My First Bolder Boulder

The Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day is a Colorado institution that I’ve avoided like the plague since moving to Colorado in 1995. Tens of thousands of people descend on Boulder, CO to run this race. Large chaotic crowds are not my thing. I avoid most concerts, sporting events, etc. This year was the 40th Anniversary of the Bolder Boulder and the person I ran the Snowman Stampede half-marathon with in February, purchased my entry for this year’s Bolder Boulder. He loves everything about the Bolder Boulder.

We went and found our heats – they release runners in smaller groups – 50 to 100 people? – every minute or two.

This meant that while running, there were other people nearby, but it was never congested (the logistics of this event impressed me tremendously), and even just about to cross the finish line, there was a lot of space between runners.

I’m a bit stunned by my performance. I knew my running was getting better, and I’m still by no means fast, but I went from being a 50th percentile runner to top 10% for my age. Crazy! Also, the last two miles were my fastest! My last 10K was in 2012, at sea level, in 56:07. My Bolder Boulder time was 55:26. Not a huge time difference, so maybe an age or altitude thing.

And, I’ll confess – I loved the bands on every corner. I high-fived the singing Elvis impersonator. I loved the Chick Fil A dancing cows. I loved all of the various dancers and performers along the way. I loved the random people with hoses, marshmallows, slip & slides, Doritos, and BACON. Seriously there was at least one mid-run BACON stop. And cow bells. I’ve never heard so much cow bell for such an extended period. But, and, also, the logistics remained amazing – a sea of 50,000 people, but no real crush of bodies, except after the race visiting the vendor tents. That was chaos.

And I want to do it again. I’ve already signed up for 2019.