Humbling.
Today I ran the Steamboat Marathon. The race began some 25 miles outside of Steamboat, up a climb towards Hahn's Peak. This meant that the race officials bussed everyone to the start. This means that everyone is dumped off at the top of a mountain at 6:15 a.m., with just a touch of sunlight, in 34 degree weather, to wait for over an hour before the race began. Snow. This really wasn't so bad, especially where we could find some sunlight that wasn't blocked by the peaks. Really not a bad morning. But already you could tell with the clear skies that the sub 40 degree temperatures would stay around for long.
Without much warning, 7:30 hit and the gun sounded. We were off. Down a fairly steep incline for the first mile, quickly followed by a quick up towards the highest point of the race at mile 2. Mile 1 and 2 were run at 8:21 and 8:07 respectively. I was certainly trying to keep things under control.
Mile 2-3 saw a significant down hill. Now the pace could only quicken 8:17 total, only slowing at the foot of a very, very steep hill topping out around mile 4.
Mile 5-8 was the most significant downhill I have ever run. I would estimate an 800 foot loss in about 2.5 miles. Faster pace than I would have like, each mile there in the 7's.
Already, however, I could tell I was suffering. If you have been following my blog, you will realize that I have quite stupidly run 2 "marathons" in the past 9 days, this being my 3rd. With the difficulty of this course (discussed below), I really should have taken some time. Add to this the fact that the water stops were few and far between, I knew today would be a struggle. And I haven't even hit any of the real climbs.
Miles 9-12 were all rolling downhills. Legs are feeling sore already. I'm already thinking "I need to hit 13 so I can start counting down the miles." Not a good thing.
Mile 13 came with a much needed water stop, but also with the start of some additional climbing. The elevation chart above is deceptive. It really looks to be all downhill. But significant hills over 50 feet or less over short periods barely show on the map. But they show when you are faced with them. Miles 13, 14, and 15 all saw these types of hills.
Miles 16-20 were all again downhill (of course with rolling hills in between). My pace was slowing significantly. From 8:54 at mile 16, to 9:33 at mile 17, to 10:40 at mile 18. Mile 18 again saw a much needed aid station.
I was beginning to feel the dehydration. 
Miles 19-23 were significantly uphill. It shows to be a steady incline, but the odd thing about this course is that the real climbs are so steep, that the lesser inclines and declines appear flat. Miles 19-23 were a struggle, mainly because I felt like I was on flat road or even downhills, but I was really consistently climbing.
Miles 23-25 were very tough. I was really struggling with the pain in my legs (the hills, the lack of recovery from my recent "marathons," the pounding of running downhill, and the dehydration). These miles were slow. And painful. I walked too often. I need to see mile 25. I knew I could run it in from there.
Sure enough, mile 25 appeared. The last mile was downhill. And you could see the finish line for probably 3/4 of a mile. I picked up the pace. The last 1.2 were run in 10:59, after a long walk break from 25-25.2. I steady 8 min/mile pace over the last mile really helped with the leg pain.
Then the finish line. The crowd was very supportive (one of the best I have seen). I felt like a real winner.
Total climb over 26.2 miles was 940 feet, according to my Polar HRM. Net elevation loss was over 1500 feet. Add the net loss to the gain, and the total elevation loss was somewhere around 2600 feet. Tough course. Add to this that the entire course was run over 6700 feet (8200 feet max), and it was very tough. Add to both of those a high temperature during the race of around 85 degrees, and this was probably the toughest marathon I have ever run.
All in all, I was pleased with my results. Despite running the first half in about 1:47, I placed 85th out of 315 finishers in a time of 3:55:11 for a pace of 8:59 per mile. Out of 184 men I finished 71st. The winning time for men was 2:36:02. For 25 to 29 year old men I was 9th out of 23 finishers.
Congratulations to Mike and Alan. For Mike I believe this was his 5th Marathon. He did a nice job, finishing in about the top half. Alan was celebrating his birthday. Way to finish a birthday (and did I mention he has run 3 marathons in the past year since his open heart surgery?).
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