Boulder Marathon series, 5 Miler

Boulder Marathon series, 5 Miler – 10/21/2012

I was really nervous about running this race. It’s the same course I ran in April when it all went wrong. My music died by mile 2, I had no energy, and I walked more than I jogged. Today, I was determined to beat that time, and have a good race, but I was still nervous.  I picked up my mom and we headed down to the Boulder Reservoir. We made good time, and then stayed warm in the car while we waited for our race to start. We watched the Marathon runners start their race before we got out to stretch and make a final bathroom stop. A little bit later, while we were checking our bag, we saw the half marathon runners start.  We did some light stretching, and then it was finally our turn to start. It’s a pretty big race, so there were a lot of people funneling through the start line.  I decided to reserve my energy and walk until it spread out enough to be able to run without zig-zagging through a bunch of people.  It helped keep my frustration down, if nothing else. As I made my way through the course, I couldn’t really tell if I was doing better than the last time, or not. I walked some and I ran some.  I could tell that I was not doing as well as I did on the {Equinox 5 miler}, but according to my watch time, I was on track to meet my goal of 1:15:00 to 1:20:00.  I finished the race without any issues. My music didn’t die, I didn’t have a serious drop in energy, I didn’t cramp up, and I crossed the finish line with an official time of 1:18:53. Although I met my goal, and beat my time from the previous race, I decided that I don’t really like that course. It’s too uneven, and the finish is pretty much evil. After running on a hardpacked dirt road, the last .1 or .2 miles merges onto rough uneven grass patches where you have to be careful how you step so you don’t twist your ankle, then it becomes gravel on an uphill 90 degree turn to the right after which it then transitions from gravel to pavement and another 90 degree turn to the left before you finally get a straight shot at the finish line. For the price, and the drive, I don’t think it’s worth running it again, so that’s probably my last run of that series. I’m glad I did it this time, though.