Marathon #28 in the books

I ran the inaugural edition of the newest rendition of the Denver Marathon this morning. It was quite a fun run, touring many of the major landmarks, sporting arenas, and parks that Denver has to offer. A lot of turns, some hills, several stretches with runners going past eachother, and our names on our bibs allowing the many specatators along the way to cheer us along personally. Being an urban street marathon, my legs are a little more beat up than they were after the Boulder Backroads marathon three weeks ago. And, I suppose, this being my second consecutive week of 81 miles is also contributing to a bit of leg soreness - and the dire need for a nap this afternoon ;-).

My pacing during the marathon was interesting. I was none too peppy towards the end of this week and did not have high expectations for running pace today, but at the start of the marathon I felt like I was practically walking yet it turned out I was running steady 10 mpm (my goal pace was to run at a ~10:30-11:00 training pace). I stayed right around 10s until miles 15-20 when I crept into the upper 10s - which seems to be an unfortunately common pattern for me...to slow down in the middle third of any distance race. However, another common pattern within marathons for me is to perk right up as the miles remaining drop into single digits - and that's just what happened today. Except for a portapotty wait/stop at mile 8, Mile 17 was my slowest mile of the day (10:58) then the pace gradually quickened, the smile broadened, and I cruised it on in with miles 24, 25, and 26 all at 9:48 and 9:49.

My legs are a bit achey, even after hosing them down with cold water, and my feet feel like, well, they've been pounding pavement for a few hours today. Other than that, all seems to be well. The true test of current fitness will be tomorrow when I go out for my 15 mile run. Thankfully, I'll be back on Boulder's delightful dirt trails.