Most runners consider racing a painful activity — if it’s not painful, it’s not really racing — but Denver pastry chef Rachel Ruff had a revelation Sunday: Racing twice the same morning feels great.
Ruff, 34, misread the registration form for the Cherry Creek Sneak and showed up ready to run the 5-miler at 8 a.m. When she discovered the 8 a.m. race was the 5-kilometer prelim, and the 5-mile main event was scheduled to go off at 9:15 a.m., she decided to do both.
“I was here, so I said, ‘I’ll just go for a warm-up,’ ” said Ruff, who did the 5K in about 25 minutes. “Then I went to Starbucks, took a little break, had a candy bar, came back and did the 5-miler.”
She finished that one in 42 minutes, 19 seconds.
“I think it’s a good secret,” Ruff said of her impromptu double. “Everybody should try it.”
Ruff has good reason to cherish every moment she runs. When she was a student at the University of Florida, where she was recruited to run cross country, she was struck by a car while riding her bicycle. Ruff landed on the car’s windshield.
“I landed face first,” Ruff recalled. “I remember hearing people screaming, ‘She killed her.’ I said, ‘Am I dead, God?’ “
That was in 1996. Doctors told her she would never run again, so naturally she decided to run a marathon. She ran her first one a year and a half later and has finished four more.
“Hey, I’m alive,” Ruff said. “You appreciate running now. Most people go, ‘Argh, I have to go for a run.’ But I’m always like, ‘I’m not in a wheelchair today.’ I always think of people who do these races in wheelchairs and how strong they are. That always cheers you up about doing races like these.”
Ruff graduated with a degree in medical journalism and worked as a producer for CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta before going culinary.
“Now I’m a pastry chef,” Ruff said, “so I have to run to keep it off.”
On a day with perfect temperatures for racing but some bedeviling breezes, the Sneak attracted 7,561 finishers — 3,971 in the 5-miler and 3,590 in the 5K. Both 5-mile winners were celebrating impending graduation from college.
Adam Rich of Colorado Springs prevailed decisively over training partner Robby Young, finishing in 25 minutes, 33 seconds. Young ran 26:08.
“I kind of got out on my own, and when I hit the areas where it was really windy, it was a bit rough,” said Rich, 29. “That probably slowed things down a bit. I came here in ’08 and was fourth, when Peyton Batliner and Nelson Laux and all those guys ran, so it was nice to come back and do a little bit better.”
Rich, who ran for national champion Western State in 2005, graduates this coming weekend from CSU-Pueblo with a degree in physical education and health and plans to keep racing.
“I’m going to hang onto it as long as I can,” Rich said. “I enjoy doing it, I enjoy racing in Colorado, so I’ll do it until I can’t.”
Kathleen Griffin, 22, of Boulder, won the women’s 5-miler in 32:11. She graduates from CU this weekend with a degree in business management.
“I run for the fun of it,” Griffin said. “It makes me feel good, and it makes me happy. Whatever you can do to be happy, I say do it.”
Ironman triathlete Megan Boord of Edwards was second in 32:57.
“This is a great spring tuneup race,” said Boord, 32. “It’s a good way to test your speed to see where you’re at in April.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
