I guess I’ll start this with a little recap of what’s been going on.

About 6 weeks ago, we went out to Moab for the Canyonlands 1/2 and hung out for the weekend. The race was pretty rough, a 1:22 or so and tons of wind but the rest of the weekend was a blast. We had a huge crew out there and had some fun since it was St. Patrick’s Day.

After this race, I started to really hit the training a lot more than I had the previous few months. With the Colorado Marathon looming, I finally found my motivation. Between timing a bunch of races for Colorado Race Timing and trying to nail down the details for the wedding, I did manage to sneak in a few more races. I went out to do a trail 1/2 at Bear Creek on April 21 but ended up missing a turn and dropping. I was in third, second was a bit ahead of me but we both missed it and after an extra mile in the wrong direction, we decided it was time to call it. Fun day though and I got a solid 11 miles of hard effort in.

Running by the 5kers to the finish

Last weekend, we went down to join our Roost teammates at the Cherry Creek Sneak. This is always a fun race and one of the biggest of the year. Courtney and I both signed up for the 10 mile as a last hard run before the marathon.

I finally went out in a reasonable time for the first mile, a 5:45, as opposed to the 5:30 I did at Canyonlands. Was great being able to hold pace throughout the race and not feel myself slowing. I ran most of the race with a few Roost teammates in 7th, 8th and 9th. We were pushing each other pretty well and pushed the hills around Cheeseman pretty hard too. By mile 7, I got passed by Russ, the guy who won the Platte 1/2 a few weeks ago. We talked for a few and he said thanks for the picture I got of him at the finish and asked if he could use it for his twitter profile pic. Ha, yes, this is what we talk about mid race! After he flew by, I started to really push it. I knew with 3 miles to go I needed to kick it up a notch. I passed one of the teammates at about 7.5 miles and stayed right behind Lenny the rest of the way but couldn’t ever reel him back in. Ended up crossing the line in 10th with a 59:17 (5:55 mpm) but the results show me in 11th (someone started a few minutes back and had me beat by a few seconds by chip time). Oh well, 3rd in my age group either way.

At the finish with Lenny and Cyrus. Ran most of the race with these guys

Courtney was hoping to run 8:20s or something for the race and when she crossed in 1:18, I knew she had crushed it and you could tell by the smile on her face that she was happy. We saw tons of friends and teammates and had a blast hanging out with Andrea for the morning. We stuck around to watch the 5 mile race finish with an awesome sprint to the end by one of our guys, Keith, and a college kid. Both ran sub 25 on the roads. Impressive! Our girls also swept the podium with Kara, Kelsey and Heather running great races. Great weekend overall!

Can you tell she’s happy showing off that time? 7:51 pace!

On to this weekend . . . the Colorado Marathon in Fort Collins is Sunday!

We’re timing the Kohl 5k in Broomfield if anyone is interested in a fun race on Saturday and then heading up to FoCo after that. We’re hoping to hit New Belgium in the early afternoon and then grab dinner with some of the many many people we know that are running the half or full the next day. I ran the half with Scott in 2010 and had a blast so I’m sure this year will be fun as well. I still get a kick that my face is on the webpage for the video from that year. Here’s the video:

Not really sure what to expect for a time though with a fast course and all, I think I can get close to my one and only road marathon time of 2:44. Who knows. I’ll be happy with a finish either way! I went through the entrants list and saw that the guy that won in 2010 is back (2:38 finish) so hopefully I can mix it up a bit and work with him for a decent time! I have no real expectations on the day since training has been so sporadic but there are always the hopes in the back of your head that you never really admit are there.

Scott (6th in 1/2), me (2nd in 1/2) and Herzog (2nd in 26.2) with our awards from 2010 CO Marathon.

If you are running and we haven’t talked yet, let us know! We can let you know what we’re doing for dinner and stuff on Saturday. Or if you’re up there around noon as well, we can all check out the brewery and some other fun stuff up there.

Good luck to everyone running!