I decided to sign up for the steamboat marathon in June (http://www.steamboatsummer.com/info/events/sbcccalendarevent.marathon_09.item.asp). I’ve been hearing some horror stories about the elevation profile, but looking at it, it doesn’t seem all that bad. Just a hell of a lot of down with a few good uphill kicks at the end.
For those that have run it, was it really THAT hard? Is there anything in particular (besides running lots of hills) that you did or wish you did?
I ran it way back in 1994 (I think that was the year I ran it) when I was a senior in college. My 2nd marathon. It was pretty hard on the legs. Running downhill for that long is hard on the legs. and hard to train for. Not that I tried to train for it. I don’t think I knew it was downhill until I ran it (back before the whole www thing took off and you could find out information about races).
That marathon made me think twice about doing the Pikes Peak Marathon. I stuck to the Ascent to avoid downhill running.
I remember it being beautiful. But most of Colorado is.
Good Luck.
Hard on the quads, but towards the end, there’s some good rollers. You almost welcome the uphills!
It can be super cold at the start too, fyi.