Steamboat Springs Marathon - RunMarathon

Up to mile 20 I felt good, which should have warned me. I was taking it easy, averaging right around where I was supposed to be (11 min/mi) with some faster bits on the downhill but nothing too bad. My leg muscles really started aching around the half, which concerned me since I still had 13 to go, but I felt good. At Mile 20 I was definitely tired, but still felt fine. Then my husband got a side cramp and wanted to walk. I walked with him, but it felt like I completely lost it at that point and after that I couldn't get back into running, my legs hurt and were really stiff, maybe from all the pounding on the downhills. I ran/walked the last half and felt miserable. I was aiming for 4:45 but at Mile 22 when there was one last hill, I decided I would just be happy to finish (and lucky if I could).

Eat more and better choices. I ate a bunch of those Honey Stinger chews throughout the first half but then I got sugar overload and felt bloated so didn't eat much the second half. I should have just done gels or tried to regulate the chews more. Also, I know my training was subpar for this due to injuries and things, but it would have been nice if I had had a better base built up before training and had a longer time to train. The good news is that my leg muscles were so stiff during the race that my knee didn't bother me, so yay?

Stumbled around like a zombie. Seriously, my legs were so stiff I felt like I might fall over at any point. I felt a bit nauseous but after a little bit ate a sandwich from the food station and felt better.


Definitely sub-par training. It was my first marathon, and I finished it but barely. If I do another I would like to really do it right. I had plans to do this one right with a long build up to a solid base mileage but then had a ski injury that took me out of running for a while and then I only had 13 weeks to train so that obviously was not ideal.


This was a beautiful course, as I expected. The first part was cool and scenic and the second part was much warmer but still scenic. Despite the small size of the race, it was very well run and fun to do. The after and before race activities weren't amazing, but then with such a small race you really can't expect that.