Pre-race
Arrived in Denver, and walked around downtown. It’s very different than what I remember when I was here nearly 10 years ago. The only place I recognize is the convention center with the blue bear, and perhaps Larimer Square.
We walked to the Capitol Building so I could take a picture of the step marking the mile high elevation. That area was pretty as long as you didn’t look towards the train station nearby. There were a bunch of homeless people camped out front. I had an enjoyable pre-race meal at Ocean Prime. I got a mile-high carrot 🥕cake for carb loading 😋… I love carrot cake.
I’m very nervous 😬 about the marathon tomorrow. I feel unprepared. My last 2 long runs did not feel good. I had envisioned that I could possibly qualify for Boston with this one. This is a downhill run, and is supposed to be a fast race with a higher than average percentage of runners qualifying. But now, I have serious doubts.
On another note… this hotel is really neat. It is situated inside an active train station, which is in the coolest part of town.
Post-race
O the pain… 😫 That was the toughest marathon I have run yet 🏔
We started at about 10K feet above sea level. I’m guessing it was in the high 30’s at start time. We had to shed our emergency blanket and clothes 🧥 15 minutes prior to the start. It was cold 🥶 I don’t think I have ever shivered that hard. My feet felt like blocks for the first 3 miles. By mile 5, my legs were already cramping. I thought it was because my body was still in shock from the cold, and I was running downhill.
I stopped for a bathroom break at mile 8… I knew then this was not going to be my Boston qualifying marathon. I made it to mile 12 to start the rolling hills feeling tired 😪 I pushed through those hills, running the whole time. The course flattened out, and I really had to mentally push. My legs were really cramping at this point. By mile 19/20, I mentally could not do it anymore. I resigned to partially walk. I walked the flats and the uphills. I started running again when it went downhill, and forced myself to make it to the next mile marker.
My legs have never cramped so much in my life, nor have I felt this miserable after a marathon. I met a girl on the bus who reminded me that races/runs should be fun. I reminded myself that I stopped doing half marathons, because I kept pushing myself to PR each time and it was no longer fun. I need to get back to the mentality of taking on a challenge, but having fun at the same time. I met another girl who was serious about qualifying for Boston with this race. She had a trainer, and had driven the course yesterday. If I’m serious about qualifying for Boston, then I may need to do that. However, that was not my goal at the beginning of this journey, and I don’t want to change my goal. I want to explore the states, and have fun doing it.
Not my best time… 3:51:04. But I finished! 🥳 Those first few miles running down really buffered my time 😅
I had a scheduled annual physical shortly after returning home. My liver enzymes were off the charts!… 7x more than normal 🙊 I did not drink that much… I had them rechecked a month later, and they were back to normal. It turns out your skeletal muscles release similar enzymes when stressed… and they were definitely stressed. It took me almost 2 weeks to walk normally again 🤦🏻♀️