Cheyenne Mtn is probably the best school district in the city academics-wise, at least they always clean up on the CSAP. Of course, they also have the wealthiest population this side of Cherry Creek. The other cool thing about Cheyenne HS is that it butts up against a number of trails that will take you into National Forest if you follow them far enough (and across Gold Camp). Despite that, the best running-from-school place has to be Palmer, where MVP is only a half-mile away and connects you to Bear Creek and Santa Fe. Plus, the downtown area is fun: it's a bit quaint, but I enjoy the coffee shops and book stores. If clubs and biker bars are your thing, you can go to south Tejon. The best coffee shop, of course, is Suga's, on south Cascade.
At present there are also a number of charter schools operating that give you some options, but the waiting lists are pretty long. Cheyenne Mtn Charter has one of the best K-8 schools in the state (they've perfect-scored the CSAP a couple times in the past few years), and James Irwin and The Classical Academy are coming along well with high schools. Of the two TCA has better scores, but James Irwin works with lower socio-econ kids. Neither is very close to the center of town.
Schools to avoid like the plague unless you have a savior complex: Sierra and Harrison. They pay more, but the kids are god-awful, and you might get shot, or perhaps just knifed. They really aren't that bad, but they are as ghetto as one gets in CS.
For running stores: CRC may be a good store if you want Nike, Adidas or Fila. If you want anything else (Brooks, Asics, Mizuno, Saucony, etc), go elsewhere. They just don't have it. Personally, I like BRC.