The fourth annual Rocky Mountain Half Marathon took place today. I had registered for this race a long time ago, before I came down with the Hip Flexor Injury. Thus, I was not able to race today.

I decided to walk over to Sloans Lake with my trusty Golden Retriever to cheer on the runners. As I awoke this morning, I noticed the cool temperatures and a bit of rain. This was a huge change from last year’s race which was held on a sweltering Sunday morning.

I also wanted to see Alan Culpepper, an Olympic Runner and a Colorado guy to boot. When I saw Alan, he had a commanding lead, I said a few encouraging words and told him best of luck in the trials. Alan did not acknowledge me, my guess is he read last month’s Runners World that informed runners that they do not need to stop and talk to people who have come out to see them run. Anyway, Alan dominated the race, Rocky Mountain Half Marathon 2008 Results.

There was a huge drop in talent level this year, from the previous two years, check out the 2006 Results and the 2007 Results. Alan’s time was actually slower than the previous two years winners and I would think today’s conditions were more favorable. In the previous two years there was tough competition, thus I am guessing that in the past they gave out some prize money and this year they are no longer doing that. Wonder why, perhaps Arby’s was fronting the prize money in the past? It was good to see that there were 977 runners this year, compared to 613 in 2007, that’s a huge improvement.

On Saturday, I cruised down to River Front Park. I decided to pick up my race packet anyway, hoping for a cool T-Shirt. No suerte. I’m quite certain that last year the race gave out a nice tech shirt, but this year they went with the standard issue, Anvil 100% cotton, short sleeved shirt.

Front:

Back:

I will state that the River Front Park area is a great place to hold a race, however parking can be problematic. I think it’s one of the cooler areas of Denver. I’d be interested to know what the racers thought of this years race and if the change in management (to the Denver Marathon Team) had any impact. If you would like to comment stop by the RunColo Forum and state your opinion.