Running News Daily

Every fall, a group of Denver runners celebrates National Taco Day by running 31 miles using the fast food Mexican chain as aid stations

Imagine you’re 12 miles into a running race and you arrive at an aid station, where, instead of refueling with energy gels, you’re required to eat a 540-calorie Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme. 

Yes, that’s one of the mid-race snacks you’ll need to consume if you want to be an official finisher of a bizarre and spirited, 31-mile run through the greater Denver area.

Welcome, if you dare, to the annual Taco Bell 50K Ultramarathon. 

What started as an offhand suggestion on a Saturday morning training run has now become a stupid and fun gastro-intensive ultra-distance event with 10 “aid station” stops at various Taco Bell restaurants. But, as silly as it seems, it’s all about sharing the community of running, says founder Dan Zolnikov. 

Held every October for the past six years, and loosely coinciding with National Taco Day (yes, that’s a thing), it’s an unconventional and entirely unsanctioned fun run that has several ridiculous rules—a.k.a. the semi-optional Taco Bell 50K Commandments that are printed on the back of the event’s race bibs—including the need to eat something from the Taco Bell menu at every stop. 

While that could mean consuming something small at most of the restaurant visits—like, say, an order of Nacho Fries or Cinnamon Twists—the fourth and eighth aid stations demand a higher level of gastrointestinal fortitude. At those stops, participants must opt for one of the larger and more calorie-intensive “Supreme” menu items, such as a Crunchwrap Supreme, Burrito Supreme, or Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Tacos Supreme.

“I always tell people it’s fun until the fourth stop,” says Zolnikov, a Denver lawyer and avid ultrarunner who started the event in 2018. “Most of those that are new to it are like, ‘Wait, I’ve gotta eat a Chalupa Supreme or a Crunchwrap Supreme and then keep running for almost 20 more miles?’ And we laugh and say, ‘Yep! That’s what we do.’ Honestly, that’s when a lot of people are like, ‘I think I’m just going to go home.’”

Running the Taco Bell 50K is what many ultrarunners call out-of-the-ordinary Type 2 fun—something that conceptually sounds fun before and afterwards, but in actuality is not quite that fun while it’s happening. But word has gotten out and it’s been compelling enough to have grown to a record 40 participants this year. There’s no entry fee, but each runner is expected to pay for their own food. 

While the Taco Bell chain of 7,000 Mexican-themed fast food restaurants isn’t a sponsor of the event—and the event organizers explicitly remind participants of that—a Denver-based Taco Bell franchise group agreed to open one of its locations early this year to accommodate the 7 A.M. start and welcome runners with free breakfast burritos, thanks, in part, to the persistent prodding of Jason Romero, one of the event’s original instigators.

Not just a zany group run, the Taco Bell 50K is rooted in ultrarunning lore and takes cues from some of the country’s most famous races. Not only does the course alternate between clockwise and counterclockwise every other year—a la Colorado’s Hardrock 100—it also requires runners to keep their Taco Bell food wrappers as an ode to how runners need to tear a page out of hidden books on the Barkleys Marathon course.

While Leadville 100 luminary Ken Chlouber has famously motivated runners for 40 years by saying “You’re better than you think you are, you can do more than you think you can,” Romero says the motto of the Taco Bell 50K is that “you’re hungrier than you think you are, and you can eat more than you think you can.” 

How does a convoluted event like the Taco Bell 50K get started in the first place? At a farmer’s market, of course. 

During long Saturday morning training runs in the spring of 2016, Zolnikov and running buddy Mike Oliva developed a habit of refueling by eating fresh, Colorado-grown or locally crafted food at Denver farmer’s markets. On one run, Oliva randomly stopped to use a bathroom at a Taco Bell and suggested to Zolnikov they should consider changing their route the next weekend and make Taco Bells their impromptu aid stations. 

“As soon as he said it, we laughed but then there was this awkward, five-minute silence between the two of us,” Zolnikov recalls. “We were just kind of jogging along and not really saying anything, but he said it so it was out there. I think we realized it was a stupid idea, but, as ultrarunners, we kind of wanted to do it. So I asked him, ‘Do you want to do that next week?’ And he was like, ‘No dude, just forget I said anything. Let’s just forget it.’” 

Although the idea never conjured up mouth-watering excitement, the odd craving to do it never went away. The banter about the idea continued on their Denver running Facebook group, as well as at weekly training runs of the Denver chapter of Achilles International, a running club in which runners with disabilities are guided on weekly training runs and weekend races. 

Oliva started that group in 2013, and it has met for weekly runs at Denver’s Washington Park every Monday night for the past 10 years, developing an easy-going camaraderie between guides and runners. 

“This talk about running to Taco Bells went on for about two years, and finally I got sick of hearing the trash talk, and just said, ‘That’s it, we’re doing it,” says Romero, 53, a regular Achilles runner who is legally blind. “And as soon as I said it, it kind of got silent. But I’m not about talking, I’m about doing. So I said, ‘You put together a course and we’re going to do this.” 

Within a few days Zolnikov had plotted out a course using Google Maps and Strava, connecting nine Taco Bells in the Denver metropolitan area in a 31.52-mile loop. (To make it an even 10 aid stations, the event starts and finishes at the same Taco Bell on the southwest side of the city.) And then, a few weeks later, in October 2018, seven courageous runners gave it a go and five finished in about seven and a half hours. (The other two tapped out, waving the white napkin of surrender midway through the route.)

Although it was mostly a celebratory season-ending fun run among a core group of friends for the first few years, it has garnered more interest as word of mouth spread. A few of the Achilles runners have joined in the fun every year.

“It’s not a glamorous route,” says Ben Garrett, who took over as race director after running the Taco Bell 50K for the first time in 2022. “It’s kind of what you’d call an urban ultra through the ‘scenic’ parts of Denver.”

Garrett, a 25-year-old structural engineer, was training for his first marathon when he was cajoled into joining the Taco Bell 50K—despite never having run more than 16 miles. He joined willingly and finished, giving him a boost of confidence heading into the Disney World Marathon three months later.

“It was great to know I could run that far before my marathon, especially knowing I had a stomach of steel after that,” Garrett says with a laugh. “But it also inspired me to run more. After my first marathon, I did another marathon and then a couple of 50Ks. Now I’m hooked for life.”

There are no winners, and there are no prizes. Instead over the years, runners have piled on extra gastrointestinal challenges for extra satiation. 

There’s the Baja Blast Challenge, which entails only imbibing two liters of Mountain Dew Baja Blast during the run, and then there’s the Diablo Challenge, which consists of oozing a packet of Taco Bell’s next-level hot and spicy Diablo Sauce on every single food item throughout the run. (By the way, two of the more precarious event rules state that no Pepto Bismal, Alka Seltzer, Pepcid AC or Mylanta will be allowed on the course, and the bathroom stops are only allowed at the Taco Bell restaurants.)

As if consuming 1,500 calories during the run wasn’t enough, some runners have added their own challenges—such as devouring a Voodoo Doughnut during the middle of it—and many runners engage in the Diablo Shooter Challenge, which is simply sucking down a packet of the restaurant’s fiery hot sauce to conclude the run. But to be fair, one of the forgiving commandments is the notion that every runner can take a mulligan and skip eating at one of the stops.

“It’s just meant to be a fun run,” says Denver runner Bill Garner, who has participated in five of the six Taco Bell 50Ks. “It’s the one ultra where you’re just really out there for the camaraderie. I don’t really feel like anybody’s racing, although I’m sure somebody’s going to show up one year and try to run it all-out. But for most of us, it’s a big camaraderie run.” 

It is mostly about the community spirit that pervades running, but for Garner, the Taco Bell 50K inspired him to run farther and pursue new running goals. Prior to participating in the first event in 2018, the 53-year-old cybersecurity technology specialist and strict vegetarian primarily ran marathons and half marathons on the roads. Since then, his focus has become ultra-distance races on trails, and believe it or not, he typically relies on cold Taco Bell bean-and-cheese burritos in his aid station resupplies.

“It’s the perfect ultra fuel,” says Garner, who consumed numerous Taco Bell delicacies enroute to finishing the Kansas Rails to Trails 100-miler in 2019. 

“I thought these ultrarunners were crazy, and I jumped into this because it was crazy, but then it changed my life,” he says. “I had never run an ultramarathon before I did the Taco Bell run, and I definitely learned that, if you just keep eating, you can keep going. That’s what ultras are all about.” 

A few years ago, Portland, Oregon, runner Bobi Jo Ousnamer befriended several Colorado runners in an online forum while training for the Pikes Peak Marathon. They told her about the Taco Bell 50K and asked her to come out and run it in 2019, but she couldn’t fit it into her schedule because she was training for her first 100-miler. 

However, she made it out for the 2020 edition, amid the Covid-19 pandemic. (That year, a small group of runners ran through Taco Bell drive-thrus to order their food because the inside dining areas weren’t open.) During the run, she admitted she had devised her own Taco Bell 50K course in Portland. That immediately sparked interest in doing Denver and Portland events on back-to-back days, which they finally pulled off in 2022 on the day of the Portland Marathon. 

That event included stops at seven Taco Bells and a marathon aid station a friend organized on her front lawn, where they devoured homemade breakfast tacos. Calling it the Double Deuce Challenge, it included 62 miles and 18 taco stops in two cities in less than 36 hours.

“I made the mistake of mentioning to Jason Romero that I had created a Portland course and he was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re doing a double!’” says Ousnamer, 34, who works as a juvenile public defender in Portland. “So for the fifth anniversary, he announced that we’d be doing this double. I think we all thought he was kind of joking, but as the months went on, he was like, ‘All right, I’ve got a plane ticket so we’re doing this.’ The Taco Bells are not as close together as the Denver ones and it’s hillier in Portland, so it was a bit of a bigger challenge. We were definitely feeling it on day two.”

Although the Taco Bell 50K has always meant to have been a low-key, end-of-the-season celebration for local runners, it’s continued to gain notoriety and to push the envelope of what’s possible. Runners in Texas and New Jersey have reached out about developing something similar, as have a couple of running clubs in Europe. Although the event details were typically only posted on Facebook when Zolnikov managed it, Garrett upped its visibility and inclusivity by developing an informational website with a link to the Strava map of the course.

Will the Taco Bell 50K continue to grow? 

“Honestly, I never wanted to see it start to begin with, but it’s kind of turned into this force of nature that’s bigger than me and bigger than Jason, and it’s become its own thing now,” Zolnikov says. “People can use it for whatever they want it to be, and if someone wants to get bragging rights for racing through it as fast as they can, go for it. My thing has always been about getting together and running, and, OK, ‘Let’s do this kind of dumb thing, and let’s have fun doing it.”

Jakob Ingebrigtsen brought his remarkable 2026 season to a fitting close on home soil, winning the men’s street 1500m at the inaugural Runfest Norway in Sandnes on Friday.

Competing in front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd, the Olympic and world champion took control of the race from the early stages and maintained his authority through the finish, stopping the clock at 3:40.7.

Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen followed in second in 3:43.3, while Sigurd Tveit completed the podium in 3:47.8.

The unusual street race added another dimension to the occasion, with 273 runners taking part on the same road and sharing the course with one of Norway’s most accomplished distance runners. For the recreational participants, it offered a rare opportunity to compete alongside Ingebrigtsen in an event that brought elite athletics and mass participation together.

The victory also provided a fitting final chapter to a season that began with significant uncertainty for Ingebrigtsen. After undergoing major Achilles surgery in February, the Norwegian was forced to miss a substantial portion of the summer campaign as he worked his way back to full fitness.

His return, however, quickly developed into another championship-winning chapter. In Birmingham, Ingebrigtsen captured European 5,000m gold before adding another major title at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, where he won the 5,000m.

Those performances transformed what could have been a disrupted season into another year defined by championship success and a determined return to the highest level.

Now, with the Sandnes victory added to his 2026 record, Ingebrigtsen closes the year exactly where it began in spirit — overcoming adversity, rebuilding his form and once again competing at the front.

From Achilles surgery in February to major championship victories and finally a 1500m win before his hometown crowd, the Norwegian has given his 2026 season a memorable final scene.

Olympic 100m hurdles champion Masai Russell has announced her engagement to longtime partner Robert “Robbie” Springfield, adding a major personal milestone to the remarkable journey of one of America’s leading track and field stars.

Russell shared the news with her followers, revealing that Springfield had proposed and that she had accepted. Reflecting on their relationship, the Olympic champion described him as her best friend and expressed her excitement about spending the rest of her life with him.

The couple’s relationship dates back to their college years at the University of Kentucky, where both were student-athletes and competed in track and field. Russell established herself as a standout hurdler, while Springfield competed in the long jump, giving them a shared understanding of the demands, sacrifices and pressures that come with pursuing success in athletics.

Springfield has since transitioned from competition into coaching. A former collegiate long jumper, he is now part of the coaching staff at Morehead State University, where he works with the programme’s sprinters and jumpers.

Their relationship has developed alongside Russell’s rise to the top of the sport. The defining moment of her career came at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she captured gold in the women’s 100m hurdles, securing her place among the sport’s Olympic champions.

Away from competition, Springfield has remained a familiar part of Russell’s journey, sharing in the demanding periods of training and competition that accompanied her pursuit of Olympic success. Their connection has consequently grown from a college athletics relationship into a long-term partnership.

The engagement now marks another significant chapter for Russell, this time away from the track. After reaching the pinnacle of her sporting career in Paris, the 100m hurdles champion is beginning a new phase of her personal life alongside a partner who has been part of her journey since their university days.

From competing on the same collegiate stage to building a future together, Russell and Springfield’s story has evolved alongside two careers shaped by track and field. The Olympic champion will now balance this new personal chapter with her continuing ambitions in athletics

The women’s race at the 2026 TCS Amsterdam Marathon is shaping up to be one of the most competitive editions in recent years, with a deep international field set to take on the fast Dutch course on Sunday, October 18.

At the centre of the contest will be four Ethiopian athletes who have already broken the 2:20 barrier, creating the prospect of a fascinating battle for victory and a possible assault on the course record of 2:16:52.

Defending champion Aynalem Desta will return to Amsterdam looking to retain her title after producing the biggest performance of her career at last year’s 50th edition. Desta won in a personal best of 2:17:37, establishing herself among the leading marathoners in the field and setting the benchmark for this year’s contenders.

Standing in her way will be fellow Ethiopian Meseret Belete Tola, a former Amsterdam champion who knows exactly what it takes to succeed on the course. Belete Tola captured the 2023 edition in 2:18:21, and her return adds another layer of experience and proven quality to an already formidable lineup.

The field also includes Mestawut Fikir Truneh, who arrives with an impressive marathon pedigree. Truneh finished runner-up at the 2024 Berlin Marathon in 2:18:48, demonstrating her ability to compete at the highest level on one of the world's major marathon stages.

Completing the quartet of sub-2:20 Ethiopians is Buze Diriba, whose personal best of 2:19:34 places her firmly among the leading contenders. With four athletes possessing credentials below 2:20, the race is likely to develop into a tightly contested battle from the opening kilometres.

The depth extends well beyond the leading quartet. Desi Jisa Mokonin, representing Bahrain, Yeshi Kalayu Chekole of Ethiopia and Nazret Weldu Gebrehiwet of Eritrea have all established themselves as serious marathon competitors with performances approaching the 2:20 mark.

Another major name to watch is Abeba Aregawi, the former 1500m world champion representing Sweden. Aregawi has successfully transferred her talents to the marathon and made headlines earlier this year by setting a Swedish national record of 2:23:12 on her debut. Her presence adds another intriguing dimension to an already high-quality field.

Amsterdam’s marathon course has consistently provided an opportunity for elite athletes to produce fast times, and this year’s women’s lineup has the depth to turn the race into a genuine test of both championship racing and outright speed.

With four athletes already inside 2:20, two former Amsterdam champions returning to the start line and several other accomplished marathoners ready to challenge them, the battle is expected to remain open deep into the race.

The ultimate target will be the Amsterdam women’s course record of 2:16:52. Whether the leading contenders can threaten that mark remains to be seen, but the quality assembled for October 18 ensures that the record will be firmly in the spotlight when the race reaches its spectacular finish inside the Olympic Stadium.

The 2026 Valencia Half Marathon is shaping up to be a thrilling contest of speed, endurance and tactical brilliance, with some of the world’s finest road runners set to converge in Spain on October 25.

Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo and Alex Matata will be among the leading contenders, facing a formidable Ethiopian challenge spearheaded by Jemal Yimer and Tadese Worku. The field also features Rodrigue Kwizera, who boasts the fastest personal best among the leading entrants at 58:16.

Ebenyo arrives with a personal best of 59:04, placing him firmly among the athletes capable of sustaining a demanding pace over the 21.1-kilometre distance. Matata, who owns a 59:11 best, adds further Kenyan strength, while Andrea Kiptoo brings another sub-60-minute credential to the race.

Yimer has already established himself as one of the fastest athletes in the field with a 58:33 personal best, while Worku has clocked 58:35. Kenya’s Owen Korir, with a best of 58:58, further underlines the remarkable depth of the men's lineup.

Valencia Half Marathon 2026 Entries

1. Rodrigue Kwizera (Spain) — 58:16

2. Jemal Yimer (Ethiopia) — 58:33

3. Tadese Worku (Ethiopia) — 58:35

4. Owen Korir (Kenya) — 58:58

5. Daniel Ebenyo (Kenya) — 59:04

6. Alex Matata (Kenya) — 59:11

7. Andrea Kiptoo (Kenya) — 59:11

8. Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain) — 59:42

9. Said Mechaal (Spain) — 1:00:24

10. Adel Mechaal (Spain) — 1:02:30

Kwizera, who finished second in Valencia last year, leads the field on paper and will be seeking another standout performance on the famously fast Valencia course. With several athletes carrying sub-60-minute credentials, the race has the ingredients for an aggressive battle from the opening kilometres.

Beyond the headline names, the men’s field is deep and highly competitive, bringing together a strong collection of experienced international athletes with proven ability over the half-marathon distance. With so much quality packed into the lineup, the race promises an intriguing battle in which tactics, endurance, positioning and finishing speed could all play a crucial role in determining the eventual champion.

Yet personal bests will count for little once the gun goes off. The title could ultimately be decided by patience, positioning and the ability to respond when the pace begins to rise in the closing stages. Every surge, every tactical move and every second saved could prove decisive on the road to the finish.

With Kenya, Ethiopia and Spain represented by athletes of exceptional quality, Valencia promises a high-octane men's showdown in which the leaders are likely to be separated by only a handful of seconds. The final kilometres could provide the defining moments of a race packed with speed, ambition and anticipation.

On October 25, the question will be simple: who has the strength to command the streets of Valencia and claim the coveted half-marathon crown?

 

April 19, 1982. The Boston Marathon unfolded under unusually warm, sunny conditions, and by the closing stages, the race had become a private battle between two very different American runners: Alberto Salazar, already one of the biggest names in distance running, and Dick Beardsley, the Minnesota runner who had emerged as a serious marathon contender.

For roughly nine miles, from the Newton Hills toward the finish, Beardsley did much of the leading, with Salazar tucked close behind. Neither man could shake the other. They ran deep into Boston locked together, trading surges and refusing to surrender an inch as the crowds along the course grew louder.

Salazar finally made his decisive move with less than a mile remaining. He opened a small gap, but Beardsley refused to disappear. The Minnesota runner chased him through the final streets, closing again as they approached the finish.

Then came the final sprint.

Salazar held his form and reached the finish first in 2:08:52, with Beardsley only two seconds behind in 2:08:54. It was an extraordinary result: both men broke 2:09 in the same Boston Marathon, and both shattered the previous course record.

The race became known as the “Duel in the Sun,” and it remains one of the most celebrated head-to-head battles in Boston Marathon history. Beardsley had not won, but his performance established him as one of America's elite marathoners.

For Salazar, however, victory came at an enormous physical cost. Immediately after crossing the finish line, he collapsed and required emergency treatment, including several litres of intravenous saline. The combination of heat, dehydration and an all-out effort had pushed his body to the limit.

Salazar's marathon career would never again produce quite the same kind of performance. His celebrated 1981 New York City Marathon victory had produced what was initially considered a world record, although the course was later found to be short. His Boston triumph therefore became one of the defining victories of his career.

Beardsley's story would take an even more difficult turn. Injuries disrupted his career, and after returning to the highest level, he suffered a devastating farm accident in 1989. Further accidents, surgeries and severe physical pain followed, eventually leading to a long battle with painkiller addiction.

He eventually overcame that struggle and transformed the darkest chapters of his life into a story of recovery, resilience and redemption.

That is what makes the 1982 Boston Marathon more than a two-second victory.

For one extraordinary afternoon, Salazar and Beardsley produced a marathon duel in which neither man was willing to give way. One crossed the finish line first. The other finished only two seconds behind him.

Two seconds separated them at Boston. Decades later, their legendary duel remains one of the greatest chapters in marathon history.