Pretty good race. I was aiming for a 4-hour marathon and feel like I achieved that. It had been a hard spring, with two sinus infections, two conference papers and a trip to Disneyland all interfering with training. Going in, I thought I'd be lucky to pull off anything between 4:00 and 4:05, and more realistically would probably come in somewhere between 4:05 and 4:10. The 4:00:42 was awesome! The last few miles were the hardest (as is expected!) and I gave it all I had. I'd still love a sub-4:00 marathon and feel that's within my reach, but it wasn't happening this year. That said, I shaved nearly 12 minutes off last year's Steamboat Marathon time, so again, I was really really pleased with these results.

Also, kudos to the 4:00 pace leader, who was awesome. I really appreciated his encouragement. I didn't start with them because I ended up too far back in the corral and spent the first 4 miles or so chasing them, but once I caught up I tried to hang in with them as long as possible. Around mile 20 I was hurting and fell back, but managed to chase them down again in the next couple (that's something, right?).

Does lay on the grass count? Eventually I stretched and started walking around. Also scored a post-race massage!


Too much going on this spring.


The second drink station was caught unprepared because Denver hadn't turned on the water, but it was a long way 'til the next one. I was grateful I'd brought some of my own hydration!