I think this was my 12th Bolder Boulder, going all the way back to 1983. I have run the race whenever I have been living in-state and able, but missed several times due to injury, illness, or travel. Never has this race been my season’s best–except maybe in 2000 when I just missed top 100 overall and I won my age division on perhaps the warmest Bolder Boulder ever.
After moving back to Colorado and settling, I had a good streak from 2016-2019, winning four age division titles in a row. Then the came Covid pandemic and they only held a virtual race in 2020 (ran 39:48 on the Platte River bike path) and a socially distanced time trial in 2021 (39:30). I was all set for the return in 2022 but came down with my own case of Covid, and missed the race while recovering.
My delayed return last year was kind of a mix. Just two weeks after setting an age group record at the Riverbank Run 25K in Michigan. I wasn’t fully recovered, and tapered. Still, I won my age division in 40:46, but for the first time I did not break 40 and earn a spot in the Sub 40 Club, in which they award you with a t-shirt and list you on the website.
I ran flat that day and finished behind runners I normally beat. This was my conclusion from 2023:
I just didn’t have my day. Next time, I’ll take recovery a bit more seriously and go light on Friday, Saturday rest, Sunday shakeout. Bolder Boulder is by far the biggest and most important road race in the state. People build their year around it, not just try to fit it in. I do plan to run the 25K again and will have a better roadmap to enter Bolder Boulder.
Recovery and Taper
Last year I rested a few days after the 25K and then built back up in the second week, hitting about 50 miles. I decided not to fully taper and did a light workout on Friday, and then ran 5 or 6 miles on Saturday and Sunday figuring I’d be fine for the Memorial Day 10K.
This time I flipped that around a little bit. I did a short shakeout on Sunday after the 25K, took Monday off, and then built up gradually through that first week of recovery, running 11 miles on Sunday. In the second week I just did a light fartlek on Wednesday and then tapered from there, resting completely on Saturday followed by a short 30 minute shakeout run on Sunday.
I felt better going in.
Race Morning
After so many years I have the Bolder Boulder logistics down pretty well. I park a community park less than a half mile from the start area, and the only trick is to get there early. But even then, with just a few cars in the parking lot at 5:30 AM, the bathroom line was 10 minutes long!
After chilling in the car for half an hour I started my warm up and met my friend Souhail, and we ran about a mile together and did some drills. We lined up into the A corral (maybe my last!?, it takes a 38 minute 10K or equivalent to get into that wave).
In the corral we bumped into elite runner Allie Ostrander, who I watched race as a high school cross country phenom in Alaska from 2011-2014 while I was coaching our sons for their team. She was dressed in street clothes, but was holding a camera and microphone. I struck up a quick conversation about the Alaska days and we compared Alaska vs. Colorado (much warmer and more sunshine here). Then she asked us a couple questions for her boyfriend The Athlete Special‘s vlog (check the 4:00 mark).
Countdown and Start
The Bolder Boulder is one of the largest races in the US and one of the biggest 10Ks in the world. This year some 48,000 people registered. In order to manage the huge crowd of runners and walkers the race is divided into about 100 waves of up to 500 runners each, starting from Wave A which starts at 6:50 AM to Wave WE, going off at at 9:19.
It’s a race for thousands and a huge party-get together for many thousands more. Bolder Boulder has one of the largest Memorial Day celebrations in the country and it’s a logistical wonder.
Bolder Boulder race start with tens of thousands of runners lining up (BB website)
With seconds to go a trumpet blew and we counted down. Lining up near the back of the wave, the horn blew and it took 10 seconds for me to cross the start line.
My goal was simple, run it in under 40 minutes , keep an even effort, and hopefully have enough after 5 or 5.5 miles to make that last tough uphill climb into Folsom stadium. I felt okay in that first mile, no mishaps, as I dialed into a sustainable effort. I crossed in 6:26-right on!
Early miles, hanging in there with my wave during the 2nd mile (but see Wave AA with blue bibs lurking in the background).
The course winds through a fairly even first mile (little elevation gain-loss), then turns west for a bit and north for the second and most of the third mile, and this is the where you have the biggest climbs. That is until that final half mile. It’s always long and grinding, and this year (2nd year in a row) maybe I pushed it a little too hard. I was trying to keep the same effort, but ended up a little fast at 6:20 (GAP 6:13) and ended up paying for it later.
Just before half way we had a nice downhill respite, and there was an aid station. I sidled over to the right side of the rode but the 3-4 runners right ahead grabbed the initial cups. Finally, about half way through the there was an opening and I reached for the cup, slowing a bit. Bam, I took an elbow or fist to my back. I uttered an audible What the Fuck, Slow down! As I grabbed my cup and took a swig. The guy barreled by like he was hell bent for eternity.
All I could do is glare.
Just after the aid station, the guy in yellow barreling to the finish line, I’m back to his right still kind of pissed off.
Fortunately, there were no other incidents. I just got increasingly tired with each mile but tried to focus on keeping the effort. I split half way at just about 20 minutes (didn’t get the split there), and through the rolling 4th mile. I split a 25:58. So a few seconds off but the 5th mile is downhill and fast.
Rolling through the 5th mile.
I hit mile 5 in 32:12, so a 6:14 for the downhill and fastest split of the day. A little mental math had me thinking that a 6:20 would do it, or a high 6:20s with a massive kick over the last 300 meters.
Would I have it?
Rounding the turn and hanging on near mile 5.
I had some confidence through 9K, although it seemed to take longer to get there after we had made the turn onto Folsom Avenue, which leads to the stadium for nearly a mile. This is always the toughest test for me. Over the last kilometer, specifically the 800 or so meters from the 9K banner until you enter the stadium, is always grueling and challenge.
Sometimes I can find a gear to grind up that hill into the stadium but this year I fell apart, at least according to Strava. As my pace slowed to 7:30s for those couple hundred meters. Entering the stadium I threw all I had into a kick, but even that was a bit sluggish until I reached the final turn.
Kicking it in!
I didn’t check my watch over the last mile–it’s kind of a thing as I prefer to just run and not focus on time and pace. I think that’s a reasonable habit but it does come back to nip me sometimes in races when I have a specific time goal.
I checked my watch. 40:08. Short of my goal to be the oldest ever to be in Club 40 at the Bolder Boulder (the oldest has been 64). I was a little disappointed, but don’t know how or where I could have squeezed those 9 seconds. Maybe a slightly slower 2nd mile (say another 6:26 on the uphill) would have left a little more energy for a faster closing stretch.
Nevertheless, I won my age division for the 7th time, broke the single age record by more than a minute, and the age group record by 30 seconds. So I didn’t break 40 but have run faster than anyone else for age 65 and up. No complaints.
I’d like to be back for next year, and I think I can make another good attempt to break 40 minutes once again. The question is, do I go for another 25K record in Grand Rapids and try to circle back in 16 days, like I have these past two years, or go do the Bloomsday Race in Spokane and have a three week recovery? As long as things are going well I’ll make that decision next April.
rrunnin234 