Wondered why Colfax was so bumpy today

Der Posten:

Michael McBride pounded his way through the 13-mile half marathon, a black metal cart hitched to a harness he wore trailing behind him like a rickshaw.

Four small gray oxygen cylinders were suspended between the cart's bicycle wheels and green tubing pumped air through his nostrils to his battered lungs.

"As long as I'm moving, they can't bury me," said McBride, 55, who was diagnosed with emphysema three years ago.

Ex-smoker, no doubt. Something else to look forward to.

He was one of more than 2,400 runners who registered for the half-marathon, the most popular event of the Colorado Colfax Marathon, Half-Marathon and Relay today. A total of 5,216 people registered in all three races.

It took McBride and his 100-pound load three hours and 50 minutes to make the run from City Park to Aurora and back.

This wheezer's some kind of freak of nature (and American Tobacco). Even now, years after I quit, my staggers around Sloan Lake always end with Billy Bob having to drag me the last quarter-mile.

He runs with his cart, built by an engineer friend who designed a suspension system that keeps it from pushing him downhill, 3 to 6 miles a day Monday through Friday. He takes longer runs on the weekend. . . .

The barrel-chested McBride has always been physically active, but didn't start running until he was diagnosed. "I was one of those people who go to the gym three days a week and smoke on the way home."

Just like me! Except for the "gym" part! Our reporter shows an eye for the telling detail:

Despite his illness, he had more success than some. At least one man collapsed, falling in a heap beside a sound system blaring Midnight Oil's "Beds are Burning," about 100 yards from the finish line.

Might want to follow up on that.

Update: Good name in the story: Keith Panzer.

Update II: Not surprisingly, since the marathon was sponsored by the two papers, the Nee-ewes has more:

Unlike last year, when runners were sent in the wrong direction, adding a half-mile to an already brutal 26.2-mile race, the top 30 runners only had to go an extra quartermile this year.

They were led off course after the first mile because a bicycle pacer made a wrong turn. But within a few minutes, race officials knew the runners were headed in the wrong direction out of City Park and turned them around.

Nice work. Funny, the News doesn't mention anyone collapsing and the Post doesn't mention the wrong turns.