Justin Ricks and Trent Briney set the early pace in the ADT Marathon at Palmer Lake on Monday. Eventual race winner, Robby Young, is in yellow, about six places back.

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VIDEO:  Start of the ADT Marathon ** Interview with men's marathon winner Robby Young ** Interview with Courtenay Brown, women's marathon winner ** Interview with men's half marathon winner Curtis Suver ** Interview with Stephanie Wurtz, women's half marathon champ

Robby Young had a lonely run planned on Monday ... just him and his watch and 22-miles worth of leg-shredding intervals.

But who wanted to do that? The American Discover Trail Marathon seemed like much more fun, so he jumped in the race.

"It's only four more miles and it's a chance to get out here with some aid stations and some cheering and a chance to make a little money in the morning, so it's always nice," said Young, a  member of the Boulder Running Company/Adidas Team.

Good decision. Young, 28, won the men's race with a time of 2 hours, 32 minutes and 18 seconds. He earned $1,000 prize money for the effort.

Some 1,164 runners from 37 states and three countries made it to the starting lines before sunrise for the ADT Marathon, which began in Palmer Lake, and the Half Marathon, which started in America the Beautiful Park. The race benefits the Trails and Open Space Coalition and the Pikes Peak Road Runners. Both races finished at America the Beautiful where the Rock 'n' Roll was played loud and race fans and family members lined the course to greet their favorite runners.

Though there were about 450 finishers in the marathon, Young, a 28-year-old cross country coach at Rampart High School, still spent most of the day running by himself. That's the life of an elite runner, he was racing, but was alone with his intervals.

"I ran most of it by myself, I let them (some early front runners) go early cause I had the first five (miles) as kind of a warm-up," he said. "They had a pretty good-sized gap and as I was doing my workout coming through them, I didn't spend much time with them, maybe four or five seconds it seemed like. I was kind of hoping that one of them would come with me or try to catch up, but I guess my crazy workout wasn't what they were looking for."

Justin Ricks, 33, Colorado Springs, a former ADT Marathon record holder, was second in 2:38:03. Trent Briney, 35, Boulder, who has a fourth-place finish in the United State Olympic Marathon Trials on his resume, placed third in 2:43:07.  

In the women's race, Boulder runner Courtenay Brown, 34, lined up to race in her first marathon - a shaky experience for any runner. No problem. She executed the only plan she could think of. Hammer the first 10 miles and then hold on until the finish.

"I decided to go out swinging, which I did, sort of averaging 6:20, 6:30 (minutes per mile) for the first eight or ten miles." she said. "And then I slowed down. But I led wire to wire which was a pretty cool feeling."

Brown covered the mostly gravel course in 3:07:08. Shannon Husted of Boulder finished second in 3:14:36. Serene Griffin (43, Northlake, Texas) filled out the podium with a third-place run of 3:23:24.

Colorado Springs' Curtis Suver played it safe through Mile 7 of the Half Marathon, then found another gear as the course sloped gradually downhill. He charged to the win in 1 hour, 13 minutes and 53 seconds.

"Uphill, on the way out, I just kind of took it easy and ran with some other guys," Suver said. "Then decided to try to throw in a surge and it worked out on the way back."

He said his main running goal, however is to keep up with his wife, Mattie Suver, who placed second in Monday’s USA Track and Field 20K Championships. Phillip Keller, 33, of Albuquerque, N.M., finished second in 1:15:19. Colorado Springs' Pat McGuire, 31, was third in 1:16:46.

In the women’s race, Stephanie Wurtz of Colorado Springs won for the second consecutive time. She finished in 1 hour, 30 minutes and 59 seconds, nearly three minutes better than her winning time of a year ago.

"Two years I've run it, two years I've won it, so it's a great way to kick off the fall and wrap up the summer training," Wurtz said.

Debbie Patskowsi (35, Highlands Ranch) finished second in 1:33:29, with Christna Gallagher giving chase at 1:33:59 for third