This was my second marathon but one of my favorites! It's hard to pick the best moment, but the finish line had the best support. Colorado firefighters place the medals on all finishers. Of course, it's not the first time you see the firefighters. You also run through the station itself early on in the race!

I loved seeing the full tour of the city and even getting to run on the interstate part of the time. Colfax Avenue runs through all of the city's neighborhoods and even takes you out to Lakewood suburbs. As you run through the most residential part of the course, you also get some of the best support. Many neighbors brought their patio furniture to the end of the driveway and made a morning cheering for runners.

Colfax is Denver's only marathon so it's very popular with Coloradans, but its glory should spread beyond the state. I was one of the few running from out of state and the elevation did not bother me as much as expected. I took it a little slower, but the course itself is mostly flat except for one major hill through downtown at the end.

The expo takes place at the Stadium, which involves a lot of walking to the front entrance. There was a cycling expo happening at the same time in the parking lot but most of the vendors were redundant. The Stadium is a good tease for race day, when you run through it twice. The second run through the Stadium happened just after mile 20, which was set up with a cute "wall" to run through.

My only major complaint is race day parking, which is confusing and difficult. There's not a train stop near the start, so you're forced to drive but spaces are very limited. The parking attendants were very rude, and I'm fortunate I was with locals who knew how to get around downtown in the wee hours of the morning.