Kirsten Hamilton's Staging Area

The 2021 Colorado Marathon was a well-organized, lovely race through the Poudre Canyon and Fort Collins in northern Colorado.

Packet pick-up was easy and straight forward with plenty of parking. There were great freebies like Hearts of Hemp and koozies. The t-shirt was long sleeved with a cool logo. I scouted out the parking situation the night before the race using the information from the race website, which included a helpful map of the parking sites. I’m glad I went the night before, because google maps gave me roundabout directions that had me going through the middle of very busy streets full of pedestrians. To give you perspective, I was coming from La Quinta by I25. I imagine others will use the hotels along I14. All you have to do is continue down this road, which turns into W Mulberry, and then take a right on Remington St. It was super easy to get to and there was plenty of parking on race day.

Buses were close to the parking and lined up along Mountain Ave. Again, easy to find and well-organized. It’s about a 45 minute bus ride up to the start line. I HIGHLY recommend you bring warm clothes and/or a blanket with you. Depending on which bus you catch, you could potentially wait about an hour at the start before the race begins. It was pretty cold and I was lucky I had lots of layers. It was easy to drop off your bag (as well as get it at the finish line). You’re allowed to eat/drink on the bus and they have bathrooms. At the start, there were also lots of port-a-potties and free coffee/water.

The race starts up in the canyon and you follow along a river the whole time. It’s a peaceful decent into the valley. You’re always going downhill but it’s never steep. I should note that the road was canted for a decent amount of the canyon. At least for me, this aggravated my nagging tendon issues. Things level off in the valley, and then, you weave your way through the town parks. It’s an awesome way to tour Fort Collins by starting in nature and ending in the cute downtown area.

I never pay attention to the parties at the end. I’m pretty sure I heard a band playing. There were tons of food trucks and beer vouchers. It looked fun! From the race director to the participants, everyone involved with the race were fantastic. Everyone was friendly and encouraging. I had problems getting into the marathon, and the race director went above and beyond helping me. You could always count on water and Nuun appearing every 1-2 miles. There were no fans in the canyon due to the logistics of closing off the road, but there were lots of fans along the valley/town section. The race’s motto was to leave the course looking better than when it started. Racers were respectful and there was minimal litter along the course.

Overall, it was an awesome race! I loved the relative solitude the first part of the race brought. I was able to truly take in the beauty of the canyon without working hard due to the steady decline. The dreaded “wall” came right when the majority of fans appeared to carry you to the end. Again, the organization and thoughtfulness that went into this race were top notch. Combined with the beauty of the course and the friendly people involved, this is a marathon not to be missed!!