Wow, what an adventure. After I ran my first marathon in San Francisco in July 2015, I knew that I wanted to give it a second try to break three hours. After I recovered from the San Francisco hills, I embarked on a seven month journey to improve my running with the sole goal of qualifying for the 2017 Boston Marathon. I chose the Colorado Marathon as a nice contrast (all downhill) and began to find the right training program to reach my goal.

Based on my effort in training and my results in racing shorter distances, I knew I could reach my goal. I had an advantage from training in the winter because it prepared me for the snow and cooler weather on the day of the race (quite the nice way to welcome in the month of May.) Starting at 6,100 feet above sea level, I lined up at the start line ready to go.

The pace felt good at the start and I felt stronger mentally racing the ambitious distance than last time. Fortunately, the altitude didn’t affect me and I ran very consistently. I did encounter some stomach issues during the last 10k, but still kept running strong. The end result? I finished 16th overall and 3rd in my age group with a time of 2:54:34 (well within the qualifying time for Boston.)

It felt great to shave off 20 minutes from my first marathon. I felt stronger during the second half and know what I need to work on to improve my time in the next marathon. The recovery is coming along a bit faster as well. I’ll now focus on shorter distances and continue to work on my speed and endurance. I’m looking forward to running the 5th Ave Mile again in September as well as the Staten Island Half Marathon in October. I sincerely thank everyone for the prayers and support!

Colorado Marathon 2016 Race Results