After the LA Marathon, I recovered much quicker than I have in past marathons and with a baby due in about two months, I wanted to get in some races.
Both of us ran considerably faster than the previous course record on a windy day that made the first half very slow, and the second half very fast. It was a blast competing in Fort Collins in one of my favorite races and a big confidence boost that I had recovered well and was going to be ready for another race before baby boy. So, I decided to give another marathon a shot. The Colfax Marathon in Denver on May 15th is the largest marathon in Colorado. The race had a bonus for breaking the event record of 2:24:35 and another bonus for breaking the state record of 2:18:06. The state record was set back in 1984 on a downhill course, which was certainly aiding a fast time. I knew the Colfax Marathon course profile was fairly hilly after racing the Marathon Relay several years ago as part of the Newton Running Elite team. I wanted to give the state record a shot if the weather was favorable. As I wrote about in recent blogs and on Instagram, I’ve been trying to practice being more grounded, while finding harmonious passion. Colfax Marathon was exciting and motivating because it provided a hard challenge for something I’m passionate about - the marathon. I had never raced a marathon at altitude and in a race without professional bottles, which would both be great ways to challenge myself. During the five weeks between Horsetooth and Colfax, I built the mileage back up to a peak of 120 miles a week. It was a short build-up but I was already coming off outstanding fitness from the LA Marathon training block, so I just wanted to get the volume back up for a brief couple of weeks. I tapered the mileage and intensity the last ten days and the weather forecast for race day was cool at the start but sunny and getting into the 60s by the end of the race with 10mph winds. My game plan was to go out slightly slower than the state record since it was net uphill the first half and give myself an opportunity to negative split the second half if I felt great.
At mile 6 I got water for the first time but failed to get more than a swallow of water from the plastic cup. I carried 3 Maurten Gels in my rabbit FKT shorts so I was able to get a gel in me but lacked having enough water to really wash it down.
I slowed with a couple splits closer to 5:30, which was probably very close to even pacing given the uphill. After mile 16, I knew I needed to pick up the pace on the downhill coming back Colfax to have a chance at the Colorado record. I did a little better at getting water from aid stations but was still probably only consuming about 8oz of water total by that point. The next four miles were fun and I was flying - 5:05-5:09/mi feeling quite good and enjoying seeing the runners who were headed out on the course. At mile 20 you go back through Empower Field and there are a lot of turns, there is more uphill and then you get on a bike path headed back towards City Park and eventually merge with the half marathoners. At this point, the combination of running hard for 20 miles, not getting enough to drink, the rising temperatures and the challenging course started to wear on me and I slowed. I knew I was well ahead of 2nd place and well ahead of the event record, but the state record was out of reach. I tried to enjoy being in each mile even though it was getting progressively more difficult and challenging.
The Colfax Marathon did a great job putting on a world class event weekend in Denver, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience to break the tape at the finish line and I’m so glad I made the choice to race again before we had our second baby.
Thanks for reading and supporting the journey. After some time off, I’ll be building up to a fall marathon with a focus on getting an opportunity to go after a marathon PR - hope you’ll continue to follow along!
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