For my pace and overall time, I ran this year’s Colorado Marathon exactly how I expected, and hoped. Everything else about it was not to plan. It was painful, not nearly as joyful as my Austin Marathon in February. I’ve lost some conditioning since then, not running nearly the miles I did before Bandera and I’ve gained 5 pounds. I broke 4 hours again, a major goal, so I’m happy overall.

The positive me wants to consider this year’s race a win. I ran nearly a half hour faster than last year. I’m getting better with age. Not too shabby, but man, this year’s run was so painful. I ran essentially the same 9 minute pace as my previous 2 marathons, so maybe I shouldn’t over think it, but two things; running that 9 minute pace felt much harder and I failed on my hydration plan. Just when I thought I understood nutrition plans, but knowing and executing are two different things.

I started off my nutrition plan well. I drank my first 500ml bottle of LMNT within the first 10K, but couldn’t down my second bottle before 20K. Might have been 17 miles. I knew I was failing on my hydration plan but I simply couldn’t drink more volume. Could be that I did too well fueling on gels. I tried eating two gels per hour and I got so filled up. In the future, I’ll only consume a single gel per hour. That seems to be my limit. There’s a lot of chatter out there now on consuming 2 or 3 gels per hour, upwards of 100 grams of carbs and more, but that doesn’t work for me.

It got ugly in the end. I cramped at 22.5 miles and vomited at 25 miles. My next event is the Bolder Boulder, a 10K I haven’t run since 2017. I ran that in 45 and a half minutes. I’ll be really happy to finish this year under 50 minutes. Not sure if I can but I’m confident I’ll break 60 minutes. Beating my age is good.