The Clarion

Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Megan Kimble Cold and wet runners queue up at the marathon starting line on Colfax Avenue and Broadway, in rain coats, hats, and plastic ponchos handed out by Saturn representatives. [Click to enlarge]

In spite of rain, wind, and temperatures hovering in the high 30s, about 7,500 runners braved some very un-fall like weather to participate in Denver's second annual marathon.

Jonathan Ndambuki, 31, finished Colorado's longest race in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 34 seconds, cited as the fastest marathon in Colorado since the mid-1980s. Martha Tenorio, an Ecuadorian who lives in Boulder, took the women's title in 2:46:41.

I, however, am not in their class. I'm not even a runner. Training for a half-marathon was an idea, shared with a friend, a non runner as well, to 'get in shape.'

It turned out running was the least of it. The anticipation was by far the most difficult part of the race. I had checked the weather incessantly the night before. It was going to rain Sunday, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I got up at 5:30 a.m., peered out my window, saw rain falling in front of a streetlight, and almost went back to bed. But, last night's pasta dinner, and the $75 entry fee, got me up out the door.

I half thought the race would be cancelled. Who in his or her right mind would run 13.1 miles, or the full 26.2, in sleet and rain? Apparently a lot of people, including me and a dozen other DU students.

My dread only increased in the ride down, in the freezing walk from the parking garage to the start and finish line at the State Capitol. My fear culminated as I attempted to attach my bib number to the front of my thin coat, with cold, almost numb fingers.

Regardless of my doubts, my disbelief at the weather, the coldness, my fear, I joined the runners at the starting line. Far away, I heard a gunshot, cheers, and we were off.

I began to jog. With each step, my fear subsided. I fell into the flow of the crowd, and then fell into the movement of my own legs and arms. Despite the cold, my body felt familiar again, as it had on all of our long training runs. I finally realized that I was going to finish this thing, like it or not.

Continued...

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