Colfax Marathon

It has already been more than a week since the Colfax Marathon on 5/20/12.  Sean loves this race as it is really is the "ultimate urban tour" just like the race directors say.  The course travels from City park to colfax, west on colfax to run through a fire station, along the cherry creek trail and the platte, through Mile High stadium (I believe it is Sports Authority Field this week), around Sloan's lake, by Casa Bonita, around the  Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, and then turns around in the Glens neighborhood.  

Pre-Race Photo by Bret Stevens.

Sean had a great race and PR'd by 10 minutes with a finish time of 3:12:52.  He was hoping to qualify for Boston and needed to run under a 3:10, but it didn't happen that day.  I guess it is one more excuse to run another marathon.  There were a few factors that may have contributed to the 2 minute and 53 seconds including: going out way too fast, starting the race with wet feet from the rain the day before and developing a huge blister by mile 3, stopping to "drop a deuce" by Casa Bonita, and the forgotten impact of running on pavement instead of trail. 
I had a rocky start to the race.  I fell and scraped my knee pretty badly before mile one.   My feet were really cold at the start of the race from getting wet in the grass by the port-a-potties and were numb and I caught my toe on the blacktop at City Park.  I didn't realize how bad my leg looked until I went to the bathroom at Sloan's lake at mile 9ish, then I realized that there was blood dripping down my entire leg, soaking my sock, and the tongue of my shoe was crispy from the dried blood, not to mention the splatter all over my other leg.  By mile 13, I was starting to get tired and my legs were starting to feel fatigued probably from my sore knee limp.  I was able to maintain my pace at about 8 minute miles for the first half, but I fatigued early due to all the compensating I was doing.  By the end of the race my back was the most painful part of my body and my piriformis syndrome was returning.  After the race, I actually felt decent except that I couldn't really bend my right knee and that it was pretty swollen and bruised.  My calves, upper body, and back were all pretty tired and sore the next day.  I ended up finishing in 3:45:50. 

Photo by Bret Stevens

Photo by Phil Snyder
Phil thinks that I need to get my tetanus shot updated and to be checked for STDs after the fall and no I didn't find any hypodermic needles embedded in my knee. 

photo by Bret Stevens

I have a collection of bloody trail running photos~ now I have a good collection of road rash photos.

Aside from the bumps in the road for both of us~ it was a good day.  It was great to see friends and runner's roost teammates along the course both running, cheering, or volunteering at Sloan's lake, Mile High, and the finish line.   Sean had a great PR (he had a 10 minute PR at that race the year before also).  If he keeps this up, he will definitely qualify next time.

Update 6/6/12: After having my knee hurt with every step for the last 2 weeks and noticing a bony prominence I never had before, I decided to get my knee x-rayed at work.   Turns out that I avulsed a piece of my tibia and it is now sitting by my fibular head.  Luckily, it doesn't hurt when I am running anymore and doesn't seem to be moving so I will just leave it there.