American Discovery Trail Half Marathon

I ran a half marathon on labor day with my sister Sarah. It wasn't really something I had ever thought about doing until earlier in the year when Sarah wanted to know if I wanted to sign up for the Moab half-marathon. It's lottery style and after we didn't get picked, I still had the "bug" in me. When we moved to Colorado Springs, I started searching for a race, and found that there was one on my birthday - which also happened to be labor day this year. I took it as a sign and started training. If anything, it would help me get in better shape and give me a goal to work towards. Here are my stats from about 4 months of training:

total miles: 180.87
elevation gain : 15,885 ft
calories burned : 24,624

I had a lot of fun running around the different trails in Colorado Springs. My favorite was the Pikes Peak greenway. It looked like the race was going to be on or around this trail so it was good preparation as well. It turns out the race was on this trail (an out and back) and I had already run on most of it. My longest training run was 13 miles and I completed that in 2:40. Some of my shorter runs had a better per mile pace so that was what I was shooting for. But, I didn't really care about my time. I just didn't want to come in last for my age group and I wanted to beat the first marathoner. Last year the best marathon time was around 2:52 so I figured I could easily do that.

So, race day arrives. Sarah and I were pretty anxious and nervous but things went really well. The weather was perfect.


Here we are waiting in the very long bathroom line! We just barely made it.

The first shot Aaron got of me coming towards the finish.

Sarah finished before me, but she re-ran the last little bit with me.

I think I'm trying to give a thumbs up? Running pictures always turn out weird.

Almost there!

My official time was 2:31:50. They didn't have chip timers for this race, so I started my watch when I crossed the start line and I stopped it when I hit 13.1 miles (according to my GPS, this race was a little bit longer than 13.1 miles) So, my Garmin time was 2:30:47. I cut 10 minutes off my practice run and I ran at the pace I was hoping for (about 11:30 per mile). I beat the first marathoner by a few minutes (he cut 20 minutes off the course record!)


We're done! I think I burst into tears when I finished, but they were tears of joy. I was absolutely wiped out for the next couple of days. But, I'm really glad that I did it and I might even do it again.

A couple of interesting facts about the race. The guy who won the marathon had lost 60 pounds and (like I said before) cut over 20 minutes off the course record. His half-marathon split time would have beat the guy who won the half-marathon. That is so amazing! I can't even imagine running that fast. Also, a 9 year old boy ran the half marathon - and he finished in 1:49. That is so fast for such a young kid! Very inspiring.

The kids were able to participate in a fun run. It happened while I was still running the race. They each got a ribbon and a little goody bag.

Waiting to start.

David came in first

Followed by Rachel.

Then Josh.

They all had a lot of fun running!