Rocky Mountain Half Marathon

I love Vacation Races so this was the obvious choice for my Colorado Half Marathon. This is one of the more convenient Vacation Races to get to. The races is located in Estes Park next to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). It is about a 1.5 hour drive from Denver so it’s relatively easy to get to. For the race I flew into Denver Thursday morning and drove to Estes Park and spent Thursday and Friday exploring the national park. Of note you do need to make reservations to RMNP and they fill up quickly so make sure you mark when the reservations open and get them right away. If you do not have them you can still enter the park either before 6am or after 2pm and there are beautiful areas to explore outside the park. For this race I stayed at the Estes Lake Lodge. I would highly recommend staying here as it is the closest lodging to the race. It was a bit of a quirky place to stay but it made race morning so easy as it is closer to the race start than the race parking lots. There is a useful race guide that has all the info you need for the race. Packet pick-up is the day before. It is at a local school’s baseball stadium across from the start. I did drive to packet pick-up since I was driving around anyways. Vacation Race’s expos are generally on the smaller side but run smoothly and they have nice additional merch to purchase. Packet included bib, race shirt and reusable hydroflask cup. The shirt is tech and a really pretty blue color. It is nice quality and a nice design. Race morning you are instructed to park at 5:15 and then the pre race staging area is over near the baseball field across the road from the start. The pre-race water, coffee, cocoa are all there. The announcer and anthem is also there. The runners line up there and then walk under a tunnel to the start. However I stayed within walking distance from the start I just walked directly to the start line since it was closer than the staging area. I did miss out on some of the pre-race excitement but got a private area to warm up on and there were porta potties there with zero lines. If you want to walk from the hotel and join the pre-race staging area you could go under the tunnel. The race had runners line up in waves based on predicted times. I just lined up in the front of the last wave. I knew this would be slow given the altitude and my lungs are still not 100% and I aimed for a finishing time under 3:30. The start of the race is about 1 mile of a public bike trail around Estes Lake. This is quite scenic. there is a small hill at the start but this is relatively flat. Then there is about a 4 mile climb onto some remote and beautiful roads. The incline is very gradual but it is deceptive. If you have a goal time definitely strategize because you don’t want to waste all your energy on this part. I knew my best strategy for my current fitness level and goal was to speed walk the uphill and save energy for the downhill. A lot of people passed me here pushing themselves too hard and then had to walk the easier parts of the course and I eventually passed them. Unless you have done hill training at altitude I would recommend slowing your pace a bit down on the uphill. There are beautiful views of mountains and rock formations and lots of horses on this section so it’s nice to take it slow. When you finally get to the top then there is a really nice gradually almost all downhill until about mile 9.5. I was able to pick up the pace and make up for the time I lost on the uphill. Most of this is also quite beautiful but around mile 9 you go back into town and it isn’t quite as majestic. There is a very annoying hill at around mile 9.5. it is much short and maybe 1/2 mile but it is on black pavement and not shaded. It was pretty beautiful weather for the race but got a bit hot by the end. This was the least pleasant part of the course. Then it is downhill until around mile 11.5 where you finish around the bike path on the lake and it is mostly flat. Race was very well produced and well marked. There were lots of aid stations. All had water and gnarly electrolytes and honey stinger gel and a few had fruit. These are cupless races. I generally carry a water bottle and use the hydroflask for electrolytes. Of note with the altitude you will likely need more water than usual so I was glad I was carrying a handheld water bottle. One negative about the course is it is not on closed roads. On the roads closer to town we had to run on the sidewalk. I don’t really like running on the sidewalk during races. However these were wide and smooth sidewalks and not bad to run on. Most of the time we were on the road it was very quiet and there was little traffic and there were signs that the race was happening. There was one section that was a little busier that made me a little nervous. There were lots of course marshals though and any road crossing had someone to control traffic. Another thing I didn’t love is there were limited spectators due to the logistics of the race but there are a lot of participants even in the back and lots of volunteers so it’s not too bad. The finish line is close to the start. They call your name as you cross and a fun fact if you put one down. I was very happy with my finish time for how I was feeling. It was not fast but I was a few minutes under my goal of 3:30 which I though was good with the altitude and my lungs. At the end you get your medal. Vacation Races have the best medals. They are always big and beautiful. They also give our snack boxes, bananas and chocolate milk. I was excited the chocolate milk was “bored cow” an animal free, lactose free product. However it turns out it’s not about animal cruelty or lactose intolerance, I just don’t like chocolate milk so I didn’t drink much of it. There is also a separate booth to get the elk double medal if you also did the 5K like I did. Overall this is a beautiful course. It is challenging but doable and any course in Colorado is going to be difficult with the altitude. Just make sure you strategize the long uphill stretch in the beginning if you have a goal time in mind. I would definitely recommend this race for Colorado especially if you love the outdoors and beautiful scenery.