The Colfax Half Marathon and 5K weekend were very hot hot HOT! I was about halfway through my Still I Run streak month by the time this race rolled around, so I had been doing some running (but not racing) at elevation. My goal was to finish both runs at under the required Dopey pace of 16:00 min/mi pace.
My husband and I ran together for the 5K, so he was my appointed pacer. For the half marathon, I was on my own along with the other thousands of runners on the course with me. I brought my timer but for some reason, decided not to use it and to run as much of it as possible. I don’t believe this is a really sustainable way of running (per the Jeff Galloway method), but for this time test I figured it was fine. The pace was difficult, and I lost a little bit of steam once I got to the Denver Zoo. I had to stop to reapply sunscreen…continuous running meant that my sunscreen was sweating off. When I stopped, my timer fell off and my clip disappeared underneath the feet of runners. I pocketed my timer and it was then set that I wouldn’t be running intervals during the race. I passed and saw some friends around the zoo, which gave me a little bit of an energy boost.
I kept up my pace as we exited City Park and began running on Colfax. I stopped by the sign, of course, and kept up my pace as we went slightly downhill to the fire station and Speer Blvd. I passed by both of my work places in downtown, and then I had to make the long run back to City Park. The 17th Avenue uphill and the afternoon sun beat down on us runners. I slowed down significantly and had to walk a bit towards the end. It hurt! I was really thrilled with my finish time, since I knocked off 4 minutes 7 seconds from my previous official half marathon at Surf City in February. I was so so so thrilled and happy with my performance. I dressed up as Blucifer but no one seemed to notice!
Amara in Training 