BB10K Race Day

Race day was Monday, Memorial Day. I was on my feet more than I expected to be on Saturday and Sunday. Our host had our time planned out such that just resting before race day was not an option. With high altitude and achy hip, I went to sleep Sunday night feeling like I was not prepared and just going through the motions to get it over with. 

Nevertheless, I had done enough the night-before planning to make race morning go smoothly. 

My assigned wave start time was 7:10 am. I had a 40-minute walk to the start, so I set 6:30 as the target for leaving the house. I wasn’t concerned about missing my wave. I wanted to fall back a few waves because runners in my assigned wave would be too fast for my current ability. 

 

I took a little longer than planned getting ready. A little after 6:30, I headed out the door with handheld water bottle filled with my preferred electrolyte drink and my GoPro in hand. I also had my phone and a spare GoPro battery in a waste belt. I was wearing a throwaway long sleeve t-shirt because I expected 52° F to feel somewhat cool for the walk to the start. 

 

The early morning walk from the neighborhood just southwest of downtown Boulder to the start line area on 30th St. is one of my favorite parts of doing the Bolder Boulder. I start out alone on Arapahoe St, the streets are very quiet, the morning air just perfect. As I make my way east on Arapahoe a few other runners join the pilgrimage at each intersection. By the time I get to 28^th St., we form a steady stream of participants and spectators, it looks like a crowd heading towards a football stadium. 

 

At this point I’m feeling good about just being able to participate.  It’s a beautiful morning and the sky is perfectly clear blue.  The sun feels so warm that I remove my throw-away long sleeve before I get to 30th St. 

 

As I make the turn onto 30th St. with a thousand of my best running buddies, we join the other thousands of runners walking north toward the starting line in search of our assigned waves.  I forget all my early concerns and start recording with my GoPro.  Within blocks I am in the fenced-in area for the wave start.  I notice other throw-away garments tossed on the top of the fence and proceed to deposit mine there. I look at my watch and see that my start time has passed, my wave is gone.  I just keep moving forward through the waves that are staged until I get one wave away from the start.  That gives me about 60 seconds to do some quick stretches and make sure my watch is ready to go. 

 

Wow! This is moving quickly. It seems like I was just all alone walking along Arapahoe St.. Now I am 60 seconds away from starting the Bolder Boulder. I’m in a wave about 10 waves behind my assigned wave, it’s a little after 7:20 am.  Perfect for the pace I think I can run.  

 

The wave in front of us is sent off and we move into position at the starting line.  The GoPro is recording again. The starter says a few words, a trumpet blares, the starter counts down and a gun goes off. We are off and running.

 

About 400 meters down the road, I feel like I’m sucking wind and my legs feel fatigued. OMG. It’s the altitude, I didn’t sleep enough, I’m dehydrated, carrying the GoPro in my hand is messing with my arm swing and efficiency. It wasn’t until I saw my split at mile 1 that I realized the problem was none of those. I had gone out at a pace 30 seconds faster than I thought I was running.  

 

I relaxed. I was fine. I backed off the pace a bit and started enjoying the race. I turned the GoPro on to record only short segments: when we approached a side show, when we approached a mile marker. The rest of the time it was just resting in my hand while I maintained normal arm swing. 

 

I hit mile 2 at about a 9:30 pace. Great!  Just a little faster than target pace and my heart rate was staying in zone. I knew some hills were coming in miles 3 and 4.  But my confidence was building. I made it through the first group of hills to a plateau and recovered nicely.  I hit mile 3 at 9:30.  I had maintained pace through the first set of hills!

 

I knew the “Summit”, the highest elevation on the course, was just after the 4-mile mark. Just one mile to go before the long slow downhill. Mile 4 was 9:19!  I was almost to the highest point on the course and my average pace was under 9:30. I was feeling great, and I had captured a lot of cool video along the way. 

 

I crested the summit, settled into cruise mode down the long gradual downhill. The rest of mile 5 was flat but I was feeling a little twinge in my hamstrings. I knew it was dehydration this time. I drank very little before the start and at high altitude the sport drink I was carrying was not enough. After hitting mile 5 at 9:22, I stopped at a water stop and grabbed a water and a sport drink. That was all I needed. I was fine for the rest of the race. 

 

As we made the turn onto Folsom Ave., with about a mile to go, I realized my GoPro battery was dead. I anticipated that and was carrying a spare battery. But the trick was that I was carrying something in each hand and replacing a GoPro battery takes a little fine motor skill.  But I had to get the money shot going into the stadium, even if it cost me time. 

 

I waited until we crossed the 9K mark, allowing myself to keep a steady pace through the flat parts of Folsom Ave.  With 1000 meters to go, I could see the stadium and knew it was now or never. I pulled off to the side, juggling the items in my hands while trying to replace the battery. I managed to get it done and get back on the road. I had the GoPro recording the rest of the way. 

 

We made the turn to start the climb up to the stadium. The crowd got louder, and the runners went silent as they focus on the steepest climb of the race. The 6-mile mark is about halfway up that hill. I hit 6 at 10:05, I lost 30 seconds between the battery change and the hill.  No problem though, I was still on track to break 60 minutes and I was capturing the video I wanted.

 

We made the final turn on the hill, a few more steps uphill and then down into the stadium for the final 200 meters. This is one of the best finishes of all the short distance races I have done. Only the major marathons (Boston, New York, Chicago) top it.  

 

I took it easy on that 3/4 lap around the stadium. Soaking it all in and ensuring I had a good shot on the GoPro. I crossed the finish line with an official time of 59:03, average pace 9:31. I had done it!  Beat my target of 60:00. 

 

I managed the high altitude, I managed the rolling hills, I managed my wonky hip, and I managed my heart rate.  I had a great time on a beautiful day in a beautiful city and I beat my own expectations by almost 10 seconds per mile.  On top of that, I captured so great video along the way.  Above is the link to the highlight video that I produced from the footage that I captured.