Horsetooth Half Marathon

Last weekend I ran the 2011 Horsetooth Half Marathon. Here's my race report:

Preface: 18 months ago I started running and this is my first race over 10k. I'm 6'1" 200lbs and I need to drop another 10-15lbs.

This is a brutal course. Most say it's one of the hardest road half marathons in the US. So it made perfect sense to me that I should make it my FIRST race at this distance right?

I had run parts of it in training and really thought I had a shot at 2 hours, but that did not happen today. Maybe on a flat/sea level course that would be a goal, but it turned out to be unrealistic today.

SEE THE COURSE ELEVATION PROFILE

The race started off on the street south of CSU's Hughes Stadium. The course is all up hill for @ 2 miles and I did it in 19:50. Way too fast, as my  training runs on this section were 22 mins. it's a 6.4% grade for a mile then a small flat, then 9.2% grade for the second mile. I got caught up in the adrenaline and crowd and went too fast.

The next 2-3 miles were mostly downhill then a 6% grade up for less than a mile. At the top of this hill I was feeling good and I bombed downhill for the next couple miles where I met my undoing on mile 7. It's a 3/4 mile uphill called Bingham Hill and I started the shuffle up this one. At the top I did not recover like on the last 3 hills and felt terrible coming down. I knew there was one more small up for a 1/4 mile then all flat last 5 miles to the finish.

I just never got back in a groove after the last hill and shuffled/jogged/ran for the last 5 miles except for walking the 2 aid stations. I started enjoying the group I was with and knew my 2 hour goal was gone, so I was in the 2:10-2:13 area and just had fun on the way in. There was a great crowd for the last mile and they helped!

The finish line was a welcome site with New Belgium Beer (Race ends at the brewery!) and an awesome live band (Musketeer Gripweed). I had 2 Fat Tires, ate some BBQ and went home.

I've been running 5 times a week since last fall and am probably in great shape for a good 10k PR. I did a couple 9-10 milers leading up to this race but I mostly run on the river, so most of my training has been on the flats. I need some consistent hill work and more distance runs to really get where I can be on this half which is probably in the 1:5xx's.

Also need to strategize better, which hopefully comes with experience.

All in all, this was a  very well run event with a fantastic party at the finish. I heard complaints about not having more aid stations, but I thought it was fine...water and HEED were available every 3 miles or so. This was the 38th year for this race- it's a great course, a hard course and a CO running legend. I can't wait to get out and run a flat half to see what I can do time wise. I feel like running this one will give me a lot of confidence for the summer, and I am really looking forward to running it again next year.

PICTURES (MORE TO COME!) 

Official Time: 2:13:51 (13.1 miles)