Colfax Marathon Relay Recap

It was a bit of mesh of a team, but we had been texting/emailing through the week to try and get it set up. The team was myself and my friends Jen and Jason. Aaron’s cousin Chris was running with us! And Jen’s friend Sonya stepped in as AA’s replacement. I had made a chart of ‘expected times’ and most everyone was going to carry their cell to update after they finished their leg. I also had pictures of everyone. Sonya and Chris were exchanging and had never met each other!

Getting to know everyone...

The first leg (Jason’s) left City Park at 6 AM! I woke up at 6:03…it was weird knowing he was already running! Luckily he could walk to City Park from his house. He said he headed over a little after 5, it was still dusk, and all was quiet. He had a 6.4 mile route down Colfax that went through Bronco’s stadium. He crushed his leg and came in at sub 8 min miles!

Jason through Mile High

Route and Ele.

He exchanged to Hock who got to run around Sloan’s Lake. She did great and came in 30 seconds/mile faster than her expected time! Sonya got the short end of the stick and had the uphill route, got put on the team 2 days before, and loads of biking the day before. She rocked it though with a 9:51 pace!

From what I hear the exchange was a little confusing between Sonya and Chris. It didn’t help they had never met, but also it was hard to see the approaching runners and if you didn’t hear your # you just had to recognize them!  Chris had the ‘screaming downhill’ route. This was his first road race and he did so awesome! He came in at a 10:34 pace and really showed the progress he has made running over the past few months :-)

My exchange with Chris was crowded as well and hard to see, I didn’t hear our # called, but luckily spotted Chris with his red shorts! Before I knew it I was off, and ran right in to the Bronco Stadium! 

Taking in the whole stadium!

It was really neat running through it, but eerie how empty it was!! After the stadium, we made our way to the bike trail and ran through Confluence Park near REI. Eventually we ran up to 17^th street and made our way through downtown. There was an uphill crossing over Lincoln and the sun was in our eyes, but great scenery running through uptown and in to the park.  I was amazed at all the marathoners running at this point. I had fresh legs, and they had already run 20! It is amazing what they can do.  I wasn’t feeling great this whole time, but my pace didn’t reflect it luckily, I think I had too much birthday cake over the weekend! As we made our way in to the park and eventually in to the final chute – Jen and Jason jumped up! Team PNDA BR’s finished at 4:04:49 – what a great race!

In the yellow and orange to the right!

I'd say we were spot on our estimate....4:05 estimated versus 4:04.49

Nothing special for treats afterwards. They limited you to one water bottle, and there were none after you got in to the corral after. I was so thirsty! They had bagels and ½ a banana. We waited in line for our free BBQ, which was great, but I was still so thirsty. We didn’t stay long and walked back to J&J’s to BBQ again. 

Team PNDA BR's

alternate member :-)

So overall I really liked the race, it was neat doing the relay. It is nothing compared to those 30 hour runs with 2 vans, but it was neat to dip the toes. Next year I would do it again, or consider one of the other 3 races...10 miler, half marathon, and marathon!