My Trip to Colorado & The Bolder Boulder
by Robert James Reese » Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 » 5 Comments
Yesterday morning, I ran the Bolder Boulder for the fifth time. A little less than an hour after finishing, I ran it for the sixth time. And that wasn't even the best running day of the trip. My plan had been to take it easy out here and recover from the marathon, but I just couldn't help myself with such amazing running routes available.
I flew into Denver on Thursday. I didn't do much that day other than drive out to my parents' new house in Brighton and hang out with my dog. Even though I was exhausted from the flight, I was still itching to get out and run but forced myself to take a rest day anyway.
Friday was much busier. I beat my sister at a match of tennis, 6-2, 6-1, which was a big relief since I'd been living with the fact that she beat me the last time we played for almost a year. We were planning much more tennis throughout the weekend, but the near-constant rain thwarted those plans.
In the afternoon, I headed down to Denver with my dad and bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers at the giant REI down there. I wanted to wear them on a run, but decided that I should break them in more before taking that leap. I wore them around most of the weekend, but switched back into my Nikes for the actual runs.
Right outside REI is Convergence Park, a beautiful spot where two or three rivers (you guessed it...) converge. I did a 5.5 mile run there and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the elevation didn't bother me nearly as bad as it used to. I had a little trouble breathing the first half mile or so, but after that, it was fine.
That led to me being a little too cocky and trying a run up at almost 9,000 feet the next day. My parents and I took the dog up to Rollinsville (home to my first ever 10 mile race) and I told them that I'd meet them in the next town over. Town is a relative term here – Tolland, Colorado only contains 6 or 7 houses and a small sign announcing that you're in Tolland. I was very glad that I was able to stop at the 5 mile mark on Saturday instead of turning around and running back as I had years ago. Although Denver's mile-high air wasn't bothering me, the almost two-mile-high air up in the mountains definitely was. Plus, almost all of the 5 miles was uphill. Still, I managed to finish the run under 7:30/mile which I considered a big accomplishment.
We ate lunch in the mountains, then visited Grandma, and finally drove back down to Brighton and met up with my little sister again. That evening, we ended up playing frisbee out in a huge muddy hill on the construction site adjacent to my parents' house, even though it was raining like crazy. I wore the Five Fingers, but they quickly picked up about twenty pounds of mud and I ended up actually barefoot instead.
Sunday was another easy day, just spent resting and playing frisbee in the backyard. My dad and I built a new computer (loaded with Linux, not Windows... I'm very excited) and we had a bunch of my mom's family over. That evening, I got to watch (and laugh at) my parents while they clipped the chickens' feathers after seeing one of them hop the fence earlier in the day.
Monday was the big day, of course. Originally, I had planned on just running the race with my dad and sister. Our goal was simply to run under an hour. But, my dad's knee didn't respond well at all to the training (he just had an MRI on it and is probably going to have surgery) so that plan fell apart. I changed my bib to the AA wave, but then found out that my sister didn't want to run it if she was going to be running on her own. So, since we still had my dad's bib, I decided to run the race twice.
We left the house late Monday morning, so I didn't even get into the starting chute until five minutes before the start (and only made it then after running part of the way from the car there). I never got a chance to stretch properly, but I did find one of my buddies from Miami who was running in the same wave. We joked around a bit and then talked about plans for the race. He wanted to run together, but I told him not to pace me as I had no idea how I was going to run. The altitude, the hills, and the fact that I still hadn't fully recovered from the marathon all put big question marks on how my race would go.
Turns out, my advice not to use me as a pacer was very good advice. I bonked at Mile 1. Seriously. I have never in my life ran out of steam so early in a race. I let the crowd carry me out to a 6:15 first mile (which normally would have been just about what I was looking for, but not in these conditions). Right after that I slowed down big time. The last 5.2 miles were such a struggle. I felt at times like I was going to puke, at others like I was going to just fall over and collapse. I managed to finish in 42:04 which was a course record for me, but a full three minutes away from my 10K best. The Bolder Boulder kicked my ass once again. I vow revenge in 2010.
The second time around was a lot more fun. I waited for my buddy at the finish, picked up my goody bag with him, then started walking back to the start. After walking about a mile, I realized I was quickly running out of time and had to start running. I ended up running the final two miles back to the start, meeting up with my dad and sister just a couple minutes before our MK wave started. I still never had a chance to stretch.
The course was a disaster by this point. There were people everywhere running/walking/jogging at a variety of speeds. I joked to my sister that I felt like we were playing a real-life game of Frogger. After running an amazing debut 15K out in NYC in December, my sister stopped training and so was really struggling on Monday. She fought hard and we ended up finishing in 58 minutes and some change. I picked up a second goody bag and devoured everything in it. Even though I only ran 14 or 15 miles, I was completely exhausted and felt starved for calories.
There was no chance to take a break, though. I made a quick stop in the bathroom at the shopping mall to wipe down with a paper towel and change clothes, then went across town to meet up with some old work friends. But it was just a super quick "Hi, goodbye," type deal because we had to get back down south for a 1:00 Rockies game.
Coors' Field, as always, was beautiful. Unfortunately, the Rockies weren't as impressive as their ballpark. We ended up leaving in the 7th inning when the Dodgers were up 15-6. I have faith, but not that much... Still, it was fun being out at the game with the parents. I ran into my Miami friend again too. He was sitting in the next section over so we grabbed a beer and chatted a bit during the rout.
I tried to watch the Nuggets game on t.v. after getting back home, but I only made it until halftime (about 8:00.) I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open. Turns out I missed a good one. Too bad I couldn't stay awake.
Eleven hours later, I woke up to say my goodbyes to my mom and sister (who both had to go to work today) and then headed out to Barr Lake with my dad and dog. They wandered around the paths a bit while I ran the 8.9 mile loop around the lake. It was my first time running there, but certainly won't be the last – The run was incredible. First off, I managed to keep a 7:03/mile pace even though I wasn't really even trying to. I was just running light and fast and free and it felt unbelievably good. Other than a few angry Canadian Geese and friendly fishermen, I had the entire lake to myself. Ah... so this is why people move to Colorado.
Now, I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my delayed flight to eventually board. Part of me is looking forward to getting back into the normal routine, but there's a big part that wishes I could just stay here and keep running the amazing trails out here and eating all the great food at my parents' house.
Oh, looks like they're finally starting to board. I better pack up and say goodbye. Hope you all had as good of a Memorial Day weekend as I did.
I flew into Denver on Thursday. I didn't do much that day other than drive out to my parents' new house in Brighton and hang out with my dog. Even though I was exhausted from the flight, I was still itching to get out and run but forced myself to take a rest day anyway.
Friday was much busier. I beat my sister at a match of tennis, 6-2, 6-1, which was a big relief since I'd been living with the fact that she beat me the last time we played for almost a year. We were planning much more tennis throughout the weekend, but the near-constant rain thwarted those plans.
In the afternoon, I headed down to Denver with my dad and bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers at the giant REI down there. I wanted to wear them on a run, but decided that I should break them in more before taking that leap. I wore them around most of the weekend, but switched back into my Nikes for the actual runs.
Right outside REI is Convergence Park, a beautiful spot where two or three rivers (you guessed it...) converge. I did a 5.5 mile run there and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the elevation didn't bother me nearly as bad as it used to. I had a little trouble breathing the first half mile or so, but after that, it was fine.
That led to me being a little too cocky and trying a run up at almost 9,000 feet the next day. My parents and I took the dog up to Rollinsville (home to my first ever 10 mile race) and I told them that I'd meet them in the next town over. Town is a relative term here – Tolland, Colorado only contains 6 or 7 houses and a small sign announcing that you're in Tolland. I was very glad that I was able to stop at the 5 mile mark on Saturday instead of turning around and running back as I had years ago. Although Denver's mile-high air wasn't bothering me, the almost two-mile-high air up in the mountains definitely was. Plus, almost all of the 5 miles was uphill. Still, I managed to finish the run under 7:30/mile which I considered a big accomplishment.
We ate lunch in the mountains, then visited Grandma, and finally drove back down to Brighton and met up with my little sister again. That evening, we ended up playing frisbee out in a huge muddy hill on the construction site adjacent to my parents' house, even though it was raining like crazy. I wore the Five Fingers, but they quickly picked up about twenty pounds of mud and I ended up actually barefoot instead.
Sunday was another easy day, just spent resting and playing frisbee in the backyard. My dad and I built a new computer (loaded with Linux, not Windows... I'm very excited) and we had a bunch of my mom's family over. That evening, I got to watch (and laugh at) my parents while they clipped the chickens' feathers after seeing one of them hop the fence earlier in the day.
Monday was the big day, of course. Originally, I had planned on just running the race with my dad and sister. Our goal was simply to run under an hour. But, my dad's knee didn't respond well at all to the training (he just had an MRI on it and is probably going to have surgery) so that plan fell apart. I changed my bib to the AA wave, but then found out that my sister didn't want to run it if she was going to be running on her own. So, since we still had my dad's bib, I decided to run the race twice.
We left the house late Monday morning, so I didn't even get into the starting chute until five minutes before the start (and only made it then after running part of the way from the car there). I never got a chance to stretch properly, but I did find one of my buddies from Miami who was running in the same wave. We joked around a bit and then talked about plans for the race. He wanted to run together, but I told him not to pace me as I had no idea how I was going to run. The altitude, the hills, and the fact that I still hadn't fully recovered from the marathon all put big question marks on how my race would go.
Turns out, my advice not to use me as a pacer was very good advice. I bonked at Mile 1. Seriously. I have never in my life ran out of steam so early in a race. I let the crowd carry me out to a 6:15 first mile (which normally would have been just about what I was looking for, but not in these conditions). Right after that I slowed down big time. The last 5.2 miles were such a struggle. I felt at times like I was going to puke, at others like I was going to just fall over and collapse. I managed to finish in 42:04 which was a course record for me, but a full three minutes away from my 10K best. The Bolder Boulder kicked my ass once again. I vow revenge in 2010.
The second time around was a lot more fun. I waited for my buddy at the finish, picked up my goody bag with him, then started walking back to the start. After walking about a mile, I realized I was quickly running out of time and had to start running. I ended up running the final two miles back to the start, meeting up with my dad and sister just a couple minutes before our MK wave started. I still never had a chance to stretch.
The course was a disaster by this point. There were people everywhere running/walking/jogging at a variety of speeds. I joked to my sister that I felt like we were playing a real-life game of Frogger. After running an amazing debut 15K out in NYC in December, my sister stopped training and so was really struggling on Monday. She fought hard and we ended up finishing in 58 minutes and some change. I picked up a second goody bag and devoured everything in it. Even though I only ran 14 or 15 miles, I was completely exhausted and felt starved for calories.
There was no chance to take a break, though. I made a quick stop in the bathroom at the shopping mall to wipe down with a paper towel and change clothes, then went across town to meet up with some old work friends. But it was just a super quick "Hi, goodbye," type deal because we had to get back down south for a 1:00 Rockies game.
Coors' Field, as always, was beautiful. Unfortunately, the Rockies weren't as impressive as their ballpark. We ended up leaving in the 7th inning when the Dodgers were up 15-6. I have faith, but not that much... Still, it was fun being out at the game with the parents. I ran into my Miami friend again too. He was sitting in the next section over so we grabbed a beer and chatted a bit during the rout.
I tried to watch the Nuggets game on t.v. after getting back home, but I only made it until halftime (about 8:00.) I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open. Turns out I missed a good one. Too bad I couldn't stay awake.
Eleven hours later, I woke up to say my goodbyes to my mom and sister (who both had to go to work today) and then headed out to Barr Lake with my dad and dog. They wandered around the paths a bit while I ran the 8.9 mile loop around the lake. It was my first time running there, but certainly won't be the last – The run was incredible. First off, I managed to keep a 7:03/mile pace even though I wasn't really even trying to. I was just running light and fast and free and it felt unbelievably good. Other than a few angry Canadian Geese and friendly fishermen, I had the entire lake to myself. Ah... so this is why people move to Colorado.
Now, I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my delayed flight to eventually board. Part of me is looking forward to getting back into the normal routine, but there's a big part that wishes I could just stay here and keep running the amazing trails out here and eating all the great food at my parents' house.
Oh, looks like they're finally starting to board. I better pack up and say goodbye. Hope you all had as good of a Memorial Day weekend as I did.
5 Comments
Seems like you had fun over there!!
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