I ran a 10 minute pace in today’s Colorado Marathon for a 4:23 finish. Six minutes ahead of Chad’s 4:29 in last week’s Nashville Marathon. I could stop there.

I didn’t sleep well at the Armstrong Hotel. Very nice hotel but the street noise was loud all night. Felt fine in the morning though. This was my weather below. I felt great in my alpaca wool long sleeve, but switched out for a tank about half way through while waiting in line for a porta-potty.

I ran a 9 minute pace the first ten miles. Really for the first half but I had to wait in line at a porta-potty for 4 minutes in mile eleven. Leveraging the downhill at the start was part of my plan, so I was happy with my pace throughout the run, even though I slowed down to 11 minute miles in the final 10K.

I stopped to take a photo of some horses running through a field. Most of the course through the Poudre Canyon was simply spectacular to view.

Karen was my crew chief again. She’s done an awesome job helping me to manage my nutrition. Like the Desert Rats 50K ultra the other week, this marathon was a training run for next January’s Bandera 100K. I feel good about my fueling. I’ve never eaten so many calories or hydrated so well, and my stomach did fine. And my heart rate did well, never hitting max, even when I was pushing my pace early on. I’m gaining confidence for that 100K.