2003 Bolder Boulder

Date: May 26th, 2003
Event: 25th Annual Bolder Boulder
Distance: 10k (6.2 miles)
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Team: Matt Esser (Toid), Colleen Rickard (Co)
Results: 0:57:41 (0:09:17 min/mile)

Planet Boulder. There are very few races that you could round up as many participants as you can in Boulder, CO. This 45,000+ runner race is so big that they divide the race up in over 90 waves. There are 20 some odd qualifying waves, as well as 20 walking waves. If you are intending on running a fast race, this race will not be it. Depending on which group you’re in, dictates your pace for the first mile, and pretty much, most the race.

This year, Co and I were in the GC wave. A wave that suggested a 0:60:00 finish. One hour. That’s a little under 10-minute mile pace. However, a sixty-minute wave is the fastest wave you can be in if you have no qualifying time. So…to make a long story short, you’re not going to run much faster than that. As usual though, there’s drama to be had, and here it is:

Our wave time started at 7:36.15am and so Cobes and I woke up at 5:30am to make sure we were there on time. We caught the RTD Bus around 6:35, and sighed a relief that it would drive us to the start line, a mere five miles from my house. (We caught the local Run Ride) However, our driver didn’t understand that we couldn’t wait around forever, as people who got on for the earlier stops had earlier start times than people he was waiting for at stops closer to where we needed to be to start the race. What this meant for us was basically, everybody on the bus was screwed, unless you had a start of 8am or later. Never again will I ride RTD for the Bolder Boulder.

Arriving at 7:28am left Colleen and I with one option. Run. We had to work our way through about 20,000 people waiting in groups for their wave to start so that we could get to our wave which was already really close to the starting line. By the time we fought our way through the crowd and got into position, we took a deep breath and before we realized what was going on, the gun was off and everybody was running. That meant we were running too.

Don’t I get to stretch first? Not today you don’t!

The course itself isn’t too bad. It makes sharp turns through downtown Boulder and belly dancers and live bands keep you entertained as you realize that you aren’t going to pass many people. The streets are so crowded that I’m willing to bet that 90% of our wave finished within the same ten minute window. Oh, and btw, there were about 800 people in our wave alone. This should give you an idea as to how many people are running.

We were running at 0:09:20 pace which wasn’t so bad because it wasn’t exactly heart attack threatening and it wasn’t so slow that I could walk the same speed. By far the best part of the Bolder Boulder were the spectators. They offer you everything from beer, to bacon, to just about anything in an attempt to be funny. A lot of them spray you with sprinklers if you look at them wrong! There’s two hills, one on mile 3, and one on mile 6. You can see that reflected in my time.

The best part though about the whole race is the goodies, the t-shirt and most importantly the free massage at the end. If you’ve never run the Bolder Boulder and want a fun race, this is it. There *are* serious people in this race, but they are long off the course before you’ll get on it. And when you do, everybody else is out there just to have a good time. Next year, I’m wearing a costume.