Every Runner Is A Winner At Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon

DENVER (CBS4) - About 14,000 runners took to the streets of Downtown Denver for the two day Transamerica Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon. The 5K race ran on Saturday. Half marathon and 10K runners took off from the start line at Civic Center Park on Sunday. Among them were the Team CBS4 runners, Mark Haas, Britt Moreno, Kelly Werthmann, and Karen Morfitt.

Before the race even got started, Morfitt broke some exciting news on the CBS4 Morning News.

"We found out we're expecting our first baby," Morfitt told CBS4's Tom Mustin live on the news.

While she was doctor approved to run the half marathon, the pregnancy changed Karen's race strategy.

"It's going to be a little bit slower than I planned, but hopefully, my goal is really just to cross the finish line," Morfitt told Mustin.

PHOTO GALLERY: Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon

That was her goal from the very start of training in June, and she was able to accomplish it on Sunday.

"Took me a little longer than I thought, and I hurt," Morfitt said as she neared the finish line.

At the beginning of training Mark Haas set the goal of getting a personal record at the Transamerica Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon. His original goal was to do the race in 1:40, but then he dropped that time to 1:35 during training. He came up short of his goal by 7 minutes.

"I went out a little bit quick. But I was hitting the paces that I wanted to hit. But then when I got to the halfway point, I just didn't have enough to keep those paces, and I came up short," Haas said at the finish line.

Haas had some special support from his Mom.

"She road on her bike the entire course with me, how cool is that?" he said with a smile.

For Moreno and Werthmann, this was their first half marathon and their first race ever. Both struggled a little bit with their training because of scheduling issues and Moreno had a back injury that sidelined her for 6 weeks. But both ended up finishing strong.

"Being out here, the crowd, the adrenaline, the sense of comradery out here, just fueled me, honestly, to finish the race," Moreno said at the finish line.

"When I reached mile seven I was like, 'I just set my own personal record' because before today, I had never run more than 6 miles," Werthmann said.

Both said the race went better than they expected it would, and that reaching the finish line felt like a real accomplishment. It was an accomplishment that thousands of runners shared at the Transamerica Rock 'n' Roll Denver Half Marathon.