2010 Bolder Boulder

Memorial Day was here again and that is the day for the Bolder Boulder. It is either the first or second largest 10K road race that is held in the US, with 53,700 people participating. So it is fun to participate in, even if you are a big loser like me. I admit I really didn't have very high expectations for a good finish time. After all I was going to walk it rather than run it. Also, Jody and I really had not prepared like we needed to, mainly due to poor weather. So as long as we got to finish the race and didn't get kicked off the track for being to slow, we considered it a victory.

So here we are at the starting line, we were in wave PB, which had an expected finish time of 90 to 120 minutes. So right where we were planning to finish. There were about 40 waves that started before us. So we were near the back of the participants.

One of the fun things is the people that line the course of the Bolder Boulder. They entertain people and shout encouragement. Which makes the race more fun. Here is a group of belly dancers we saw between 2KM and 3KM. The funny thing, is that this one only one group of belly dancers, I think we saw two more on the course.

Between 6KM and 7KM you reach the summit of the course. If you didn't live here and were really running, this is where you would hurt alot.

One of the best parts is the finish of the race. The actual finish is in the Colorado University stadium. And there are all these people cheering you on, even slow pokes like me. It is really a cool feeling. Frank Shorter, an Olympic Marathon runner was doing the commentary for the people in the stadium, said that the Bolder Boulder is a unique race in that people actually stick around at the end. I think it has to do with the Memorial Day celebration that happens after the end of the Elite Races.

So the Elite runners finished in 28 mins, 13 seconds, which is 4:34 per mile. I wasn't that fast. I finished in 1 hour, 44 mins and 53 seconds or 16:52 mins per mile. My best time was in 2003 where we finished in 1 hour, 29 mins. I'll have to try again to see if I can improve my time, and why don't you come join us next time!