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

Meridith Daniel

New Jersey, United States
66 38
2018
"Beautiful Running in Colorado"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Meridith Daniel's thoughts:

I signed up to do Vacation Races Elk Double, a challenge that consists of a 5k on Friday evening and a half marathon Saturday morning.

As you can imagine, it's a bit difficult to train for a race at 7,500 feet when you live in New Jersey. But knowing that I have a base fitness level from going to the gym and the fact I was running with a friend to have fun, I wasn't too concerned about running quickly for this race.

I arrived the week before the race which allowed us to get acclimated to the higher elevation. Trust me when I say that this is important! I didn't really have time to adjust when I was there during BolderBoulder a few years back and I didn't want to repeat that yucky feeling.

The 5k was on Friday night and some gnarly looking storm clouds were rolling in as we picked our race gear up at the expo. There was supposed to be s'mores but that got shut down early (or maybe they didn't have them at all?). We did a little shopping and then headed over near the start line which was just a short walk away.

One of the things that I love about Vacation Races is when you do a double, they give you a choice of your additional swag item. I got the t-shirt (which is women's cut and ill-fitting - whomp) and also a Elk Double hat (which I love!). My friend had the option to pick another item since she already had the hat, I love that they have more than one choice.

The 5k had numbered waves to begin but I'm not really sure how they were doled out. We ended up in the 3rd wave and knew that we planned to take things easy, especially given as there was a long hill immediately after crossing the start line.

After that hill, the 5k was mostly flat though so we took advantage of that as much as we could. The weather was feisty; a cold wind was blowing through and because of the mountains surrounding you and being near Lake Estes, the noise from the wind was intense. We did intervals as we made our way along the lakefront.

You could hear the finish line festivities as we circled the lake - so close yet so very far! My friend warned me that it was that way during the half too, which is tough during mile 12 of a race.

With the winds whipping we were getting more worried that we might get caught in driving rains which we were really hoping to avoid. Keeping our heads down we kept trucking along and crossed the finish line before the rain hit.

Hooray!

Got our super awesome medals, race goody boxes, snapped a few pictures, and then we were out of there.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Latest reviews

Loading Reviews...