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Joel Reichenberger

Joel Reichenberger's column appears Sundays in the Steamboat Pilot & Today. Contact him at 871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com.

Steamboat Springs — Todd Trapp won't say he ever thought he actually would win the Steamboat Marathon, but he certainly thought he had a chance.

"Winning, it was always on my mind," Trapp said. "But I also knew that guy who always wins would probably be back."

He's right. Jason Saitta, eight-time champion of the Steamboat Marathon, will again be in the field when runners take off from Hahn's Peak Village early this morning.

But Trapp certainly could have made a strong case.

He was second in last year's 26.2-mile race. That turned out to just be the start of the Craig runner's summer in Steamboat. He dominated the Steamboat Springs Running Series and easily wrapped up the men's season-long championship.

That's what kept rolling through Trapp's mind last winter. He said he took some time away from serious training after he capped last summer's run with a second-place finish in his first ultra marathon, the 50-mile Run Rabbit Run event in Steamboat.

Unfortunately for Trapp and anyone hoping to see him challenge Saitta, he was never able to get back in shape.

"I was playing rec volleyball in a league here in Craig. I stepped on someone's foot," Trapp said.

Thinking - hoping - it was just a sprain, Trapp waited a few days. When he finally gave in to the pain, X-rays revealed the bad news.

His foot was broken, and before he had even started training in earnest, his chances of winning the Steamboat Marathon had vanished.

The injury sidelined Trapp through the rest of the winter and the first part of spring. He wasn't able to get back on his feet and running until about three weeks ago.

"I started running again as soon as they took the boot off," he said. "But I was running at a lot slower pace and running a lot less distance."

Opponents from last year's running series who saw little but the back side of Trapp might have not even recognized their foe when he first got back to running. He logged a very human three miles.

But he's been building back up slowly. His workout extended to eight miles last week, and he said the strength is slowly oozing back into his legs

As for the running series, Trapp said he would take a wait-and-see approach to defending his championship.

"It got grueling last year," he said. "I know I'm not in very good shape, but I would like to get out there and see how competitive I am, then make some decisions."

In fact, he has recovered to the point where he said he hopes to make the trip down U.S. Highway 40 for today's race. Marathoners can breathe easy. Trapp has no ambition to tackle that kind of distance yet.

But the Steamboat Marathon's 10-kilometer runners should be made aware. If things go according to plan, there will be a shark in their midst.