Colorado fun runs
46 seasonal, themed and one-of-a-kind fun runs in Colorado.
Holiday and seasonal: 13 · Novelty course: 12 · Animals: 6 · Food and drink: 4 · Quirky format: 4 · Mud and obstacle: 3 · Iconic tradition: 2 · Costume and theme: 2
- Novelty course Run the Rocks The only timed race allowed at Red Rocks Park: it climbs the park roads and finishes up the amphitheatre's 193 stairs.
- Food and drink Colorado Brewery Running Series Front Range brewery runs with themed editions, including a chili cook-off 5K, a Día de los Muertos 5K and an Ugly Sweater 5K at Left Hand Brewing.
- Quirky format Emma Crawford Coffin Races & Festival Costumed teams push a coffin carrying a living 'Emma' up Manitou Avenue, in what the organizers call the nation's first coffin race.
- Holiday and seasonal Colorado Avalanche Halloween 5K An NHL team's Halloween 5K at Ball Arena where you can run, walk or roller skate in costume, with trunk-or-treat and movie cars along the way.
- Holiday and seasonal EAPL Zombie Run 5K A Halloween-morning zombie 5K on Evergreen's mountain trails, with a costume contest for runners and their pets.
- Holiday and seasonal Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run Northern Colorado's largest 4-miler loops through Old Town and historic Mountain Avenue, and the start can be held up by a passing freight train.
- Holiday and seasonal Mile High United Way Turkey Trot Denver's biggest Thanksgiving tradition: more than 10,000 runners in a 53rd-annual 4-miler through Washington Park, ending at a craft beer garden.
- Holiday and seasonal COLDERBolder BOLDERBoulder's winter 5K runs pace-matched invitational heats, so you race only people your speed, then finishes with burritos, doughnuts and cocoa.
- Holiday and seasonal Race of the Santas Santas dash down Breckenridge's Main Street at dusk and finish just in time for the town tree lighting.
- Holiday and seasonal Rudolph Ramble 5K Run/Walk A City Park 'search and rescue' 5K to find a missing Rudolph, with collar bells for the dogs, cookies, and photos with Santa and Rudolph.
- Holiday and seasonal Santa Shuffle 5K The first 300 registrants get a free Santa suit for a Clement Park 5K that ends in a holiday costume contest.
- Holiday and seasonal Jingle Bell Run – Colorado Denver’s stop on the Arthritis Foundation’s national holiday run, where teams turn out in festive costumes and jingle bells to raise money for arthritis research.
- Holiday and seasonal Santa's Dash for Ca$h Every finisher gets a prize envelope at Sloan Lake, and some envelopes hold cash, with at least one $100 bill in the mix.
- Holiday and seasonal Ugly Sweater 5K Denver runners pile on tinsel, bows and reindeer for a flat holiday 5K around Washington Park.
- Holiday and seasonal Resolution Run One of Fort Collins' oldest races, a glow-stick 5K after sunset on New Year's Eve, with a prize for finishing under 20:26.
- Novelty course America's Uphill Runners, snowshoers and skiers mass-start at the base of Aspen Mountain and race 3,267 vertical feet up the ski runs to the Sundeck.
- Holiday and seasonal Runnin' of the Green Denver's 'classic Irish jog' is a lucky 7K in Washington Park with bagpipes, green costumes and cold beer, now in its 38th year.
- Food and drink Donut Dash 5K A flat, certified Washington Park 5K that ends with fresh donuts and doubles as a BOLDERBoulder qualifier.
- Novelty course Denver Colfax Marathon Courses run through Empower Field at Mile High (twice on the marathon), a full mile inside the Denver Zoo (half marathon), and Denver Fire Station #1.
- Mud and obstacle Colorado Springs Spartan Trifecta Weekend A Spartan Trifecta run inside an active U.S. Army post, on high-elevation training ground near 6,000 feet that is normally closed to the public.
- Iconic tradition BOLDERBoulder 10K One of the largest 10Ks in the U.S., with roughly 50,000 runners in costume flooding Boulder's streets on Memorial Day and finishing inside CU's Folsom Field.
- Quirky format Madam Lou Bunch Day Famous Bed Races Teams in Gold Rush costume push brass beds on wheels down Main Street in honor of a 19th-century madam.
- Animals Donkey Derby Days Two-person teams try to coax one of Cripple Creek's famous donkeys up Bennett Avenue in a festival dating to 1931.
- Novelty course Rocky Mountain Half Marathon A half marathon and 5K in Estes Park, the gateway town to Rocky Mountain National Park, at about 7,500 feet.
- Novelty course Imogene Pass Run A 17-mile point-to-point run from Ouray over 13,114-foot Imogene Pass on a 4x4 mining road, finishing in Telluride.
- Mud and obstacle Tough Mudder Colorado Tough Mudder’s Colorado event runs inside the Fort Carson Army post, using the same restricted training ground as Spartan Colorado Springs.
- Novelty course Bloch Ongert Vail Mountain Winter Uphill Runners, skinners and snowshoers race 2,250 vertical feet up Vail's groomed ski runs to breakfast at Eagle's Nest, then ride the gondola down.
- Animals Buena Vista Pack Burro Race (Curtis Imrie Day) A Triple Crown pack burro race with a 'Run with the Burros' category, so runners without an animal can race alongside the teams.
- Novelty course Colorado Rockies Home Run 5K A downtown 5K that finishes with a lap of the Coors Field warning track, with two Rockies tickets for every finisher.
- Food and drink Colterris Wine Run 5K A cross-country-style 5K through the vineyards of Colorado's largest estate-grown winery, where the finisher medal doubles as a wine stopper.
- Animals Creede Donkey Dash Runners and burros race through Creede's historic mining district, past towering ore houses and mines clinging to the cliffs.
- Costume and theme Cryogenic Cannibal Chase 8K The costumed morning kickoff to Frozen Dead Guy Days: an 8K around Lake Estes, then a beanie and bagel before the coffin races start.
- Novelty course Denver 5K on the Runway A sunrise 5K on a closed runway at Denver International Airport while planes keep taking off from the other five runways.
- Quirky format Frozen Dead Guy Days Coffin Races Teams of six pallbearers plus a 'corpse' run a homemade coffin through an obstacle course, honoring a cryogenically frozen grandpa.
- Novelty course Garden of the Gods 10 Mile/10K and Trail Run A classic 10-miler on a full loop through the red sandstone fins of Garden of the Gods, and the first leg of the Garden to Peak Challenge that ends on Pikes Peak.
- Novelty course Hahn's Peak Hill Climb Runners climb four miles to a 1912 fire lookout tower atop Hahn's Peak, up a final talus slope, while keeping watch for the 'North Routt Yeti.'
- Animals Idaho Springs Pack Burro Race A beginner-friendly 5–6 mile burro race that starts after the Main Street parade, with rental donkeys available for first-timers.
- Animals Leadville Boom Days International Pack Burro Race The second leg of pack burro racing's Triple Crown, finishing on Harrison Avenue during Leadville's Boom Days mining festival.
- Costume and theme Mike the Headless Chicken Festival 5K Runners 'run like a headless chicken' to open a festival honoring the Fruita rooster that lived 18 months without a head.
- Mud and obstacle Muddy Dash – Denver A beginner-friendly 5K mud run with obstacles and mud pits at Colorado National Speedway, followed by an after-party.
- Iconic tradition Pikes Peak Ascent & Pikes Peak Marathon Runners climb about 7,800 vertical feet up Barr Trail to the 14,115-foot summit of Pikes Peak: the Ascent finishes on top and the Marathon turns around and comes back down.
- Quirky format Ragnar Trail Colorado An overnight trail relay at Snowmass ski resort with nearly 18,000 feet of total climbing under snowcapped Rockies peaks.
- Food and drink SKECHERS Hot Chocolate Run Denver The Denver stop of the national chocolate-themed race series, where finishers get a mug of chocolate fondue and hot cocoa.
- Novelty course Telluride Foundation Rundola: Run for Good Telluride's Fourth of July footrace climbs 1,800 feet up the ski mountain from the gondola base to San Sophia Ridge.
- Novelty course Vail HillClimb A summer race that climbs about seven miles straight up Vail Mountain from the village to Mid-Vail, then rides the gondola back down; it reached its 50th running in 2026.
- Animals World Championship Pack Burro Race (Burro Days) Runners lead pack burros on a rope up 13,185-foot Mosquito Pass and back in a race held since 1949.