Oooo, the Denver Colfax Marathon. What a doozy. Let me give you the highlights then you can really get into the nitty gritty if you want!

RESULTS

I finished in 5:48:59 – my slowest marathon time to date (this was my 11th marathon). When I signed up for this race I predicted a 5:00 finish. As I saw the temps closer to race day, I told Steven and our friends it would be closer to 5:15-5:30. Then I ended up at 5:48:59. It wasn’t so much a “crash and burn” (although there was burning, of my skin) situation as much as a slow fade. It turns out it wasn’t so much the lack of oxygen I should be concerned about at a higher elevation, but proximity to the sun. But we’ll get to that.

I’m proud of this race. I had a huge positive split but I kept moving and battled a lot of mental demons and won with the help of Steven and our friends. Woo hoo!

BEFORE

I arrived on Wednesday to acclimate to the altitude as much as possible (thank you Val and Steve for hosting and taking care of me for so long!) before the Sunday marathon. I felt out of breath on a walk that day, a little better on a hike on Thursday (but then woke up with a bad headache that night), and decent on my Friday run. I drank SO MUCH water each day, and took Liquid IVs as race day got closer.

EXPO

The race expo was at the stadium where the Broncos play. I was excited to see it up close! I’m not a sportsball fan but I think it’s neat to see places like that.

Val and I went to the expo after lunch on Friday. I was signed up for the marathon, and Val was signed up for the marathon relay with Steve, Tiff, Tiff’s friend Trudy, and Tiff’s sister-in-law Leah.

Let’s take a second to explain who everyone is. Val and Tiff are two of my best friends, that I met through rock painting, and meet up with as often as possible. Steve is Val’s husband. Steven is MY husband. Trudy is Tiff’s best friend from her dancing days (she used to dance in shows on cruises) that we met in November and adored, and Leah is Tiff’s husband’s sister, who is also an absolute gem that I was meeting for the first time. Okay, moving on.

It was easy to park, figure out where we needed to go, then pick up our bibs. The expo was set up in one of the concourses behind the seats. So not a big expo hall, but a big hallway, if that makes sense. After we got our bibs we walked by the official marathon gear. I was disappointed a pullover I liked only went up to women’s size large. Women’s sizing is so bizarre and the large looked like a medium to me. Oh well. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t buy it.

We had fun walking through the expo. They had one path through that forced you to walk by almost all the booths. At first I didn’t spend any money, then ended up with a bright pink Colorado 303 running tank, magnets from each state I’ve run a marathon in, a book, a case for my race dots, and a new pair of Goodrs.

And when I saw you could get a CAT(!!!!) bobblehead from the State Farm booth, Val and I both made them! We had a fun time.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY

We’d tried to keep it as chill as possible but did leave the house a couple times each day. I’ll do another post on our time together with the entire group. We had so much fun together. There were so many times us four ladies would be sitting painting and just dying laughing. I loved it so much.

RACE MORNING
(switching to present tense for whatever reason)

I wake up at 3:55 (after fitful sleep) and have all of my clothes ready to go in the bathroom, and my hydration bag packed in the kitchen. The only hiccup is when I put my phone in my waterproof case the wrong way and it sounds off the emergency alarm. Ahh! I stop it as quickly as possible and thankfully don’t wake up Steven.

We needed two cars for all our people, and divided the cars by start time. Steve and I had the earliest start – 6:00 am for the marathon and first leg of the marathon – so the two of us leave the house at 4:40 and park near the course start in City Park (the others left the house at 6:00 am and went straight to the leg 1/2 relay exchange). It’s nice to have a bit of a walk to warm up. And it’s nice to have Steve drive. And to have Steve help me put Body Glide on my shoulders. All the thanks to Steve! Even more thanks to Steve below.

(Also, thanks to the race event for having the foresight to have this start so early. It was always slated to start at 6:00 am, but I think that helped with the heat.)

I eat my peanut butter sandwich on the walk to the park (I had a banana at the house). We see a huge bank of porta potties and hardly have to wait – winning the race morning jackpot! We meet up with Steve’s friend Nate and hang out with him in Corral O. I realize my phone lens is all gunky (from sunscreen and vaseline, I’m sure) and Nate has a lens cleaner wipe with him. Nate FTW!!!! It’s a great start to the morning.

Photo from before I wiped my lens

There’s a beautiful rendition of the national anthem, then the corrals start every 45 seconds. Me and my friends doing the relay had made a plan to share all our locations on WhatsApp, and I’d also told Steven and another friend I would send them a Glympse. Val sends us a reminder to share WhatsApp locations and I’m in such an energetic and goofy mood that I send her back a “you’re not the boss of me” meme as a joke, then send my location and have Steve check that it went through. Then I send out the Glympse. These details will matter later, I promise.

I get a ton of good lucks texts that morning and got many the day before and a few on the race course. I have so many thoughtful people in my life! Thank you!

The corrals move evenly and smoothly. I like that they walk us all the way to the start and we don’t have to start running well before the official start. That always makes me nuts at races!

It’s 57°F with a dew point of 42° at the start.

LEG 1 (Miles 0-6.5)

We start running at 6:10 am. I’m with Steve and Nate for maybe a mile then they go ahead, and I try to drop back and slow down. Several of my first miles are in the mid/high 11:00s and I know it’s going to get hot later and don’t want to fade out (which is exactly what I did). The first mile is a bit crowded then it thins out nicely.

The race starts in City Park, then goes onto Colfax Street and through downtown. I realize my nose is running and grab my gaiter from my backpack and put it around my neck. It looks stupid, but I need it. I see an Elvis impersonator, and someone with a Taylor Swift sign (I saw so many great signs on the course!) who gives me an “in my marathon era” friendship bracelet! That was a really special moment for me, and I’m still wearing it (even though I am actually out of my marathon era??? Thoughts?).

I accidentally hit one of my race dots (magnets to replace safety pins on your bib) and feel it slide off, then save it and put it back where it goes, then realize another is missing and I can’t find it. I get a safety pin out to pin it down and laugh at myself for losing one the first time using them (they were a gift I just received from Rachel).

We run by a lot of sites I recognized, including Voodoo Donuts and the Capitol. We run through a fire station where they advertised SHIRTLESS FIREMEN but they had an actual fire emergency and aren’t there. Sad face! There are some cool bagpipers though.

After that we run down to the Cherry Creek Trail along the river. It’s shady and cool and life is good. My legs felt heavy from the start, but I feel great in that shady portion of the trail. Ugh. If only it had remained like that.

We follow the trail out of the river area and along Elitch Gardens (an amusement park) and into the Broncos stadium. I see a text from Steven that tells me where to expect them, and run through the stadium with a big smile on my face. I think it’s so cool we get to run through there. It seems small in person, but still cool. I take some photos to send my snister’s husband, who’s a big Broncos fan.

The course splits the full marathoners and relayers in different chutes and I’m confused and think I missed Steven and friends, but see them past the exchange and have a lot of energy and do a pretend shuffle (the dance, not the type of run I’d be doing later on) and give high fives. I find out from Steve later that he had one of his fastest 6 mile runs ever! I’m so proud of him. He passed the baton on to Tiff to run leg 2 before I got there.

LEG 2 (miles 6.5 – 10.3)

I know we had a hill coming out of the stadium but ugh, it SUCKS. It sucks because it’s on a highway and just… meh. It’s like… already a hill, and I have to run up a boring open highway? Anyway. But this is a good time to point out I didn’t study the elevation profile at all and was taking an “it is what it is/FAFO” approach. This was the only hill I’d read about in the race description, by accident.

So we climb up this dumb hill and are on Colfax Street. Oh, I should explain that most of this race in on Colfax Street, hence the name being Denver Colfax Marathon. And it’s not a point-to-point on Colfax. Oh no, it’s an out-and-back. And who doesn’t really like out-and-back races? Ya girl, Kim. I did know it was an out-and-back going into it. I had looked at it that much. I figured I’d deal (by mentally breaking down).

So we’re on Colfax, my new home for 3+ hours of the day, and we leave it to run a loop around Sloan Lake. There’s Dragon Boats, colorful drummers and dancers, and lots of fanfare. As we’re running in to the lake area the lady next to me tosses trash towards a trash can that only has side slots (not a top one) and makes it, and I cheer her on and we talk about how it’s a sign that the rest of the race is gonna go well (hopefully it did for her?!?!).

The view from the lake is amazing – we can see the snow capped mountains. I’m thinking “Yes! This is why I’m running here! It’s beautiful!” There are lots of people with funny signs and costumes, cheering us on.  I made myself smile for this whole damn thing, because I was there to have fun, dammit!

99% of the lake path is in the sun, but I’m not dying yet, although I do really need to go to the bathroom. My stomach had been kind of upset from the start, but I usually go to the bathroom 10 miles in and that was the plan. So I start seeing all these texts with the group coordinating where everyone is and that might be the first time I see a “where’s Kim?” text, and I’m wondering why they don’t just look at my WhatsApp location. But Steven tells them, and before I know it, Trudy and Tiff are running to cheer me on! Trudy gets some great shots:

and they ask how I’m doing. “Good but I have to go to the bathroom.” They tell me it’s right ahead and I ask Tiff how her run was – “good!” I’m excited to hear about it later. I just knew they were going to have so much fun and great stories to tell!

I run past relay 2/3 exchange and straight to the bathrooms. Tiff passed off the baton to Val to run this leg (well before I was there).

LEG 3 (miles 10.3 – 16.2)

I get to the porta potties and there is barely a wait. In the past I’ve tried to go to the bathroom as fast as I can to save time but I often end up straining a muscle! Ha! So I go slow and get out and start running again. A volunteer comments on me adjusting my spandex back to the right spot. Ha, yeah, it’s tricky.

I run out of the park and see a man carrying four Starbucks drink and ask if one is for me. He laughs. I talk a lot when I’m racing – I made a lot of comments to spectators like that (and talked to runners too), and thanked as many police officers and volunteers as I could. They had water stops and bathrooms almost every two miles if I recall, but I was running through them because I had my own water. Oh, let’s talk about that:

FUELING PLAN

My plan was to eat every 30 mins (which I did). I had citrus Clif gels (RIP), orange GUs, salted watermelon Clif chews, and Untapped lemon waffles. The plan was to eat them in that order but I could only get one waffle down during the run (I had one right before I started too… at least I think I did? I meant to…). Then the chews melted together, so I mostly took gels.

I had 2 liters of water in my vest, one 16.9 ounce Vitamin Water and one 16.9 ounce water with Liquid IV, with a plan to get replacements from those from the crew at the 3/4 relay exchange (which I did).

BACK TO LEG 3

THIS LEG SUCKED.

Sigh. I’m just going to tell the story how I perceived it happen, then explain my error later. Oh! But first I need to tell you something NUTSO. I got distracted by the Fueling Plan detour. After I leave the bathroom and am running by the Starbucks guy I feel my cell phone slip down my back. I had gotten it out to take a photo and had missed the pocket in my sports bra when I put it away – it’s hard to hit it when I have my vest on – so it was slowly sliding down my back. WHAT IF IT WOULD HAVE SLID OUT AND INTO THE PORTA POTTY? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Phew. That was close.

Okay, back to this bs part of the course. So we’re on Colfax again and I can see the first place relayer absolutely booking it, then I start to see more marathoners behind him. And my heart starts to fill with dread, because I’m struggling, and they are already on their way back, and booking it up a hill! How are they all running so fast up this damn hill? I tell myself they must be locals, and start to feel a bit concerned that I am struggling so much with this downhill, and I still have that huge ass hill to run up in, what? 5 miles? Where even am I on the course? GAH I HATE OUT-AND-BACKS!

We finally get off that horribly hard downhill and run into the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design campus. I feel annoyed we are detouring just to run through this dumb college. Then I tell myself to get it together because I AM NOT EVEN HALFWAY THROUGH. GAH.

We leave the dumb college area (again, not dumb, I am just grumpy) and go back into a neighborhood, which despite having plenty of spectators, and a few funny interactions, is my least favorite part of the course because it’s so hilly and curvy and I just want to LEAVE it.

I go by another runner and say “this sucks, right?” and she confirms it does and I feel better. I start to formulate what I want to tell my spectators. I had noticed the warning went from green (normal conditions) at the start and is now red (bad conditions, slow down, stay hydrated, you’re f*cked) and think I might need to start a run walk. I start to daydream about the relayers maybe turning around and running the last 2 miles with me. But that feels like a pretty selfish ask. Anyway, maybe worth asking?

The highlights are hitting 13.1 and being halfway done (I was .1 off from the start and .2 by this point so I kept playing the game of, “well, my watch says 13.1 but it’s 12.9”), seeing TWO cats, and some little kids offering me a sausage and me saying “No thanks, I’m vegan!” and one saying “sorry” and the other saying “good for you!” buah ha ha. Oh! And the “this sucks” runner coming back (she was run/walking) and complimenting me on my steady pace and calling me bro. And hearing “A Long Way to the Top” on my headphones and playing it three times in a row (I listened to music the entire race).

I finally leave this HELLISH neighborhood and am back on Colfax, FINALLY headed back to the beginning. Phew. I see my crew! Val had passed her baton on to Trudy well before I got there (Val hated this leg too). Steven hands me my drinks and says he can run with me if I want to keep running. I stop to walk. I try to tell them all the things I wanted to tell them but my words won’t come out! I try to smile and act like everything is fine and tell them I predict a slower finish and my run/walk, and can Val and Tiff walk back a mile after the finish to finish the last mile with me? They say yes and I’m on my way.

LEG 4 (Miles 16.2 – 20.2)

Right after I leave them I run through a water stop, and raise my arms and everyone cheers for me. It’s wonderful.

And now I am THOROUGHLY confused about where I am and what is going on because I know we are doing an out-and-back but I haven’t hit that crazy uphill yet. In fact, I am running quite a bit downhill.

I just keep running, okay, shuffling, really, downhill and feeling more and more confused. But I go with it. WHATEVER! If that uphill wanted to turn into a downhill for me I am COMPLETELY fine with it!

I take a red vine to eat (in Leg 3 I took part of a banana from someone and choked it down) and later I take an Otter Pop (similar to a freezer pop) and expect it to be amazing but the ice is SO cold it hurts my mouth. I’m melting and don’t know it. I have salt all over me, and that is super unusual for me (the liquid IV, chews, gels, and waffles all had sodium in them).

But I keep going. I talk to spectators and runners, try to make jokes, keep smiling, keep moving my legs. I haven’t started crying yet (I saved that for the last leg).

I get a text from Steven that Trudy finished and is walking back with Tiff to run with me. THANK JEEBUS! Gah! I’m so excited to see them. Trudy gives me her hat, tells me I have salt all over my butt, and gives me cold water to dump on myself. They really pick me up, and I am happy to hear how their races went, and how everyone is doing. They let me know my WhatsApp location hasn’t been working all day! That’s the reason people were asking where I was. I feel like a bit of an ass because I sent that gif. Later I realize my Glympse must have overrode it? Maybe you can only have one GPS thingy going at a time? Sigh.

They tell me Val was really concerned when I couldn’t get my words out at the previous meetup. I tell them I was trying to smile and act normal and Tiff and I both say “she’s such a mom!” at the same time and laugh.

They run me back to the stadium, and as I get close they tell me Steve is going to run the final leg with me and I am so freaking relieved I want to cry. Maybe I did start crying in leg 4. Who knows.

There was never an uphill. Trudy confirms to be her entire leg (4) was all downhill. I remember it being called “Screaming Downhill.” And then I realize – the entire time I was struggling on leg 3? I was going uphill almost that entire damn time! UGH!!!!! (So I was obviously out of it so early on in the race that I thought I was running down when I was running up? Not sure what that means…)

I see everyone right before the 4/5 relay exchange. Trudy handed the baton off to Leah a long time before I got there. I feel bad Steve is going to miss the finish, but am glad he’s going to run with me.

LEG 5 (Miles 20.2 – 26.2)

Leg 5 is similar to leg 1 in reverse – leave the stadium, run by the amusement park, down to the trail (where I hope it would be extremely shady but no, because the earth rotates, damn science), through a different downtown street, then back to the park.

I talk to Steve. It’s a good distraction. We thank volunteers and police officers. We make jokes. I tell him some stories from my race, he tells me about his. I run out of water between miles 23-24. I walk through two water stations and up the hill out of the trail. I only walked four times on course. But by this point my pace is in the 14:00s! Crazy. I felt like I was doing the most I could, but I had some left in me for the end, apparently.

I notice my heart rate is 110 and says I am in the warm-up phase? I ask Steve if I have heat stroke, and he’s like “no, you are still sweating.’ Y’ALL, I am obviously not used to this high heat low dew point climate and my body is CONFUSED.

Steve tells me that Trudy and Tiff are going to join us a mile out or whatever and of course I want to cry. My friends are so supportive and helpful. I ask him to ask them to bring me cold water, and they show up with several waters and an energy drink. They’re amazing. We run some more. We pass beer and shots tables (I saw MANY on course!). We get close to the park and I am like “F*CKING FINALLY!” (gosh, I think I said like 6 swear words or more in three sentences when we got close – everyone laughed).

I wonder how close we are to the finish. I missed the miles 24-26 signs. And don’t realize my watch is so damn off – way more than .2 – off by almost .5 at that point! I’ve been trying so hard to run tangents, even at the end!

“Sandstorm” comes on my phone and I get a crazy burst of energy and start running a sub 10:00. After shuffling for MILES! Then start crying. Then I realize the finish was farther than I thought and slow down to an 11:00 pace. Tiff warns me not to trip over part of the race fence then I immediately roll my ankle in a divot in the road. Ha. Val and Leah join us and I see Steven on the sidelines and we get so many cheers as we all finish together! I’m tearing up just typing about it.

I am freaking elated to be done and immediately bend over and stumble and a lovely volunteer comes by with a wheelchair. I tell them I don’t need it and my friends help me walk. I get my medal and a cold water. Of course I’m not hungry and want nothing to do with bagels, bananas, or acai bowls. Just give me more water please!

It’s 78° when we finish with a real feel of 88°, a dew point of 40°, and a UV Index of 9. I am baked. I never reapplied sunscreen and my shoulders got it bad. No chafing though!

Everyone gives me a hug and tells me how proud they are, that they are inspired, that I am their hero. etc. I feel so loved and supportive. I keep crying on and off. But I don’t think anyone can tell behind my sunglasses? Hopefully? But I’m a mess.

Seriously, my friends and Steven are freaking amazing and I’m so grateful.

AFTER

We walk around a bit then decide to order food and go back to the house. I am a sloooooooooooow walk to the car but then it feels amazing to sit down! So amazing! I enjoy talking to everyone about their race and telling them stories about mine. They had such a fun day!

We get back and I take a shower and they all eat sandwiches while I have a fountain Dr Pepper (Steve remembered me saying one sounded good in the last leg and he and Val got one at the sandwich shop!) and a piece of pie. My appetite is MIA for 2 days but I force myself to eat.

WHAT WENT WRONG

Nothing! I’m amazing. No, but really, I should have started off even slower – not doing a run/walk – those actually hurt my knees, but a slower pace.

Maybe I should have done some hill work?

It should have been a cooler day! Ha. None of my runs were this warm. I think the weather really affected me. I still wonder what was going on with my brain that I thought I was going down when I was indeed running up.

Maybe not travel to Europe during my peak week of training?

And of course, being lighter (in weight) would help but whatever.

I think I did the best I mentally could have, and I am proud of that!

WHAT’S NEXT

A week off running! Then slowly getting back to running short distances with a 10-15 mile long run on the weekends. Lifting 3-5 days a week, riding my bike, and walking (?).

OTHER RANDOM STUFF

I didn’t check my body battery that am but had been getting really poor sleep and when I looked at it later, I started the day at 25 out of 100. I was not very well rested. But I felt energetic enough in the morning!

I slept so bad the night after the race. I woke up at 3:00 with sore legs and could not get comfortable and stayed awake. I finally got some good sleep last night.

I found the missing race dot when I took my clothes off to shower!

Many commented on my pink outfit and smile throughout the race. My spectators told me the pink was easy to find! It also helped I was never in a crowd, ha.

I am excited to see the FREE official photos. I smiled BIG for the photographers and saw a lot of them!

Here’s the medal and race shirt:

Description from here:

• Colorado emblem in the corners and Mile High street sign to remind runners they achieved their goal – at a mile high in Colorado.
• All the landmarks are those runners pass on the course and we showcase different elements each year.
• Stadium – drone view of the stadium – as the marathon course runs through it twice
• Ferris Wheel from Elitches – course can see only downtown amusement park in the US – roller coaster to ferris wheel.
• Daniels & Fisher Clocktower on the 16^th street mall
• Denver’s unique bridges on course – This one is on the Platte River just before you cross over to the stadium – the course goes under it twice. Denver has a great collection of bridges and we cross the Bronco bridge, go under the tressle bridge and this arched bridge, view the Confluence and bike path bridges and more
• City Park – one of the most beautiful race start and finish areas in the US. With the lake, iconic fountain, and City Park Pavilion
• Of course we included the Denver skyline, cash register building, and mountains. Which runners see as they run and at the Finish Line Festival.

HOW I PHYSICALLY FEEL

My legs are stiff, my Morton’s toes are bruised and red, and I think I started the race with one black toenail and am now the proud owner of three.

I wore Asics Gel Nimbus 25s and they didn’t bother me at all, I think that’s just what happens to me with that long second toe. I do remember using the concrete to push my heel into the back of my shoe at the beginning of the race and that always felt good.

HOW I MENTALLY FEEL

This race beat me up mentally! I was crying at the end and at the airport yesterday. I’m feeling emotionally better now. I’m proud of myself for finishing. And again, so so grateful for Steven and my friends! This would have been a completely different finish without them!