This week in June our community comes together under the co-direction of Terry Chiplin and Belle Morris and puts on the Estes Park Marathon, one of the premier high-altitude races in the country. This weekend of events includes a fun run, 5K, 10K, half and full marathon.The courses are all beautiful, if you love to compete you do not want to miss this event. I had two runners this year so I was crew, cheerleader, mom, wife, and volunteer today. My daughter who is in 8th grade ran the 10K and my husband ran the marathon. Since he is training for the Leadville 100 Trail Run, this should have just been an easy run for him except for the weather. The forecast was for rain and a cool 36 degrees. We don’t mind the cold, but wet is another story. It wasn’t just sprinkling, it was a downpour. The dedication of the volunteers and runners was inspiring. Cold and wet, but both kept going until the end. Two new items this year were the chip timing and the promotion of going cup-less. All runners were given a chip to tie on their shoes and at certain intervals on the course they had to run over timing mats which record their splits and finish times. Also all the half or full marathon runners were given small plastic pouches called HydraPouches that clip on their belts so that they can just fill them and not have to get a paper cup each time. My husband didn’t use his because they only hold about 3 ounces and that is not enough. One of the major problems at the aid stations was the drinks, iced down water and Gatorade. The runners were frozen like popsicles and needed warm liquids, but no one thought of this. I was running home to get warm water to fill my husband’s bottles because his hands were blue from carrying ice water. My husband did have a scare and the aid station medic tried to get him to drop because he got too cold and was shaking uncontrollably, but after sitting in a warm truck for 30 minutes he was ready to finish it out. The volunteers were just outstanding, I can’t say enough about their dedication and concern for the welfare of the runners. My husband got an Estes Park Marathon finishers medal and is still grumpy about his time of 5 hours, but you never know what mother nature is going to hand you in Estes Park. My daughter set a new personal record for her 10K time and finished first in her age category. Being 13, she doesn’t have much competition because all the teen runners run the 5K instead. I was very proud of her. You can check out the results on the EP marathon.org website. I didn’t take many photos because of the rain. Here are a few from the start line.
Estes Park Marathon 10K Start
Video of the start, I don’t think the staff realized that by letting the runners step on the mat it started the clock. My daughters started her watch at the countdown and she was 2 minutes off and so were some other people we talked to at the finish.
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