Colorado Marathon and Half Marathon

Fort Collins CO. May 3, 09

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5k, 10k, Half Marathon, and Marathon

Marathon 1000 finished; Half Marathon, 1276; 10K 482; and 5k 191

Clike here for The Colorado Marathon and Half Marathon web site

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Kelly and Sarah at the Hilton packet pick up the day before.

Sarah's first Marathon, her time 4:11:44 placed 168th of 449 women

Great job Sarah J!.

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The Half Marathon Start Area Start of the Half Marathon temp. in the mid 30's
a little cool for standing around, the tent was

full of runners keeping warm before the race

But The perfect weather for running.

I can just fly

When I found out about the Colorado Half Marathon I thought “Perfect, all down hill I can just fly, this is going to be easy, after all I run the Pikes Peak Ascent every year”.

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I hit the first mile in 7:36 and I backed off at least three times in that mile knowing I was running too fast “this is great” I thought! The second mile was more in line with what I wanted 7:50 my target time was a 1:45 Half Marathon which is eight minute miles. A little over a month ago I was thinking 7:30 miles but as it got closer to race day and the more I missed training runs my target time gradually went up ending at 8:00 minute miles.

I wasn’t feeling any effects from only getting five hours sleep last night. You wouldn’t think some one my age would get so excited over a race they couldn’t sleep. But three years ago I ran the Pikes Peak Ascent on three hours sleep.

At the ten mile mark I was 1:20:06 six seconds slow, From my knees down is starting to tingle, I have plenty of air, I'm not even breathing hard, but the lack of getting enough distance in is starting to show. This is all down hill but I don’t seem to be flying any more. My 1:45 Half Marathon is fading away. Mile eleven, my knees hurt and my feet are hot I wish they would go back to tingling I want to be finished. Just over two miles left, just stop thinking about my feet and keep running. After running thirteen miles I turned a corner and someone shouted out “The last corner” I looked up and saw the finish line and the time clock, 1:49:35 Wow I can break 1:50 There is nothing wrong with setting a new goal, and then I surprised myself by being able to speed up.

Well I made my new goal 1:49:47 and after crossing the finish line I walked away with that "post-run, runners walk limp” and a smile on my face.J

Jim Kerr

Old Town Square after the race

How to never loose your bag in the bag check.

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run run run run run run run run run run run run run run J

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