I haven’t been able to get in any races longer than a half marathon on trails so I caved and signed up for a road marathon. Leadville’s marathon seemed like a good idea since it was at high elevation and I {heart} Leadville
The race claims to be the highest road marathon in the world, so I figured I might be good training for possible ultra marathons in Leadville next summer.
This was the first year for the race, it was small and low key much like the trail races I have been racing lately. If you get energy from crowds and lots of aid stations this race isn’t for you.
It does offer friendly volunteers and incredible views.
Since the course had only a handful of aid stations I decided to run with my hydration pack and carry everything I might need. I was completely fine with this since I will be rocking my pack for my 50k so I might as well get used to it.
I had a great day and enjoyed my time in Leadville. My only real complaint about the race was the lack of amenities. There were no restrooms along the course. For a full marathon I was disappointed. And frankly uncomfortable for quite a long time. Luckily there was a golf course pro-shop along the way that let me use their restrooms, a little more support would be great.
Not the races fault by any means but I did learn that when you train on nothing but trails, 26.2 miles of pavement hurts.
The best part was the the race support the nonprofit GECKO
Giving Every Child Knowledge of the Outdoors (GECKO). The premise sounds simple enough. Yet study after study shows that our children aren’t getting enough outdoor play. And this trend isn’t improving. The latest information shows that less than 25% of children are active outdoors more than twice per week. Does this statistic worry you? Because it definitely worries us.
The finishers medals were made by local school kids with the elevation stamped on it.
Overall it was a good race and I would run it again for sure.
