BolderBoulder recap...finally!

I know, I've been putting this off now for almost two weeks, but hey, better late then never, right?

The premier 10K of the country, the BolderBoulder is one of those races that I never thought I would run. The 10K doesn't really interest me in terms of a race being that it's too long to run hard, but too short to really count in the record books as a "tough" race. Yet this year, I am determined to expand beyond the 5K and the sprint triathlon, so the BolderBoulder I figured would be a good gauge of my stance as a runner.

We got to Boulder in plenty of time before our wave went off. We parked at this lot close to the finish line (smart on our part) and walked towards the starting line. We made our first porta-potty stop of the morning about halfway to the starting line and also stopped at a Starbucks for some coffee and a banana. Then we decided we should go check our stuff in to our portable locker that we bought (1 dollar to check all your stuff and have it waiting at the finish line...brilliant!) and then we'd get in our wave and go.

First, we decided to stop at the porta-potties again. While T made her stop, I decided to do some stretching, figuring that I had already gone and wouldn't need to worry about it again. (Can you sense the foreshadowing???) I did some stretches and then we went to check our stuff into the locker. No big deal, plenty of time, right?

Yeah...about that...the line for the lockers was HUGE! I mean ginormous. We hopped in line with the hope that we would still make our qualifying wave...yeah not so much. I was somewhat stressing over it, while T was trying to calm me down and assuring me that we would be fine.

We checked in our stuff and ran/walked our way to the starting line. We joined in a wave that started maybe 12 minutes after our wave started and wished each other good luck. At the start, we looked up to the people counting the starting waves down and we saw Dr. Oz, Mark Allen, and Rick Reilly. Yeah, pretty cool.

So...off we went! We vowed to stay together this time (cause T is a better pacesetter then me and would help me stay back) but again, this wasn't happening. Why? Cause I'm dumb, that's why.

Right when the race got started. RIGHT when the race got started, I felt my bladder ready to explode. I thought I was going to be fine, yeah, not so much. I kept telling T I would need to find a porta and stop. She said she would wait with me, but I wasn't going to let her. We found a couple about 5 minutes into the race and I told her I would see her at the finish line. With that, I pulled over and planned on doing the race solo.

After taking a massive pee (huge), I continued running. I knew this was going to kill my time in terms of chip time, but I thought I could still salvage something respectable with my own timing. The first mile was pretty easy and I was feeling pretty good. The 2nd mile, I looked to pick it up just slightly. This is also where the bulk of the entertainment started. There were bands, belly dancers, and just people in their yards cheering us on. It was wonderful and a nice distraction from the task at hand. I fist-bumped an Elvis singer. Don't judge me.

The 3rd mile was interesting. There were people lobbing marshmallows at the crowd (hilarious, I might add) as well as the field began to very slightly thin. This portion of the run also took you by some literal hippies. The smell of weed was very strong, but I was still supportive of them cheering.

The 4th mile, I started to wonder if a sub 10 minute mile 10K was going to be possible, at least according to my time. I started really focusing on the task at had, pretty much ignoring the entertainment. Except for one thing. Some neighbors had set up a slip and slide in their yard as well as a pool. That pool and slip and slide looked SO enticing, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I saw other runners doing it though and it looked like they were having a blast.

In the 5th mile, I caught up to T. We chatted for a bit about how the run was going and shared some bacon (nature's protein bar) that was given to us by a bystander. When we decided to part ways, I told her I'd see her at the finish line. I had less then 1/2 a mile left by that point and knew I still had the "hard hill" waiting for me.

That hard hill? Nothing to it! Nothing at all! I suppose training in Lone Tree has made hills really easy, but I digress. That hill was easy. I sprinted into the stadium to many cheering people which was an awesome feeling, regardless of my time. I rounded the corner and crossed the mat, finishing in 61:21 according to my watch. I knew that wasn't the actual finishing time, but I still hit my sub-10 minute mile!

T came in about 40 seconds after me. We collected our swag bags and hit the expo. The booths had a lot of good stuff that we enjoyed, then we headed out of Boulder and back to Lone Tree.

Overall, a pretty good race.