I signed up at the last minute for this race b/c my college roommate was in town and doing the race. Plus, it started and ended right by my house. So even though I am in half marathon shape, I am in the middle of HIM training and ended up doing a 2+ hour bike ride yesterday. I decided to treat it like a training run, and try to keep myself paced slowly throughout the race. I have a problem of bonking in half marathons when I'm not fully prepared and end up spending the last 1-4 miles doing a run/walk combo.

My goal was to run slowly and hold off the bonk as long as possible. It was raining pretty hard through about mile 4, but then it cleared up and got sunny and warm. I stopped several times to use the porta-potty and to switch out my wet socks, which slowed me down. And I didn't have the juice to run the big hills between downtown and Sloan's lake either. But I kept plugging away and made it into the thirteenth mile before taking a bunch of unplanned walk breaks.

This was my second slowest half (with the slowest being my first half five years ago), but because I wasn't setting out to set a record today, I'm not going to dwell on the time.

I am ok with my performance as a training run around 11 minute miles, but I realize I need to do a few longer runs in my training from now on. I'm just not the person who can run 10 milers in preparation for a half marathon, relying on race day adrenaline to get me through the end. I also need to work on my mental toughness and what I'm going to tell myself in order to keep going when I reach the run in my HIM in August. I suppose making it through this race while tired was good prep for it, though!

A little bit of stretching; walked around the expowith a couple of friends; had adequate water and then a nice beer!


Fatigue, stomach issues


The 12 mile marker was placed somewhere near the 12.5 or 12.6 mile point. Very disheartening! Although I have to say that it was so far off most people weren't fooled.

Other than that, it was a great race. There were tons of volunteers, and everyone was so helpful. The marines on "Marine Hill" next to Mile High Stadium were great cheerleaders.