There’s no place like home… There’s no place like home… There’s no place like home…
The 2011 BolderBOULDER held this Memorial Day Monday was memorable to say the least. Something like 55,000 people participated in the 10K run/adventure, and that’s not including all the people NOT running. Bands on the side of the course jammin’ on Bob Marley’s hits -it is Boulder. Veterans chilling on their front yards in lawn chairs cheering for everyone. Unofficial aid stations with what? -BEER -it is Boulder, home of some world famous micro brews. Costumes galore, off and on the course. It’s like Woodstock on wheels. If you’ve never experienced the BolderBOULDER, you NEED to. Whether you run or not, that’s up to you. Even though Boulder is practically in my back yard I haven’t ran the BolderBOULDER in years, and I’m thankful my good friend Luke got me out this year. 25th | 33:42. Not very impressive, I know. It gets better.
How did I prepare for the BolderBOULDER? Well, let me first say that I’m NOT a “coach,” and I’m not one of these clowns pretending to be a “coach” for a handful of trust fund babies/weekend warriors, just to pay my mortgage. -That’s another story. But, I can tell you what you DON’T want to do. You DON’T want to run a Marathon two days before your 10k race. That’s what I did. In the last few weeks a tornado has turned my life upside down with the addition of a new job, I’ve been working 10+hour days, and my training… well, working two jobs, there is no real time to train. But, last Friday at 4:00pm, I was free. Off from work and the evening was mine. At about 5:00pm I started my run near Foxton, Colorado. You’ll have to Google it if you want coordinates. I didn’t intend on running that far, but my planned route had NO TRESPASSING signs posted at the start of the road. With respect to the property owner, and respect for my life I sought out a different route, because these country folk typically have rifles in their pickups. Problem is that this area doesn’t have too many choices as far as roads. I knew if I ran along the South Platte I would come across the Colorado Trail Segment No.2 and then I could loop that back around to Buffalo Creek then just a few miles to Foxton. I was thinking 20ish, granted that 11.5miles are on trail with a significant elevation gain. My training philosophy is, if you can’t run throughout the week, just lump all of your mileage in one day. -Right? WRONG! I had three-four hours to run and that what I was going to do. Lace up the KSwiss Kwicky Blade Lights, and I was gone. “I didn’t drive all that way for nothing.”
The run was EPIC. Lions, tigers and bears? No, but EPIC. No water. No nutrition. No iPod -NEVER. No Scarecrow, Tin Man or Lion. Maybe there was a mountain lion, but I didn’t see one. So, at one point on the Colorado Trail I came to the decision, after a long discussion with myself, that I was not going to compete in my next upcoming race, Ironman 70.3 Kansas. I was really looking forward to this race, as I went to college in Kansas and have ties in the area. Once things settle down with the job situation, I’ll need to focus on training, not racing. It breaks my heart that I’ll miss Kansas this year, but I’ll be sure to make up for it next year.
Where do I go from here? Not on my run, but with my race schedule, although it would be nice if I came across RD126 some time soon. It’s been a little over two hours and I’m running West on the trail when I need to be heading East. As far as my race schedule, the next race after Kansas would be the TNT Duathlon. The TNT Duathlon is a short 2mi run / 12mi bike / 2mi run duathlon format held in Lincoln, Nebraska around the 4th of July weekend. This is the first multi sport race that I ever competed in back in 2003. I can train right through and I’m not to concerned with the outcome of the race. I think it is perfect for me right now considering my hiatus from training these last few weeks. Plus, I have family in Nebraska, and believe it or not, I sometimes refer to Nebraska as home. Speaking of home, I’d like to click my heels together and be back at my car now.
26miles | 3:07:00
In the end, we’re all wishing our dreams come true. We’re all wanting to find that Emerald City at the end of the yellow brick road with this Wizard handing us answers to all of our problems. I hate to be the one to pull back the curtain on life and reveal that no such little dude exists. Trust me, I’ve been all over Kansas. As The Wizard of Oz shows, “home” is with family and friends… and your dog.