Bolder Boulder Recap!

Ah so sorry this is so late I actually wrote this out on Tuesday at work, but then I forgot to email it to myself, and yesterday was just CRAZY! We were supposed to be leaving for Oklahoma today, but they have another storm coming through where they are really likely to have more tornadoes, so we decided we didn't want to be driving through that! We will be leaving Saturday instead now.

 

Trailer is filling up!

 

Mission accomplished!! I not only survived the Bolder Boulder, but I ran the whole thing AND stayed under my goal pace!!! It was slow… like turtle slow, but that’s how I have been running lately so I just stuck with my “happy pace”. There was a group of people there called team turtle and I definitely should have been a part of it! My goal was to stay under an 11 minute mile, so about 1:08.00 was my goal time, and I squeaked in at 1:07.37! The website says my pace was 10:53  a mile so for me and what I have been running lately that’s not terrible. I definitely want to work on my speed and get down under 9 minute miles and someday I would really like to get down to 8 minute miles J

Finish area

 

 The course was pretty fun not tons of spectators, but certainly plenty to keep it interesting. We had a pretty early start time though so there certainly could have been quite a few more for the later times. Not sure how many people in life really want to wake up at 7 to stand on the side of the road to watch runners. They were handing out grapes, doritios, jello shots, and water, definitely some interesting race day aid J (By the spectators not the official race aid stations). My favorite part was that when we ran through neighborhoods several people had hoses and sprinklers set up for us to run through, which was definitely nice to cool off with J They had quite a few bands, but I ran with my headphones in the whole way. It was a super well run race and everything was really organized. We left right on time, everything went as planned, and even though SOOO MANY PEOPLE RAN IT crowding really wasn’t an issue on the course. I got passed A LOT at the beginning (even by people 2 and 3 heats behind me L we started a minute apart), but I never felt super in the way and there was always plenty of room for people to pass. Even at the water stations it wasn’t too bad. They had TONS of volunteers handing out water so I never had to break to a walk when I stopped for water.

We had stayed the night in North Denver at one of friend’s house the night before that way we wouldn’t have to wake up at like 4 in the morning (we slept a whole extra hour till 5). We were late leaving and I kind of started to panic, but luckily traffic wasn’t too bad and we got there only about 10 minutes behind schedule. I had been worried about parking, but we found a safeway not far at all from the start and parked there. We followed the flow of people and found the start no problem. We got pretty luckily with our parking spot we were only about 4 blocks away! Having an early start definitely had it’s advantages even if it did leave us sleep deprived! We made it to the start area and picked up our bibs about 6:55. We had no problems picking up our packets and it was smooth and fast. We headed over to the fed-ex trucks to do our bag drop, and also had no problems. Everything in the start area went super smooth! We were still kind of worried about time so we were hurrying through, and even though I put on sun screen I did it super fast and DEFINITELY missed most of my back (I did however thoroughly coat my hair which made for some nice mats in my little fly away hairs). 

Start area, this was as the heat in front of us was leaving, when we first got in our coral we couldn't even see the start

Right as we got to where the corals were lining up the one in front of us was passing by so it worked out perfect. We jumped in ours and ended up almost at the front of it. It was just a few minutes after 7 so we were enjoying the start area and everything going on when I realized I had pulled a total blonde moment and forgotten my timing chip in the race packet!!!! I really started to panic and I ran back to the back drop and luckily they were just shutting up the truck. The lady was super nice and found my bag for me, and I found my timing chip pretty easily. Definitely still having some rookie moments! Although I found the chip I missed the little zip times to attach it to my shoe so I just put it through my shoe strings and tied it on. It definitely got my heart pumping and gave me a good little warm up though.

 

 

Right before we started we found out CU’s basketball coach was running with us which was kind of cool, but we never saw him again after the start. The gun went off and we started and I immediately thought there was no way I was going to make it through the race without peeing my pants/finding a porta potty. I had been hoping it was just pre-race jitters making me feel like I had to pee since we had made a bathroom stop on the walk to the race (in a porta-potty not just on the side of the road!) but the more I ran and jiggled my bladder the worse I had to pee! About a 1.5 miles in there were porta-potties set up but there was already a line and if I was going to stop I didn’t want to have to wait in line so I kept trucking figuring there would be some more at the 3 mile aid station.

 

Go time baby!!

 

The first aid station was at the 2 mile mark and there were aid stations every mile after. I had planned on taking water just at 2 and 4, but by the time mile 5 rolled around I was panting up a storm so I grabbed another water. I drank half and dumped half over my, I felt like a pro :-) (Really I had just seen the guy in front of me do it and it seemed like a good idea). The course was really well marked it had signs for every mile and km, which was nice for those of us who were counting every step trying to figure out exactly how much further we had to go (who would do that?). The beginning was only bad because I could think about nothing, but how bad I had to pee, through one of the neighborhoods a guy had a sign that said restroom and I seriously almost took him up on it. There ended up not being another set of porta-potties till mile 4 and by then I didn't have to pee as bad so I decided to wait till the end.

Mile 3 was definitely the hardest for me! I don't know what it is about the mid-run miles that kill me, but they sure do! It felt like it took forever long, and it definitely felt the hardest I felt like I was NEVER EVER going to get to that half way point. I knew in my head that once I got there I would be ok, that I would be on the downhill side of things (which is funny because between mile 3 and 4 is the steepest). I really played a lot of mental games with myself through this mile, and was feeling like there was no way I was going to make it through the whole race. I just kept trudging along though and pretty soon I saw that mile 3 banner.

The night before we talked to my friends parents who had ran the Bolder Boulder before. They helped us out with the time to get there, how long the drive would be, partking, the course, etc. They said that between mile 3 and 4 it is mostly all uphill, and then that there is another hill going into the stadium. Once I hit that 3 mile marker I just kept telling myself one step at a time, one foot in front of the other. I've noticed that when I have to run hills if I look down instead of ahead it makes it easier for me. It's like I can focus just on these few steps instead of all of what is ahead of me. I really expected like some huge monster hill (it looked that way on the elevation map) or the whole mile to be pretty steep (my worst nightmare), but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. It was a little bit uphill most the way to "the hill", but nothing crazy and honestly I think the whole first 3 miles where a little bit uphill. about 3.75 we rounded a corner and there was "the hill", it was definitely a hill, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. I just kept my head down and plugged along and pretty soon I was at the top and there was a sign saying "course summit, sea level is for sissies!!" and I loved it! It made me smile, and I knew for the first time that I was going to make it through this race. I had mastered the hardest part and I was 2/3 of the way through!

The rest of the race kinda seemed to breeze by. I kept checking in with myself asking how I felt, if anything hurt, what my "gas tank" was at, and honestly I was feeling pretty good! I was smiling, giving high fives, and giving thumbs up to people with signs. My favorite sign was "Worst parade ever!", and my favorite shirt I saw was PR or ER (that's the lucky thing about being new to running everything is a PR!). Once I went under the mile 5 banner, I had a little emotional moment because every step was further than I had ever ran before! I was feeling pretty good, and I was really proud of myself! I was not only running this last mile that was further than I had ever ran, but I wasn't feeling like I was dying through it either! I continued to feel pretty good till about the 9km mark and then my gas tank started getting a little low and my legs were starting to feel tired, but I was so close so I just tried to think about that. There was a pretty SERIOUS hill before you get to the stadium luckily it was pretty short. Funneling into the stadium is the only place it got a little crowded and made me a little nervous having to weave through people. The hill was making a lot of people break to a walk, and I didn't want to get stuck behind someone and have to walk. After the monstey hill we had to keep going uphill on the ramp into the stadium, and  then we ran a lap around the stadium. I was figuring it would be a 400m length and I was really dreading it, but luckily it was just the football field and it was made even smaller so it wasn't bad at all. I was so excited to see the finish and know that I was going to make it! I knew from previous experience that I didn't have much sprint in me, so I waited till the final corner and then I put everything I had into it! Which was surprisingly more than I thought I would have, I think I probably could of picked up the pace throughout the race a little, but oh well.

Finish Line

 

All in all it was a really good first 10k experience. I'm proud of myself for making it through it, and meeting my goals (even if they are turtle paced goals). My right hip and knee were sore after the race, but nothing the next day or since. I think I just have weak IT bands that I need to build up. The worst part about the dang race was that after you finish they make you walk up ANOTHER really steep hill to get to water/Gatorade, return your time chip, and get your goodie bag. I felt a little like dying then, and decided that is a really cruel joke. We got goody bags that had lots of treats, the shirts were fitted not huge baggy ones so that was nice too, and they had official race photographers and the pictures should be up TODAY. I haven't ran since the race... womp womp!!! I have been beyond busy today this week, but I am going to try and get out today and get a run in. I will post my splits tomorrow because this is already the longest post ever!!!