Touchdown in Denver. Home, well…almost. Broncos Stadium for bib pickup, 2-marathon weekend. Friday in CT, Sunday morning in Colorado’s capital city. Colfax, Denver’s only FULL marathon. HUGE Expo, but I’ve done this before. Finished the Colfax Half – in 2013. Was my last ‘big’ run before Marathon UNO, in Alaska. Lifetime ago.
Early to bed, early to rise. 6am start in City Park. Off-street parking before 5. Shower, walk the pup, hour drive to Denver – math check, that’s ‘middle-of-the-night’ early.
PERFECT run weather. Rain afternoon-delayed, no SNOW ’til morning. Week out from Memorial Day holiday, chilly 39 degrees Start. Nice! Glad I wore sleeves. LOL>
BIG city race. Feelin’ good. Aside from the long stretch down Colfax, FULL marathoners run a lap inside Mile High Stadium. Now that’s cool, huh. Go Broncos!
Stepped BACK a corral (G on my bib), lined with the 4:45 pace party. Elevation, body recovery (CT, 2 short days ago). Hoped to hang thru mile 15. Finish with a smile 😊
Slow & steady. Tight first mile. Pic snapped the Capitol Dome. Pacer stick on my left, 4 of us from the Start. Pacer Greg (last month, Big Sur & Boston), Brian from Hartford CT (what are the chances?) & Maredith (2018 100-MILE finisher). My Colfax family, next handful of hours. Easy comfortable pace. Talked briefly/intermittently, mostly listening.
12 miles. Greg (with the stick) says he’s supposed to hand off the baton. He’d catch up with us. Whaaaat? HE’S the pace bunny, we’re the flock. Never ever. Picked up another marathoner, run introductions – and we’re 4 again, crossing the Half. No pacer, no bunny.
PACE GROUP finish
14 miles. Porta-potty stop. Afraid to slow, lose my group. Efficient in-n-out (like Shalane Flanagan at Boston, just like that) Warned them I’d go dark by 18, abandon all mile 20. Appreciated their company. Only Sis’ been able to master the voices.
18 miles. Upbeat positive. Legs good, breathing easy. Didn’t go quiet for two miles. Tried to say goodbye at 22. Aid station stopped. Pollyann’ers kept cheer-leading.
ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! But I’m NOT talking, can’t make me talk.
LAST mile. Really really really wanted to walk. Pace-group peer pressure. Happy endorphin over-achievers. Bridge. Late hill. Kinda all a blur. Happy talk in the ears, evil Mordor in my head. AND…we’ve sped up AGAIN, sub-9 minute now.
4 STRONG FINISH! Crossed together. 4:45 pace group, start-to-finish. Complete strangers ‘til today. Group SMILE. Crossed EIGHT minutes early.
Colfax FAMILY photo. LOVE LOVE my run community. Super supportive folks.
DIG being Colorado local. Pasta, hot shower & Pup – just an hour away.
Wyoming next Sunday, 50 State FINISH week after. Happy LIFE ❤️
Congratulations #12420 K R HAGA!
Here are your results for the Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon:
Your final time is 04:37:55 at a 00:10:36 pace.
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- Saturday EXPO
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- City Park
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- 4:45 pace party
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- dig the new lid
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- Ash’s CHARITY
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- Capitol Dome
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- Bronco’s Mile High
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- Stadium lap
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- Pace Guy disappearance
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- 20 mile SMILE
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- CROSSED together
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- 4 STRONG!
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- Colorado local ❤️
M. Michaela, May and…marathon.
Black Friday sale on Southwest last November – my score? Quick in-n-out airfare to celebrate Michaela’s Happy 26th in Connecticut. Kiddo’s got her own digs now, whole lotta happenings since holiday season last. SUPER excited to see M’s Coventry home. Country treed & seasonal GREEN.
Post-work flight to Hartford, hotel arrival midnite+, Friday a.m. alarm. Crazy quick turnaround. Shower, change of clothes, bib pick-up in Goodwin Park. the New England Challenge: 6 days, 6 marathons, all 6 NE states. For me, dropped in just for Connecticut Day, the Nutmeg State. 6am start, 5-hour finish goal. Over-n-done, re-showered, Michaela’s by noon. M’s also for Multi-tasking 😊
Two-marathon weekend: CT on Friday, Denver’s Colfax Marathon Sunday morn. Good practice. Registered for my first QUADZILLA over Independence Day break. 4 marathons in 4 days. Sauvie Island, Tigard, Vancouver & Beaverton — coastal communities ’round Portland (Oregon). July summer marathoning, gonna be a challenge. Today however…weather, runner perfect. Forecast’d rain would hold off ‘til 1. Pizza & wing-feasting early afternoon (pie from UConn’s Husky Pizza).
Lap course. Half-mile trail. Handsome city lake, perfect time of year. Leafy tree cover, water birds, wetlands. Path butts up against a golf course. Sunrise, last-minute race instructions.
One hill. Not horrible, I ran UP while others walked (Day FIVE of their challenge). But one hill, TWELVE times. Downhill trail, leafy green stretch, wetlands, golf course, HILL. And repeat 12x.
Birthday party motivated, I kept at it. Finished with a smile. Think I dig running laps. Enjoy the camaraderie of other runners. Feel less isolated, less ‘in my head’, better manages the crazies.
Check, done. 12 laps plus a short loop, that’s 26.2 in the Nutmeg State.
Shower, pizza & Bloody Marys – let the games begin. May is Michaela month. Whoop, whoop! Celebration!
New England Challenge: Nutmeg State Marathon
Goodwin Park & Golf Course in Hartford, Connecticut United States
Friday, May 17, 2019 6:04:27 AM
Place Bib# Name
13 126 K R Haga M 04:52:50.36
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- New England Challenge
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- CT Day
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- City Park wetland
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- LEAFY green
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- 12 lap REPEAT
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- downhill TRAIL
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- Nutmeg State 26.2
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- May is Michaela Month
Nutmeg State Marathon
Bring on the WORLD. BEST thing about cancer is the LIFE REMINDER to LIVE. 3 solid months of chemo, FREED my spirit. No longer sweat the small stuff, allowed me to dream BIG. B-I-G!
2017. Travell’d both North & South islands of New Zealand in March. Marathon’d in Hamilton, my 3rd continent. Later in October, celebrated FINISH #100 in DUBLIN with Sis, husband Paul & Stephen. The ‘FU Cancer’ tour. Sis designed ‘Survivor’ shirts, wore a ‘FU’ visor. And…concurrently, completed another dozen States. Wouldn’t officially catch the Round 2 bug ‘til Sis’ January (2018) birthday.
Grand Rapids Michigan on Groundhog’s Day. Absolute COLDEST marathon ever completed. MINUS 9 Fahrenheit. 6 laps of snow & ice princess trees. In-n-out a warming tent between laps. BESTEST winter marathon of all 50. Same month, ran another 26.2 miles in Fort Worth. Know we’re supposed to love love Austin, but I dig Cowtown more – personal fave of the Lone Star State. Texas!
East Coast family (& marathon trips) Spring 2017. Savin Rock, minutes from my old New Haven digs in Connecticut. Gate City (Nashua), minutes from Stephen’s New Hampshire home. Sprinkled in between, OKC – Oklahoma City. Thousands of runners, well organized, most emotional USA-built Memorial commemorating lives lost to domestic terrorism. Add to your bucket list.
Selfishly chose REVEL Rockies as my Round 2 Colorado race, so I’d have one single sub-4 result this go-around. True to REVEL fame, another ALL DOWNHILL run. (18 home-state medals, my choice.)
Marathon Streak: every month since December 2014. July’s find? U of Okoboji in northern Iowa, H-O-T. Ran around a lake, no trees. Polar opposite experience, my October run in Portland (Oregon). Digged the ‘Rose City’ & their ‘Keep Portland Weird’ mantra. Fun fact – only paper bags here. Town abolished plastic. Green (& liberal).
December. Cheap flight to Phoenix, Saturday 26.2 in nearby Buckeye Arizona. Dusty, desolate. Destined to stay a local club run. Charity-ran my second Washington marathon, 30 minutes outside Seattle. the Big C. Folks raising $$ to support a run-club member battling cancer. Guy lost his battle days before, literally. Best friend pre-race spoke. Emotional. 12 months prior, my sentence.
New Year, same HEALTHY me. Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham. Alabama’s run redeemer. Well done ‘Bama (& Mother Nature). Gladly take BUCKETS of RAIN over Deep South heat & humidity any day. Sweet Home experience. Thanks y’all.
Fave of my 2nd Dozen: Hilo to Volcano 50k. Race course itself, a snoozer. Tropical Hawaii but ya trek along a forgotten 2-lane state highway, huh? Crazy DIFFICULT. Ocean to 4000ft. PLUS it’s 32+ miles (an ultra-marathon). Some of the darkest conversations EVER with Sis. Never ever ever will I forget her Girl Scout Poop moment. Holding to vines, squatting downhill. Don’t look, don’t look! OMG funny! Bestest ROAD CREW: every 2 miles, Paul & Stephen. 7 ½ hour finish! We almost missed cut-off – yikes!
Umbrella drinks, a birthday LUAU, cards – & LAVA. We walked over RED GLOWING LAVA. FOREVER memories ❤️
| # | State | Marathon | City | Date | Time | Bib # |
| 81 | MI | Groundhog Marathon | Grand Rapids | 2/4/2017 | 4:39.13 | 74 |
| 83 | TX | Cowtown Marathon | Fort Worth | 2/26/2017 | 4:29.02 | 581 |
| 85 | CT | Savin Rock Marathon | West Haven | 4/1/2017 | 4:39.26 | 192 |
| 88 | OK | Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon | Oklahoma City | 4/30/2017 | 4:17.20 | 816 |
| 90 | NH | Gate City Marathon | Nashua | 5/21/2017 | 4:39.30 | 1095 |
| 91 | CO | REVEL Rockies Marathon | Morrison | 6/11/2017 | 3:58.25 | 1238 |
| 92 | IA | U of Okoboji Marathon | Arnolds Park | 7/15/2017 | 4:59.31 | 679 |
| 99 | OR | Portland Marathon | Portland | 10/8/2017 | 4:41.25 | 1570 |
| 104 | WA | big C Marathon | Puyallup | 12/3/2017 | 4:46.35 | 10 |
| 105 | AZ | Buckeye Marathon | Buckeye | 12/9/2017 | 5:00.42 | 124 |
| 106 | HI | Hilo to Volcano Ultra 50K | Volcano | 1/6/2018 | 7:22.51 | 65 |
| 108 | AL | Mercedes Marathon | Birmingham | 2/11/2018 | 5:09.37 | 278 |
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- Michigan, Texas, Connecticut & Oklahoma
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- New Hampshire, Colorado, Iowa & Oregon
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- Washington, Arizona, Hawaii & Alabama
