A Tumbling Pace

Today Renee and I ran our second Bolder Boulder together and my third.   

I ran in wave AB.  I have been training mostly in the mountains.  As you can tell from my posts (or lack of them) my running has been very casual.  I haven’t worn a watch and have run mainly trails.   I have run consistently about 40-45 miles per week, with an average of 2 sessions of ATC per week (my killer gym workout).  I am heavier than I was last year due to the muscle I have put on at the ATC, but stronger and fitter.

I had good race prep, warming up well before my 7:02 start.  My goal was to put my head down and work hard for 40 minutes.  I wanted to go sub 40.  I put on some Jay-Z and started to kick it.  First mile 6:20.  Second mile, I don’t know and the Bolder Boulder missed my time as well with some malfunction.  I guess I ran it in under 6:30 due to my final time.  Then…well as anybody who has run the Bolder Boulder knows, miles 3 and 4 are difficult.  I ran 6:47, 6:47.   I was strong but not strong enough and worked too hard, expending too much energy to finish as strong as I needed to finish.  I finished miles 5 and 6 both in 6:44.  My total time was 41:17, a 6:39 pace.  I apparently went out too fast and didn’t save enough for the last 2 miles.  Next year I have to force myself to negative split this course.   I did beat my time from last year by over 45 seconds and have been steadily improving as this graph from my friend Zoltan shows:

Yes, I do have a target time for next year.  I am not going to let another opportunity slip by. :)

After the race I grabbed my bike that I had stashed at the finish the night before with Renee and took off to catch Renee who had started with our friend Jan North.  Renee does not really love running but the great thing about the Bolder Boulder is that it attracts people to try an endurance race who might not otherwise do it because of the tradition, how many people do it, how family friendly the race is, and because if you live in Boulder you almost have to do it.   Renee had trained once per week for this week after school for several weeks and I loved how into the race she was, it is a once a year chance for us to both run the same race.  (She does love watching running events however, she is a huge fan).  I caught her and Jan at mile 2.5, it took a bit of work to catch up with their GG wave.  Renee seemed happy and confident and although she was walking when I caught up with her she was soon running again and ran the whole race, beating her time from last year by 5 minutes.  I love the look she gets on her face when she is running, that runner’s look of determination and happiness.  Yes, I know it sounds weird but running is a happy sport and I can sense a bit of a grin on Renee when she is running, mostly when she is running downhill.

We ran today’s race with another family, a family that has been running this race for several years.  They showed us how cool a tradition  preparing for and running the Bolder Boulder as a family can be.  So thanks North Family!

If you have ever wondered what it is like to finish the Bolder Boulder in Folsom Field here is the chance.  Watch Renee and Jan run into the stadium here: