Bolder Boulder 10K

We did it! I ran about 4.2 miles - that is one mile longer than I have ever run. Roland ran the entire thing and ran fast after he left me at the 5K mark. Noah is the fastest but had to stop at a porta potty. Ike is fast too and said he wants to do lots more races like Bolder Boulder. I don't think there are any other races like this.

The boys complained a little the day before the race and I was worried that they were going to try to back out. But they woke up early Monday morning (we had to leave the house by 5:00 AM) and were wired. We drove to Broomfield and took a shuttle into Boulder.

There were 56,000 racers. Quite a few of them dressed up in costume. I think Roland ran the entire race because he wasn't going to be passed by an old man in a tutu.

This picture was taken right before our wave started. There were 80 waves and we were in the NE wave. I think there were at least 200 people in our wave. I had butterflies in my tummy and Noah was dancing around full of energy.

Roland "helped" Ike do the YMCA dance.

That is my ponytail. I think this was at the 3 mile point and I was feeling good. The first mile is always so hard and I want to quit, but then when I hit mile 2 I get in my groove. Can you see the speed limit sign on the right side of the road? It was posting people's speeds at 5 or 6 miles an hour. I was going 4 miles an hour. Woohoo!

Bolder Boulder tracks your progress every mile so I was able to track my 5K time which was 3 minutes faster than the Garden of the Gods race 4 weeks ago. That made me happy.  I walked miles 4 and 5 and ran mile 6 so I could come into the stadium running.

The view entering the stadium. I got a little teary at this point. People were hooting and cheering and so very happy. By this time our family was spread out on the race. Noah came in first and then Roland and then Ike, and finally, little old slow poke me. Roland would have been at least 10 minutes faster if he hadn't run the first 5K with me.

Roland and Ike waited for me at the finish line. It was a pretty big deal. We were all quite happy.

After a healthy sack lunch provided by the race we watched international professional racers finish the race in 28 minutes. That is just over a 5 minute mile for 6 miles! My fastest mile was 13.36 minutes. Those runners were very impressive. Two of them collapsed as soon as they crossed the finish line. The altitude is killer.

Then they celebrated Memorial Day. There was a 21 gun salute, 6 parachuters, and 56,000 people singing along with "Proud To Be An American". It was very touching.

Next year you should join us.

We are going to wear dedications to Grandpa Wade and his brothers, Gene and Roland on our backs.

I'm gonna run the whole thing next year.