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Comments: Originally I was supposed to run this race with my wife, but due to her work committments she couldn't train enough to feel ready. I had an 18 miler scheduled for this weekend, so I decided that I would run the race watching my pace and HR through 18 and just see how it went from there. I wanted to walk the aid stations to ensure that I got enough fluids in me, but overall I held my pace at 9:20ish through the first 18 and then I let it start to come up after that. The course started off by dropping about 1000 ft in the first 5-7 miles, so I was cautious not to go out too hard knowing that it would (might) burn my quads. I settled into a good pace and just watched my HR after that only checking occassionally to see my avg pace (man, I love having my Garmin - so much feedback available). Once I hit the 11 or 12 I decided to pick up my pace a little and see how it felt. At this point, the course had flattened out a bit so I didn't feel like I'd pay too much for going harder on a downhill. At 16 I decided to back off as my HR started getting up into Zone 3 and I didn't want to finish at that kind of pace. I hit 18 miles and felt good but I knew that it would be a little bit of a struggle from there on out so I backed off quite a bit. I saw some Team In Training folks a little ahead of me, so I caught up and then chatted with them about who they were running for and how it was going. These are always great stories! At one point (21 or 22 I think), one of the TNT coaches came by and yelled out to this group, "You're almost there!". A few minutes later he cruises back by and says the same thing, so I told him that he'd JUST said that a few minutes back and that we weren't almost there. He laughed and turned around (on his bike) and we chatted for a while. So, I see him a couple more times before the finish and he tells me, "You're almost there! It's just around the cornerS" (using the plural). Anyway, it's odd what you find funny towards the end of a marathon. My wife and son were waiting a few hundred yards from the finish, so I grabbed Jake and we ran in together. It's pretty cheesy and everyone does it now, but it's still great fun. Oh, they had a kids race that was finishing about the same time as me. On their (the kids) final turn to head to the finish, I see this little boy, probably about 7 or 8 in a wheelchair doing the kids race. The end of a marathon is emotional enough so I almost cried seeing this little guy giving it all he had to get to the finish..people are screaming and clapping for him, his folks and siblings are running along side of him. It was really cool to see that happening. He had the biggest smile on his face. It was unbelievable. Way to go little man! What would you do differently?: Nothing for this particular run. I knew I was going to be good for 18-20 miles and then after that I'd just have to gut it out. I wasn't prepared for a marathon, so I was looking to do anything spectacular. It was 20 miler with a 10K cool down. ;)  Post race
Warm down: Iced towels at the end of the run! VERY nice touch. I walked around a bit at the finish, drank some water and gatorade and then headed out to the hotel. We'd asked for a late check-out at the hotel and they told us that we could check out at noon! WTF? Noon? Uh, the race started at 7:30am...how about a little love for the slow runners? So, we got back to the hotel about 11:55 and I took the fastest post race shower that I ever have, loaded up the car and headed for Winter Park (to visit a camp that my org has there). It would have been nice to take a little time, but whatever. What limited your ability to perform faster: Hhhmmm....my slow running probably limited my ability to perform faster. :) Event comments: This is a beautiful course. The scenery is stunning the entire time. If you like running with crowds watching and yelling, this isn't the run for you. The course is pretty rural so mentally, you have to be able to make due without people watching. It looks mainly downhill on the profile, but it's much more rolling than you'd think. It's a great destination race. We'll be back next year and spend a couple of extra days in Steamboat Springs. Last updated: 2006-03-14 12:00 AM
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United States
Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association
62F / 17C
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 0/
Got to Steamboat Springs on Sat afternoon, checked into our hotel and then headed to race registration. Got some groceries to cook dinner and breakfast. Once that was done headed down to the pool to play with my son.
Up at 4:45am. Showered, dressed and ate a banana-nut muffin (it was a HUGE muffin) and drank some gatorade. The buses to the start line were scheduled to begin leaving at 5:45 and you were out of luck if you missed the last bus at 6:00, so I grabbed my two bananas and headed out to the bus stop at about 5:20. It turns out the bus stop was just around the corner (literally less than a 1/10th of a mile), so I stood out there waiting for a little longer than I expected. Got to meet a few folks and chatted about the course, so it was a good time hanging out. Buses loaded us up and we headed to the start - about a 35 minute drive. Got there, finished my gatorade, headed to the Port-a-potty (is there a more humbling race experience?) to take care of business and then headed to the start line.
I walked a bit to get the legs warm, but I knew that I'd be going out VERY easy so I didn't do any running prior to the gun going off.