Candice Moncayo

City: Colorado Springs State: CO

Favorite Shoe: Wave Kaze Size: 7.5

Age: 22.2 years old

Family members:
My family has more people than most pinon pines have needles. I live with my boyfriend Evan, and our dog Kinnikinnik. Like us, the dog only thrives above 10,000 feet.

What I do for work:
I work at the Colorado Academy of Music and Dance - ask me about dance classes, music lessons, or capoeira. I'm working on a bachelors in molecular biology at UCCS, and will hopefully be done by next December (or I'll go crazy and throw all my pipets and lab goggles into the furnace).

When I started running and what got me started:
I started running my junior year of high school after coming in at 180lbs on the scale. After months of punishing miles on the school track at 5am, I registered for a 10K and never looked back. I broke my ankle rock climbing last February, and have since developed the oh-so-lovely plantar fascitis in my weak foot. I'm looking for a group that will get me out of bed in the morning when my foot's crunched up like an Igor's hand and I've got to break a bunch of scar tissue to get to the bathroom.

What does running mean to me:
Running equals freedom. Freedom from a large waistline, poor health (combined with rather poor genetics) and the endless hamster wheel in my head. Running is the best way to find the grit inside myself every weekend, and apply that to the daily madness of wrapping your brain around organic chemistry.

Running accomplishments:
Getting out of bed every morning at 5 or 6am.

What I like about trail/mountain running:
The views, the silence, and the joyful capering of my dog as he chases squirrels.

Favorite running trail and why:
Section 16 in the summer - it has shade, decent inclines, and rarely has horses, which means few piles of fly-swarmed poop and less stress (my dog thinks all horses are deer, and therefore great fun to chase).
Anywhere in Red Rock Canyon in the winter - there's no trees, so the snow melts quickly and the mud freezes by midday.

Best running experience:
Running behind a guy dressed as flamingo during the Boulder Bolder.

Worst running experience:
Getting run over - literally - by a mountain biker coming down the chutes. The bugger broke my headphones and left skidmarks on my favorite running shorts.

Running related bathroom stop story:
On a six mile run in New York, I had to stop and knock on the door of a mansion to use the bathroom. I had no toilet paper, and the "forest" in upstate New York consists of trees aren't close enough together to go poop within a mile of the road.

Running pet peeves:
Horse poop in the middle of a trail, people who throw me dirty looks when my dog is off leash outside city limits, and people who run with their poorly trained dogs off leash illegally and give the rest of us a bad name.

Something non running related that no one would guess about me:
I hate television.

Other hobbies and interests:
Capoeira, violin, reading, Top Gear, farmer's markets, and encouraging more than two restaurants in the springs to stay open after 10pm.

Other stuff:
Peanut butter is really candy in disguise.

Page last modified: 9/7/2009