The weekend race double is now complete and I every grateful for that. I finished the Bolder Boulder in a time of
35:38 (+/-) which wins the age group and is somewhere around 90th place. Unfortunately it looks like my chip wasn't working and I'm not listed in the results.. I have emailed the timers twice so far and I hope that it is corrected soon.
We couldn't have asked for a better day for the largest 10k that I compete in. For those who have never done the Bolder Boulder, there are something like 60 runners, but the race feels small because you start in seeded waves of a couple hundred. Any way, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temperature was a pleasantly in the mid 50's (I know a bit chilly but livable). I started in the back middle of the A wave and that seemed a about right. Even though I do this race every year, I still have some trouble rationalizing finishing around 90th place as about right. I started the run at a measured pace (5:32) since I knew the difficulty of the course really picked up at mile 3 and it seemed to work.
I was able to maintain my pace through the second mile (5:33) and was fortunate enough to pass Justin Little. A quick side comment about Justin, he is racing so fast this year that he is really pushing me. On one hand I am grateful to be pushed while on the other, a pleasant jog through the Pearl street mall would have been nice too. He is a far kinder person than I so it is gratifying to see him compete so well. The third mile is where I started to struggle and I think that Saturdays race played a part in my suffering. When the grade ticked up, I found it hard to power up the hills. My third and fourth mile splits were 5?:51 and 5:52 respectively and I was so happy to run through the 'Highest Point' marker. I was able to let my legs turn over better after the summit and I was able to hold 5:35 pace until the hill into the stadium. I would have liked to loaf that hill and the lap of the track, but I could feel the mass of runners behind bearing down on me (thanks Justin) and I was able to only loose one place in the stadium.
At 35:38, I was just under 30 seconds faster than last year which is refreshing since all my other running races this year have been slower than last year. I am hopeful that this is a harbinger of things to come. I just hope that I make it back into the results some time soon. I could really use a new key chain. Thank you Runners Roost, Nike, Pearl Izumi, Power Bar and Colorado Ophthalmology.
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