trail work, more volunteering, more giving back to our community and encouraging others to chase their dreams. Our motto of “That sounds awful, sign me up” is intended to bring humor to the difficult, shine positivity in the face of negativity and embrace the challenges that face us in running and life. Whoever says running is an individual sport is wrong. Chris recently brought to my attention an African Proverb that may just sum up CRRC in one sentence. “Alone we go fast, together we go far.”
