Colfax Marathon Relay

http://www.coloradocolfaxmarathon.org/

http://www.coloradocolfaxmarathon.org/CharityPartners/CharityPartnersProgram.aspx

Colfax Marathon Relay D.I.R.T
Got up @5 after not getting much sleep. I guess I was anxious for my first road race in 2 years (not counting Triathlons). I had a bowl of oat meal and a banana for breakfast.

Left the house in Boulder for Denver at 5:45 to drop Emma and Kylee (leg 3 and leg 5) off at their respectable transition zones.

The marathon started with Chris as lead off (3.8 miles) at 6:05am. He made sure to get there early and was rewarded with a great front of the pack starting spot with the 7 min mile pace racers and was accompanied by Full, half and Relay loonies.

Soon after the start I arrived at my T zone which I thought was probably the coolest one. We had 2 live bands playing and a guy in a gorilla suit running around.

Chris handed off to Scott for the 2nd leg of 5 miles after 26 mins of glory and as one of the top 10 teams. Scott had a boring straight shot down Colfax Ave., but wasted no time in collecting colored bib numbers and improved our positioning, set the tone of D.I.R.T with his 33min shift. So fast in fact that Emma was not even ready. She was expecting him 10 mins later and didnt have time to warm up let alone get her warm ups off to show her unique uniform. She jumped to the line and sped away under stress. When she passed my transition zone I hardly recognized her because I was looking for her in blue. We call her leg "incognito" since she passed 2 more teams that didnt even know she was a relay runner (due to the hidden bib number and D.I.R.T uniform). Emma had a leg that would choke a pack mule..7.4 miles out and back with about a 300ft elevation gain. Poor planning by the race committee on that one. Miraculously though she was able to finish in just 47 mins, right on the time I was expecting her.

It was hard for me to see the runners since they had to come into a parking lot to reach the transition. I waited at the road and then ran back to the arch when I saw her. The plan was to hand her the keys to the truck and for her to trade me with a watch (somehow I forgot my watch at home, huge freshman mistake), and I was also supposed to tell her where the truck was while I stomped down on my way. I pretty much went out at the same pace that Emma came in, which was 6:30-7:00 min pace approx.
It was a smooth transition and Scott actually could have been there for it but the race officials told him to walk the wrong way to catch the bus back to the start/finish at City Park.

I passed 2 full marathon runners in the first mile and held one of them off until the conclusion of the second. This is where my calf tightened up and pretty much shut down. My shins also locked up and I ran in the grass for a bit to see if that would help. Leg 4 was included a majestic lake (Sloans Lake) where I could see the next leading relay team of women (I really wanted to pass this team-Team Boulder Express), but she was half way around the lake, and I had no concept of pace or time, so I kept it conservative for probably longer then I should have. I ran from mile 18 to 21, the point in the race that kills the full marathoners, I passed 2 more who just about had it. However with a mile to go I planned on kicking some Lycra and striding out to the finish. I was hindered at that point by a hill that pretty much broke my stride and made me second guess how much I had left in me. The view of Mile High Stadium and the Aquarium summoned what im good at.. kicking a great finish. I guess it didnt hurt that it was mainly downhill either. I passed a member of the Denver Road Runners. 4.7 miles never felt so long!

I saw Kylee rearing to go, I guess after a 2 hour wait you would be that ready too. Not knowing my time exactly but I knew we were still on pace for our goal time of breaking 3 hours. I high fived our anchor leg and she was off after handing me her bag of warm up gear. The Marathon started at 41* but by this time the sun was high (only about 8am still) and more like 46*. Kylee had a smooth 5.3 mile journey about downtown Denver. She got to see all the sights.. city hall, Broadway, and some really sketch areas of dead quiet. What she didnt notice (and what we found out later) was she ran through a gas leak that later on at 9am the fire fighters were called to action for. Race officials were faced with a decision to either let the racers run through it, or divert and add to the course at mile 22. They decided to put the racers in danger. Kylee gunned down an impressive 31 min leg, passing 2 relay teams and finishing us up with a time of 3:54!! Go D.I.R.T!!

Emma picked me up at the Aquarium and we all met up at city park for some BBQ, free beer, energy drinks and good times. For a few of the members of the team this would be the first time they would meet, knowing only that they wore the same shirt. Its great when running can bring people together.

In all the organization of the event wasnt the best and the Colfax course takes a lot of imagination to battle though (pretty boring).

We placed 6th of all 450 relay teams and 1st of 150 teams in the Co-ed/Charity division. We received the great honor of the Colfax cup with a pair of complimentary Native Shades for each member. I want to extend my gratitude to all the volunteers, including the nice old couple at mile 20 that took it upon themselves to set up and fund their own water station. And to the team for getting the job done and coming away with our goal realized and a well deserved win. See ya'll next year when we defend our title, and better our time.