Before I could run this morning’s marathon, I had to attend Rachel and Aaron’s wedding in a Denver brewpub last night, replete with food truck. It was great. Rachel is Brit’s good friend that sings with her in Girlfriend Cult. Margot enjoyed the wedding too. She got the flower headband from Rachel’s childhood friend Audrey who’s been helping out over in Ukraine – so you get the colors.

This year’s course was difficult. A lot of hills in Niwot and a good measure of concrete sidewalks on the return through Boulder. Concrete’s fine if you train on it. I tend to run trails. Karen wanted a photo of my shoes to thank Brit and Eric for gifting them to me a year ago. Those Hoka’s came in handy to cushion the cement.

The run felt much warmer than the 40s, 50s and 60s it was supposed to be. Perhaps the full sun and zero wind. Smartly, I carried a tank with me in my hydration pack and put it on a little over halfway. That might have saved me. I also did a good job hydrating, including 500ml of dill pickle juice. I shared some with another runner who was cramping. I felt comfortable most of the course, until the final 10K where the wheels typically start to fall off. Averaged a 10 minute mile pace though overall, good enough for a second place water bottle award for my age division. Today was tough enough that I’m rethinking that Bandera 100K in January, but still, it was a good run.

I have to add, I blogged last night that I expected to run a 4:30 to 4:45 total time. Without wearing a watch, I crossed the finish line in 4:30:59.