Steamboat Race Report

Well... I did it!  I completed my training of 548 miles, and the Steamboat Marathon in 4:56:41.

I have to say they were right - it is an ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS run.  I was smiling the entire race (and wearing a Beef Running Team/Beef... it's What's for Dinner t-shirt only added to the size of my smile, and the giggling from my internal comedy show).

The shuttle bus picked up up in Steamboat at 5:45 and shipped us up 26.2 miles to the race start.  I would have seen the entire course on the way up if I hadn't slept the entire way (which was probably a good thing).  There were 344 of us crazy marathoners which was really pretty cool.  Smallest race I've ever run.  The bus dropped us off at Hahn's Peak Village around 6:30, and the sun was already up and beating down on the mountain.  I met up with a few other Runner's Edge teammates - it was really good to have their company at the start of the race. 

The gun went off, and we all started running.  I did a great job on the first two miles at keeping my goal pace (warm-up miles).  Mile 3 was all uphill, and I could tell there wasn't as much oxygen up there to feed my muscles.  Still keep my pace going really well.  I was feeling really strong, and it was only 70ish degrees which was still relatively low.  I had trained to stop for water/gatorade every 2 miles (and it was greatly needed in this race), however, the water stops were more like every 4 miles.  And I had major cotton mouth the entire race. 

I seriously can't emphasize how absolutely breathtaking the scenary was.  For the first ten miles, that was all I could think about!  Beautiful purple and yellow wildflowers.  Green pastures for miles.  Snow topped purple mountain peaks in the distance.  Streams and lakes along the entire route.  Horses, deer, cows and baby cows nursing.  Even a coyote darted across the route at one point.  Ranchers were outside fixing fences, watching the race, etc.  Very very peaceful. 

Mentally I was really strong until mile 16ish.  By then it was blazing hot - and I was getting really dehydrated and my legs were cramping.  It was hard to get my quads to pull my legs forward anymore.  Still I told myself to run through the pain and ignore the heat.  It was constant positive support from my inner voice that kept me going.  I can't remember if it was mile 20 or 22 that had the water station where I drenched myself and drank LOTS of water... but about a quarter mile after that water stop, I lost my cookies (aka water and gatorade).  Pretty disgusting, but I knew the end was getting close and I told myself to keep running - one step at a time.  Mile after mile. 

At that point I saw a couple people get picked up by the shuttle that was driving back and forth making sure people were doing okay.  And the quantity of runners that were walking was around 80%.  Mentally it made it even harder to keep running, but it's always one of those things that if you stop it's really hard to start again.  And I knew I had my support crew waiting for me at the finish - and so I kept on running.  By mile 24 I was losing steam bad.  My muscles felt dehydrated, and didn't have much left in them.  All I thought about the last couple of miles is how I wanted to leap over the finish line - and made sure I saved enough energy to do so.  At mile 25 I ran into the girl I had sat next to on the bus ride up, Laura.  We ran the last mile together.  Kyle was there and cheered us on which gave me a little more energy and cleared brought my brain back to earth a little... and then it was funny.  About a quarter mile up the road Kyle was there again cheering for us... I told Laura that was my boyfriend, and she asked "is he a runner?" I had to say yes considering he cheer us on at two locations and all he had to get around was his legs (just like us) - but he was definitely more refreshed than we were.  With 0.2 miles to go Laura sprinted off... and I kept my legs moving, but wasn't getting much power out of them (running around a 12 min/mi pace).  I didn't want to push it too much cuz I was so hot I felt like I was gonna pass out - and that close to the finish line I didn't want to chance anything. =)

I did it though.  I got to the finish line and leapt over it.  It was awesome!  I seriously couldn't believe I was finished - it was pretty surreal.  As soon as they hung the metal around my neck I realized just how tired I was --- it was incredibly heavy - but I loved it.   Kyle, my sisters and Austin were there at the finish line, and it was amazing to see them there with smiles on their faces.