I ran the 42nd Horsetooth Half Marathon in Fort Collins last weekend as my long run and to get a feel for my fitness going into the 34th Annual Steamboat Marathon in June. It was also my first race at a shorter distance and I can see why so many people like the half. It’s just long enough to make you ready to stop running by the end, but short enough that I felt great the entire time. That’s probably a sign that I didn’t run hard enough though.
As you can see below, there are a few big hills with a net elevation loss which is exactly what I was looking for. Steamboat starts at an elevation of 8,128′ and finishes at 6,728′ with some decent hills sprinkled throughout so running Horsetooth seemed like a good race to practice at.
The course runs across the front of Horsetooth Reservoir before turning back into town and finishing at New Belgium.
I dragged my family along to packet pickup at New Belgium the day before the race. Packet pickup was also available the morning of but I like to got my bib pinned on and all of my race gear set out the night before as a way of making sure that everything was ready and nothing forgotten in my early morning brain fog.
It was supposed to be cold but I set out shorts anyway with a backup pair of capris just in case.
Ruger must have known something was up because he parked himself on the bed for a good hour just staring at my shoes.
Supper was a loaded baked potato at McAlister’s. They cut two potatoes open, overlap the ends so that it turns into one giant potato and then cover the whole thing with melted cheese and all sorts of other good stuff.
The weather had been cold and rainy all week but race day morning was clear, cold, and sunny. Cold being a very relative term. I think it was just below 40 degrees and supposed to reach 50 by the time that I was planning to finish. Being from the frozen north, you would think that those temperatures would feel positively balmy. I, however, have completely acclimated to Colorado and cannot handle cold even a tiny bit. My 20-year-old self with the unzipped coat in -40 temps would not recognize me.
I made a last-minute panic switch to capris and a long sleeve top and spent the first 8 miles congratulating myself on the decision and the next 5.1 berating myself.
Breakfast was a piece of toast with peanut butter, half of a banana (yuck, but it works well for me), water and a cup of coffee. I also had most of a Lemon Lime Gu with water when Seth dropped me off.
Due to a construction detour along the usual course, we started a half mile up the hill from Hughes Stadium to keep the route at 13.1 miles. The walk up was nice for a little warmup but I was still shaking pretty hard from the cold. I was also trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone because, introvert. There was a picture in the Coloradoan of a runner warming up by a sign with a group of women, including me, in the background. We all look as though we’re facing each other and talking when, in reality, we were all apparently introverts gravitating toward each other and awkwardly just trying to avoid talking or attracting the attention of the photographer. It obviously worked…..sort of.
We started at a minute or two after 8:30 but there wasn’t any sort of official starting signal; we all just began moving forward. Maybe there was one – I just don’t remember hearing it.Because the start was part way up the first hill, we were immediately running straight up. I saw people walking before we reached the top and my pace the first mile was 10:15 so I picked it up a little and tried to keep my effort the same on the uphills and the downhills which translates to a slower climb but a faster downhill that makes up for it. I’ve practiced this on the hills in my neighborhood and it seemed to work well for me in this race.
The views were beautiful and the aid stations, offering both water and Heed, felt as though they were super close together. I had never tried Heed before but didn’t mind it and took that instead of water at every other aid station. I carried two Gu’s, and only ended up taking one (Espresso Love, maybe?) at 55 minutes in and got part of it all over my hand. Yep, winning at life: that’s me.
By the last big hill, I still felt really good and was happy that I hadn’t gone all out on the first few. The rest of the course warmed up considerably and the cold breeze disappeared so I rolled up my sleeves a little but started to get uncomfortably warm anyway. The worst part is that I know better.
At the last aid station, I grabbed a cup of what I thought was water from a volunteer and as I gulped it, realized it was Heed. No big deal – my stomach can usually handle anything. For some reason, it instantly cramped up this time and lasted for the next half mile until I grabbed and pulled on a handful of stomach skin concentrating on breathing out each time that my left foot hit the ground. That did the trick and I was suddenly almost at the finish. I ran right past Seth without seeing him, up a short hill, around the corner and it was suddenly over.
A boy scout handed me a cup with the Half logo and a print of the course after crossing the finish line. My watch time was 1:51:15 and my official time was 1:51:07
Here are my splits:
10:15, 8:30, 8:21, 8:30, 7:56, 8:03, 8:48, 8:01, 8:19, 8:27, 8:10, 8:01, 8:09, and 7:20 for the last .1
Overall, it seemed like a well-organized race and a nice blend of peaceful running with some occasional crowd support. The finish area was a little confusing to navigate but I think that was just because it was a small space and my first time running this race. I would definitely like to come back next year!