Colorado Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Nice day (once the sun came up), very well organized race. 1000 people is not a lot for a 1/2 marathon, so after the first couple miles the race spread out quite nicely. A little too much concrete bike path running for me, but I just ran on the dirt shoulder as much as I could. The next day my legs were tired and tight, but not really sore.

Started nice and slow to make sure I'd finish, then picked up the speed a bit. Ran it as 3 4 mile runs. The first 4 I tried to run about 8:30 (first mile was 9 in heavy traffic), then 8:00, then 7:50ish. Not a big change, but ran pretty close to my pace. Most miles were 8:00 +- 10 seconds.

Run more. My longest runs were only about 10 miles, and I only did a couple runs more than 1:15, so the last couple miles were kind of tough.

Stretched, changed shoes. Went looking for massage, couldn't find it.


Mileage.


Nice race. My first time, so I don't know how it compares year-to-year. Hammer is the nutrition sponsor, which is nice since I train with Hammer Heed. I tried the "Just Run It" school, and only stopped for water once. Worked pretty good, just had to rehydrate at the end.

But be aware that it's COLD at the start. I don't even want to think about the poor people who did the full marathon. An hour earlier, and another ~500 ft higher start. Take advantage of the clothes drop and dump all your warm stuff before the start. I was wearing: a long-sleeve fleece, long-sleeve running shirt, short-sleeve running shirt, warm tights, running shorts, gloves and a running hat, and I was shivering. I'm glad I ditched the outer layer once the race started, but waiting for the race to start was cold.

Next year, I'm bringing hand warmers and getting on a later bus (so I don't have to wait as long).