Colorado Marathon Race Report - Don Byers

Several PPTC members ran the Colorado Marathon & Half Marathon last weekend. Here's Don Byers' account of the full! Congrats to Don and eveyone out there!

2010 Colorado Marathon
Sunday, May 9, 2010 – Fort Collins, CO

Short version
3:32:59 – 8:07 pace, 7/47 AG, 136/975 OA – BQ!

Long version

I had done this race twice before. My last race here was my marathon PR – 3:26:20 - and my first time qualifying for Boston. After my unsatisfactory race in Boston last year I wanted to qualify again and maybe go back to Boston to see what I'm capable of when fully healthy.

I started training for this race way back in September. My focus was to build up substantial volume and hold it for several months, then work on speed and long runs in the month or so preceding the race. During the eight months leading up to the race I ran over 2300 miles, with a peak week of slightly over 100 miles. As is my norm, I also raced frequently and set several new PRs along the way. In other races I set new personal course bests in almost every race. Despite the generally lousy weather I managed to have decent long runs with closing miles at or near race pace. My speedwork went well. Based on all this, I was fully expecting to set a new PR. I was thinking somewhere between 3:15-3:20.

On Saturday, I met Buzz Borries, Dan Boucher, and Dawn Barker for supper. They were all running the half marathon. They all ended up having decent races and Dan set a new PR, while Dawn finished her first half marathon nicely.

Race morning seemed OK. The weather was just about perfect, around 40 at the start and warming to the mid 50s as the race progressed, sunny and almost no wind. However, the bus got to the starting area a bit later than I was wanting, and by the time I got through the potty line and completed some basic routine prerace items I didn't have much time to get in a decent warmup. I did what I could and got in the line for the start. I figured I would ease into the first mile to loosen up, then pick up the pace to what I felt would be sustainable based on my previous recent longer races. This worked well as the first mile was 7:45, then I dropped to the 7:20 range. I was cruising along and not really feeling like I was running hard. I went through 6 miles at just about 45 minutes, a 7:30 pace, right on target and feeling good. At 8 miles I was just over an hour, still on target and feeling good. Shortly after that I could feel my calves starting to tighten up. It seemed very early for that and I had run a 10 mile race a couple months ago at a much faster pace with no issues at all. I felt like I was keeping the same effort, but in the next few miles people started passing me and I knew I was slowing down. Somewhere in those miles I knew this wasn't going to be the race I wanted and I backed off some thinking I could still salvage a PR. I went through the half at 1:40:34, about a minute and a half slower than my last race here. I thought maybe by backing off I could run the second half better than the last race and get that PR. But it just wasn't happening. As I could see the possibility of a PR slipping away, the goal now turned to maybe breaking 3:30. That still seemed possible even as I went through 20 miles. Then I seemed to slow a bit more and the focus was to just get the BQ. I had to really force myself to keep going because by then my legs were getting really tight. I shortened up my stride and increased the cadence to allow myself to keep moving forward at a decent pace. I recall passing the 25 mile mark in the last race with over 18 minutes to finish thinking I could walk it in if I had to. This time when I passed 25 I only had 13 minutes and I knew I had to keep up the effort in that final 1.2 miles. Mile 26 was my slowest mile of the race as the course was getting crowded with people from the half marathon and marathoners trying to finish in good form. When I finally made the last turn and could see the finish line I was able to muster up a final bit of energy and run the last .2 at a slightly stronger pace. I crossed the line in 3:32:59. Only 3 minutes under the BQ time, but nonetheless I had made it.

I met up with Buzz, Dan, and Dawn after the race and we went to the beer garden.

I'm not overly disappointed. It wasn't like the race was a complete failure. I'm just chalking it up to being an incidence of everything just not coming together on race day. I did make the real goal of qualifying for Boston again. Now I have several months to decide if I'm actually going to Boston again. The race itself is an amazing experience, but the associated costs of travel and accommodations are quite an expense.

After I recover I've got a bunch of other races to train for this summer including my first attempt at the Pikes Peak Ascent.