Bolder Boulder Race Report

The Bolder Boulder is touted as America's best 10K. No doubt that it lives up to its reputation. The race is a lot of fun, very well run, and the course is lined with crazy spectators, bands, frat houses, slip and slides, grilled bacon...the list goes on and on. I didn't get to race this one last year due to a knee injury. So, I was excited to be out there and compete. The race was on Monday, and I had just finished a recovery week after a solid block of training. A recipe for success...usually.

I got up on race day, had the usual breakfast of eggs, toast, peanut butter, a banana and coffee and headed out to the race. I was meeting up with people from work, as we are a major sponsor of the race and have many teams in the team competition. I was racing with our "A-team", so I needed to have a solid race. I realized about 3/4 of the way there that I had forgot my race number and timing chip. Bad news. I flew back home, got my stuff and headed back. By the time I parked I had about 10 minutes to make it 1.5 miles to the start in time for my wave. Well that wasn't going to happen, so I decided I'd just jump into a later wave. So, I stopped for the portapotties, did my warm up jog to the starting line and got to start in the back of the "b" waves. So, this meant lots of traffice to try to get through, since the waves are seeded based on expected finish time.

My legs felt good and I was cruising for the first 3 miles. Then my stomach started to tell me that there was some unfinished business from the pre-race portapottie stop. Unfortunately this meant I had to reign in my pace, which was disappointing becuase my legs were there. In the end I ran 42:54, which was a P.R. (for some reason, I haven't run a 10K in quite some time, so I haven't challenged my time in awhile). Our team also placed first thanks to some very fast guys in the 37-38 minute range. I'm looking forward to another flat out 10K to see what I am really capable of. I'd love to break 40, so that might be the focus after nationals this year.