Denver Marathon (Denver, CO) - 19 Oct 2008

55th Marathon
470th Place
3:49:49

Today I ran the third annual Denver Marathon. Considering that I have not been running much of this year due to injury and life (having a baby in the house), I was unsure of how this was going to go. I had not run the distance since this marathon last year. I planned on running a mile and then walking a 1/4 mile. I did this for about 5M, then I started pushing the running sections out farther. But, I never went more than 4M at time before walking, just so to make sure I didn't injure myself. So, to run a 3:49 makes me really happy.

Now, onto the race itself.

This was the third annual New Denver Marathon. Each year, I think it has gotten better. The weather was much better this year (last year it was 35 and raining) with the sun out and temperatures in the 50' at the start.

The course was the same as last year, which I like. The section through City Park is a bit much, but it is a nice park. Also, there are two little out and back sections (one as you exit City Park and one in Wash Park) that I am still wondering why they are there. The race goes out the 7th Ave blvd to Cook street and then comes back on the other side. There are five more blocks in that stretch that could be used before getting to the major road of Colorado Blvd. Why not just go out a couple more blocks. I am sure that it is because the start line and the finish line are the same. Overall, the course is really good. You run through all the major parks (City, Cheesman, Washington) and all the nice neighborhoods. The stretch up Santa Fe at the end can get hot later in the day because there is no shade. But, this is only two miles, so it is not bad. There are a few hills along the way, but nothing more than a few blocks.

This year, it seemed that there were more aid stations, with an aid station every mile starting at 16 miles. His really came in handy since the temperatures were rising to a high of around 75 degrees. There were also two gel stops, one at 6 miles and one at 20 miles. There could have been another one at 15 or 16 miles.

I think one of the few bad things about this race is that the cost is pretty high for only getting a short sleeved cotton shirt. I know that this is a very expensive race to put on with the course and the cops and all of that jazz, but you should still get a technical shirt for a race of this nature. If they want to be considered a world class marathon, there should be a least a technical shirt (may a technical finisher's shirt along with the cotton entry shirt?) with your entry fee. The Boulder Marathon has really set the bar high with offering a tech shirt, a tech hat and two pairs of tech socks for less money than this race. Granted, the cost to put that event on is much less.

Overall, this is still one of my favorite marathons and I would highly recommend it to everyone. There have been three of them, and I have done them all.