The Colorado (Half) Marathon Recap & Review

Happy Monday everyone!

As you all know, I had my half marathon yesterday and instead of dividing it into a million sections, I’m throwing it all out there today…. so this may be kind of long 🙂

Angel, Megan and I headed up to Fort Collins late Saturday afternoon with just enough time to check into our hotel and head over to the expo to pick up our packets. The expo was super small and we were able to grab everything within 2 or 3 minutes.

I was kinda intrigued also because this was the first time that the timing chip was interwoven into some strip on the back of my number! Usually, they are those plastic things you attach to your shoelace, but not this time. In fact, I almost panicked because I thought they had forgotten to give me a timing chip!

A fancy number and timing chip, all rolled into one!

Anyway, Angel and I wandered around the expo for awhile, looking at everything. We found a booth where the lady made custom necklaces, and she could even make you a necklace right there, on the spot. Angel fell in love with one that said “I Run Because I Can” so she had the lady make it for her. I held off because I already had my lucky charm around my neck, thanks to San Juan Runner Girl:

After we left the expo, we headed out to downtown Fort Collins where we ate an early dinner and headed to bed. I was actually able to fall asleep by 10pm so I was pretty psyched– at least I knew I would get some legit sleep!

Sunday morning dawned bright and early at 4:30. Megan, who wasn’t racing, dropped Angel and I off at the shuttle stop around 5:30, and the buses got us up to the start around 6:15. You see, the Colorado Marathon  is considered one of the faster Boston qualifying courses in the country because it starts way up in the Poudre Canyon. The marathon obviously starts 13.1 further up, and I think someone told me yesterday that those runners dropped over 1000 feet in their first 13 miles!

(I’d love to share my mile splits with y’all, but guess what? I left my Garmin charger/docking station thing in the hotel up in FoCo so I can’t upload my stats to my computer 🙁 I called yesterday and they said they would get back to me today as to whether they could find it. Lame.)

Miles 1-3:
Holy chaos! Because we were running on a road that was still open, the officials had all of us crammed to the side of the road. Usually everyone spreads out pretty quickly, but that didn’t seem to be the case! I found myself spending the first 10-20 minutes bobbing and weaving around packs of women, and as you’ll see later, my Garmin distance definitely showed that extra movement!

Regardless, I loved this portion of the race because we were coming down the canyon next to the river, and it was absolutely beautiful. The sun had risen, the temperatures were perfect for running, and I couldn’t have been happier! The only downside was the camber on the road. Because it is carved into a canyon, the road dramatically sloped downwards into the dirt along the side. The slope was pretty steep and I noticed my knees and ankles were a bit sore because of the angle.

Angel crossing the finish line (in the pink). She was only 1 minute away from breaking the 2 hour barrier!!

Miles 4-6:
We came out of the canyon, and I was feeling great! I was literally laughing out loud at my podcast, and I was even chatting with some friendly people on the course. I met a couple who is getting married in a few weeks, and they ran the half as a jumping off point to the wedding!

Mile 6 was also the location of the one and only significant hill of the course. I had noticed the hill when looking at the topo of the course, but it was nowhere near as scary as I had imagined. I think my pace slowed by a second or two, but I was feeling so great that it didn’t really phase me.

Know what else happened during this part? The leader of the marathon caught and passed me! They had started the full at 6:15 and the half at 7am, so I knew some of the crazy fast people would pass me…. but I didn’t think it would happen at mile 5.5! I watched the awards later and this same man won the entire race at 2:32, so he deserves serious credit. FREAKING FAST!!!

Miles 7-9:
To be honest, I don’t remember a whole lot about these miles!! I was still in the zone and cruising, stopping at a water station every two miles to drink some of the Gu Bru hydration drink (pretty tasty, by the way!) The one thing that I do remember was this speedster passing me at mile 9! Luke ran the full and in his blog he had mentioned he was hoping for a 2:45, so again, I knew there was a good chance he’d be sprinting by me at some point. I gave him a little cheer, but he was in the zone, so I don’t think he heard me!

Look, I’ve almost completely eliminated my heel strike!!

Miles 10-12:
Ok, this is where my lack of training started to shine through! My legs really started to hurt a bit, especially my quads. In short, my muscle endurance was no bueno! I kept telling myself that I only had a 5k left, but it was definitely painful. Again, I don’t have my specific stats just yet, but I know these last 3 miles slowed down by a fair amount. I was hurting and I started playing mental games with myself just to take my mind off of my legs! I also found myself staring at my Garmin, willing the distance to pass by. Of course, we all know that a watched Garmin never moves, so I finally had to flip it around to the inside of my wrist to minimize the staring 🙂

Mile 13:
I finally ran up this baby hill into downtown Fort Colins and I could see the finish line off in the distance. I passed the flag that said 26 miles, so I knew that I only had 0.2 of a mile left. And, of course, this is where all of the spectators were so naturally, I couldn’t look like I was dying!

Cruising toward the finish line 🙂

In the end, my final time for the half was 2:23:02 (although my Garmin said it was for 13.25 miles– thanks to all my bobbing and weaving!) To be honest, I am mixed about the time. Of course, I am very excited because as I explained last week, this is a new PR of 12 minutes! That is a huge amount and I am happy with the improvement!! But, I know I can do better, and by a significant amount. I’m positive I lost at least 3 minutes over the last 5k alone, and I’m now pretty excited for my next half in August. I’ll be in the middle of marathon training so I will be in much better running shape and I know my muscle endurance will be in better form. In short, I’m positive I’ll do better 🙂

PS Y’all should also check out Courtney and Lauren who were both at the race too– Courtney PR’d in the marathon by 10 MINUTES and Lauren PR’d in the half by 12 minutes!!

PPS LOVED my Pure Cadence — they were the perfect shoe choice and other than my typically sore quads today, my legs feel great!