2010 Denver Rock n’ Roll Marathon – Done!

The race I’ve been training for since the beginning of April has come and gone.  My training came to a conclusion today with the running of my first ever marathon.  The inaugural Denver Rock n’ Roll Marathon took place today with 15,000 crazy people running the half and the full race.  My experience was one of a kind, with both excitement, fun and lessons learned.

My father came out from California to support me and be my “sherpa”, agreeing to hold my sweats and things for over four hours.  (Thanks dad!)  The alarm went off this morning at 4am with plans to leave by 5am.  I made a checklist and got everything organized the night before, so I was pretty ready to go this morning.  I made my customary pre-workout bagel with butter and jelly, and my Gatorade Pre drink.  We drove to my favorite secret parking garage, fully expecting for it to be filled up.  As luck would have it, my secret garage is still a secret.  Yay!  Now, all we needed to do was collect our things and catch the free bus to the start.  Problem was, there was no bus.  I don’t know what the web site was talking about when they said the busses started running at 5:15, but we didn’t see one bus.  So, we walked the mile up to Civic Center park.  Luckily, that was only one of two issues for the whole day.

The Runner’s Edge of the Rockies running club is the group I trained with all summer.  What a great bunch!  My pace group, 4:30, was full of support and positive vibes all year, and this race was no exception.  We met a small group of 4:30ers at our designated meeting area.  They were as excited as I was, and the majority of them were only running the half!  Kari, Glenn, Amy (otherwise known as Marathon Barbie), and Carrie were as excited for me as I was, offering tons of support which I really appreciated.  Thanks guys!

So, about 6:30, we made our way to the corrals.  This was a cluster, if I do say so myself.  I think they’re called “corrals” for a reason.  By the time I made my way to corral 8, the gun went off.  About 5 minutes later I crossed under the big starting arch and was off on my first 26.2!

So this is how my race went.  I had been advised to be conscience of starting too fast, so I looked at my Garmin frequently over the first couple miles.  I had decided to try and run a pace that would get me a 4:20 time, which was my first of many mistakes.  Looking back, I have no idea why I was thinking I could run that fast, since I was training for 4:30.  I thought, “what’s 10 minutes?”.  As it turns out, a lot.

Three miles into it I was right on pace with my 4:20 pace band and feeling great.  I hit the 17th street hill and powered up it like it was a downhill.  I was cruising mile after mile, feeling like I owned this race.  The race went through numerous parks in the Denver area, from City Park to Cheesman to Washington Park.  I got to Wash Park and the wheels fell off.  I had never experienced the runner’s “wall” before, but I know now what it feels like.  My ankles, knees, hips and calves started screaming at me.  My heart rate was decent, but by that time I knew my great start had come with a price.  I should have backed off a lot more at the beginning.  My cockiness of trying to run faster than I had trained had caught up with me and my body let me know it with a vengeance.

My pipe-dream goal of running a 4:20 marathon had turned into just finishing the race.  For the last 6 miles, I plodded along with a run/walk strategy that got me to the finish.  I will say though, that I had a little, well let’s say “motivational” conversation with myself for the last mile (I think it started with a “get your a$$ moving” statement), so I did run the last mile.  I crossed the finish line with a time of 4:51:36.  So, taking the positive out of it, I finished AND  broke 5 hours.  I’m happy with that.

Now, here I am at home, after taking a well needed ice bath and a few Tylonol.  My legs are still screaming and I’m assuming they will tomorrow as well.  All in all it was an incredible experience.  I’d like to say that this won’t be my only marathon experience, but it’s too soon to tell.  I’ll make that decision after the dogs stop barkin’.  I had so much fun with my training group this summer and would really like to run with them again.  I met some great friends, had some great times and ran more than I ever had dreamed.  Thanks to everyone for their support and comradery, and special thanks to my wife and kids for putting up with my Saturday morning long runs, my Monday evening boot camps and “brain” camps.  You only run your first marathon once, and I’ll never forget my first.