Rocky Mountain Half Marathon & 5K

Rocky Mountain Half Marathon & 5K

Rocky Mountain Half Marathon & 5K

( 6 reviews )
100% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Estes Park,
    Colorado,
    United States
  • July
  • 3 miles/5K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Jenna Kinzie

Dallas, Texas, United States
89 24
2016
"Great run!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Jenna Kinzie's thoughts:

I loved this run. It was well planned and executed and the scenery was great.

The Rocky Mountain Half is a half marathon as you'd guess, but they just started also doing a 5K run the evening before. So, the 5K was on a Friday at 6:30pm and the Half was the next morning. Many people did both the 5K that evening and half marathon in the morning from what I heard.

The parking was great - we got there very early so we parked right by the Finish line. They give you a map at the expo - in fact, they give you a newsletter with ALL the info you could need in it. The expo was Friday all day and up until the 5K start - lots of good vendors... Honey Stingers, Altra running, hammocks (that you can try!), and lots of other goodies. The volunteers and Vacation Races people were AWESOME. Extremely nice, helpful, enthusiastic... all of the above. I really hope to do more Vacation Races because of this.

We went straight from the expo to the run and the announcer was great and informative. They had corrals/groups that you were pre-assigned to run in, which is great. There were 1,000 people - so not TOO big, but not too small of a group. It thinned out after about a quarter mile.

You might be wondering about elevation on a course in the mountains... it did START uphill (better than ending uphill, right?) and there were a few other up-hill spots throughout, but nothing to dissuade anyone from running it (in my personal opinion). The lowest elevation is about 7,450 ft and the highest is about 7,570 (for the 5K) according to the site. So, nothing too extreme.

The aid stations were fine... there was only one, but for a 5K that's about all you need. I didn't even stop at it, but they had water to fill your pouch. Yes, pouch! They didn't use cups but used "hydrapouches" instead... I think it's a GREAT IDEA... but... for a 5K, and if you're only going to have one aid station... it's just as (if not, more) wasteful because everyone is just throwing away their plastic thingamajig (given to you for free at expo) instead of a cup. Not to get TOO into it, but one tiny paper cup is recyclable/biodegradable and these hydrapouches will probably remain in a hole somewhere for years to come unless they are made out of some special material that I don't know about. Also, everyone was drinking out of them and filling them back up out of the same spout, so I'm not sure how sanitary that is... again I LOVE the idea!

At the end of the race there was an area for you to pick up your goodies... awesome goodie box full of snacks, bananas, chocolate milk, Smarty Pants gummy vitamins, nutrition bars, etc. Then there were a few picnic tables to hang out, eat your snack, and catch your breath.

The swag was awesome! Great T-shirts that come with the run (tech-shirts, that silky material) and AWESOME medals at the end. By far my favorite so far. They also had older shirts you could buy at the expo for $10 or 2 for $15 and they had a really cool shirt with EVERYONE'S name on the back!!! It was $30 so I don't own it but do have a photo of the spot with my name on it :)

Bottom line, do it! The view of the lake is amazing, weather perfect, and people friendly!

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