THE Denver Marathon

I always said this would be the marathon I would run EVERY year since I moved here.  Or so I thought.  Still, first thing I did on January 1st, 2012, was sit down at a coffee shop in Telluride and sign up for all the races I'd be participating in.  One of them, was the Denver Marathon.  SO EXCITING.

When I completed Ironman, I only had one thing to look forward to: Denver Marathon.  And I continued to run and stay in shape.  Out of the blue, I decided to sign up for the Bear Chase 50K and train for it, which involved a little bit more hardcore trail running.  And I had the time of my life.

I hit a little emotional wall last week when my mom and brother were flying to Denver for my brother's first marathon: the Denver Marathon.  And I couldn't believe I wasn't running with him. I still, went to the packet pick up and expo with him and picked up my stuff.  I got my number and got extremely excited.  I HAVE TO RUN.

Chuckles and I ran and won!!!

Saturday came by and I was lined up at the start line with my brother.  "We will run together at least 10 miles", he said.  And I got PUMPED.  The gun goes off and we slowly move forward towards the start (we were on the 12th wave).  And 17 minutes after the gun went off, we started running.  This is going to be fun.

I focused on putting one foot in front of the other and being conservative with my pace.  I have felt pretty strong this summer but well, it's a marathon.  My brother was running a little faster than I would've wanted to, but he kept slowing down.  In reality, he was running faster than he had planned or as he would later find out... even faster than he would've wanted to.

I was still quite comfortable with my run, which was significantly faster than I ever run a marathon, but still 30 seconds per mile slower than my half marathon pace.  I was content, until mile marker 10.  Reality check: "What am I doing?  I'm running an ultra next weekend!" I slowed down, significantly and told my brother to just go.  I didn't tell him I wasn't running the whole marathon, but just let him go.  Told him to hydrate and eat and off he went.

I did a SLOW jog to the finish, basically, a walk, which messed up my half marathon time. And I crossed the finish in 2h10m.  My slowest half marathon in 2 years.  Granted, was NOT running a half marathon and was NOT trying to be competitive or break any sort of PRs.  And well, I had been pacing my first 10 miles as if I was running a full marathon.  My brain fully registered this ultra marathon attempt as I saw that sign that said "Course Split Ahead: Marathon to the left, Half Marathon to the right". Yep, this is the right decision.  I cannot run a marathon.  This is just silly.

I was content with my decision and just hung out at the finish line later.  I walked over to mile marker 25 as it was getting close to my brothers' goal time and when I saw him, I jogged with him to the finish.  He was tired and was running an 11:30 min/mile.  He obviously picked up the pace as we saw the 26 mile maker and I got to cross the finish line again.  THAT was fun.

Running with my brother the last mile to the finish. 

Crossing the finish line (and I was celebrating as if I had run a FULL MARATHON). 

Now, I'm running the 50K on Sunday, and I'm nervous.  Not sure what my goals are yet, just under 6hrs FOR SURE.. or should I say: "Under 6 hours PLEASE."  Either way, I think it'll be fun.  The weather looks pretty awesome and I know I have trained plenty.  Will report back on Sunday (after the Broncos/Raiders game, of course).

Happy running.