Denver Marathon - Preliminary Report

Now that I have stopped shivering and shaking, I can type. This race was COLD. And I can handle cold, but combine cold and WET, and that is REALLY COLD. I was soaked to the skin, through and through. My feet have big honkin' blisters - from running in wet socks, in wet shoes.

Somehow I turned off my garmin for maybe a half a mile, so I have no idea what my time was and it is not posted yet. I believe I beat my time for my one and only other half-marathon. I really didn't expect to do that, but I felt great - aside from being cold.

At about 5 miles, I realized that I was never getting down to my short-sleeved shirt as I had planned, so I undid the safety pins on my bib and put them on my jacket. Unfortunately, I wore a big old cotton long-sleeved t-shirt over my short-sleeved shirt and under my jacket. I fully expected to take off the jacket, discard the old cotton t-shirt and tie the jacket around my waist! HA! That formula about temperatures feeling 20 degrees warmer during a race? That works when it isn't pouring rain. After a while, that cotton t-shirt was almost as long as my running skirt - because it was soaking wet. In other words, I looked like a dork - I won't expect to have a new profile picture from THIS race!

All that negative stuff aside - I really had a great time. I felt like I belonged in this race. That is a miraculous thing for me. My biggest enemies are always mental... I have met the enemy and she is looking back at me in the mirror! Today I didn't feel I had to struggle with that negative thinking. I just felt good to be out there with all the other freezing nuts.

When I saw the camaraderie the Leukemia & Lymphoma Team in Training had, I think I might have decided to join a running club... we shall see. They were kind enough to give me a garbage bag to wear for my first mile or so.

I will have more details later. I still feel kind of wacky.