The highlight of my week was going up to Steamboat Springs, CO to watch my wife and her friend Timi run their first marathon. They caught a bit of a bad break with unusually hot, dry weather in Steamboat. And this marathon starts an hour late in my opinion (7:30 am). After we woke up, I helped Johanna get ready. My final bits of advice -- drink all her fluids (70 oz), pace no faster than 4:15 early (9:45 miles), take at least an S!Cap an hour. She left to meet Timi for a ride to the buses. I immediately took off and got my run done, arriving back at our room by 7:30 am so the kids and I could go support mom. They were anxious and they got ready quickly so we could head to town.
We parked and found a little cafe in town right along the race course. The three of us had a HUGE breakfast together and watched the 10K and half marathon runners come by. It was really fun having breakfast just the three of us -- I don't do enough of that. After breakfast we headed to the finish area where we met up with Chuck (and family), Timi's husband (Rob), and some of Tony's family. (Tony's family lit up the leaderboard!).
At about 10:30 -- 3 hours into the race -- I saw the runners coming in looking pretty ragged. The marathon winner was 2:49:xx and only three runners broke three hours. Now this is a small marathon, but that is still unusual for this race. The conditions were brutal, and I was hoping the two of them were holding up well. I felt bad not brining enough S!Caps for both of them. The kids fun run starts at 11:45 -- huge party foul as that is when the lions share of the marathoners come in. In fact, 11:45 was EXACTLY when I was expecting Johanna. I didn't want Dylan to run because I couldn't be in two places at once. Finally, I decided to let him run with Timi's son Michael (under Rob's supervision).
Savannah and I walked to the other side of town to try and catch Johanna coming in sooner. We stood on the corner of 10th and Lincoln cheering as loud as two people could for all the remaining runners. I was nervously texting Jon, Karen and Tony -- I was wreck. Finally I sent a text to Jon "I think I see her coming in". As she approached Savannah and I, she had the Nathan Hydration Pack in hand -- she was tired of it and handed it to me. One really cool thing about the marathon is that it is very small town, so we jumped on the street and ran most of the last third of a mile with her. She was tired and hot but she looked pretty darn good under the circumstances. Her final chip time was 4:19:41. She and Dylan cross the finish line about 30 seconds apart as he finished his fun run. Timi came in about 15 minutes later with a time of 4:35.
This is only the second time I have spent a race on the sidelines as a spectator. And I was hugely inspired watching not only my wife, but all the runners pushing themselves to their best -- testing limits they weren't sure of. An amazing experience. And while they both got a little sick from the heat and are undoubtedly sore today, I think Johanna and Timi had an amazing first marathon experience. I hope they both try at least one more!
As for me, well this week is supposed to be a monster. In fact, it might be my biggest week on my plan. I need a little help from my friends if you feel like running this week, let me know.
| Day | Miles | Notes |
| Monday | 14 | GA Run |
| Tuesday | Rest | Weights |
| Wednesday | 6 | Easy Run |
| Thursday | 10 | Hill Repeats |
| Friday | Rest | |
| Saturday | 20 | Deer Creek Trail Run |
| Sunday | 13 | Spring Creek Trail Run |
| Total | 63 | About 8000 vertical feet |
It was hard, but worth it! Thank you for being an awesome coach and for supporting me. Love you!
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