BolderBoulder Report
May23-26
I Got out of work early on Friday, due to bad weather. Lots of Rain, hail, and funnel clouds all around. When I got home Lynn was standing in the basement window wells where there was 18” of water. We bailed out the window wells that are about 6 feet deep. We quickly bailed out the water and started to dry up the floors of the affected rooms. One had carpet so that was a priority. Got all done much later that night and crashed.
Saturday we woke and had breakfast got the pups ready for Puppy Camp (the Kennel) and rearranged the fans on the basement carpet. We were off driving to Boulder, CO. Got to the hotel, a Holiday Inn Express, at about 12:30 ish, unpacked and headed off to the expo in downtown Boulder, at the Pear Street Mall.
This expo had about 20 Plus vendors, everything from cell phone companies, car dealers, OroWheat bakery, lifewater, Joint Juice,
Crocs, local news papers, etc etc. Fuel Belt, Skins( a new running tight) and Adidas were there with a local (local to me) sports store (Dicks).
Oh, Jelly Belly Sport Beans were there and the guys at their booth were glad to give you all you wanted as they said when they were rid of them they could go home. So we now have a multi year supply of the beans, LOL.
Tried on a pair of Adidas, felt good, got a coupon for $10.00 off, went to the store and they were out of my size, saved me some bucks.
That night we went to a local whole food market and got some stuff for dinner. Our room was like a DVC studio, frig and micro, etc. Had a great Broccoli bacon salad, some sushi, and lasagna, some nuts and cookies.
Had the lasagna for dinner and then went for a walk. Called it a night.
Sunday, we were up early and after a pretty good Holiday Inn Express breakfast, met up with a guy I work with and arranged for transport to the race for the next morning. Went back to the expo to fill our bags with more free stuff. Test drove a Saturn hybrid SUV and got a free pair of Crocs, not bad and I was impressed with the vehicle, they are coming out with a better model next year, if it is AWD we will take a serious look at it. More coupons for shoes, and life water, bought a small fuel belt for these shorter races, and found a kite shop. I like kites and found a really kewl dragon kite. Bottles of lifewater and Joint Juice.
During this weekend they have a Boulder Creek festival, art kinds of stuff etc, made it outta there with no expense. Talked to some folks at the hotel and learned of a good fish taco, so went to the West End Tavern and had a great taco, unbeknownst to me they have an excellent selection bourbon. They had a strawberry infused bourbon that they concoct there, pretty refreshing.
Then we went to local running store and got some light weight compression tights, they are called Skins and are out of Boulder, and the coupon was for 20% off. Also got some other stuff, and I resisted getting the Garmin 405 that they had.
From there we went to the Celestial Seasoning Factory and took their tour, many of my comments made it to the tour guides break room board. LOL
Back to the Hotel and had the sushi for dinner. And then a couple of walks.
Race day: Our first BolderBoulder. Woke to a wet parking lot but the clouds were breaking up. Kinda cool at about 46 degrees. First off this race is billed as one of the largest timed races. There were 55,000 registered. Ride to race start was great, the area was well organized to drop us off and went smooth. Short walk to the corrals, lots of porta potties, I found a line with two people in it, very short lines.
2 minutes between each wave, went really smooth and the race security keep folks in their proper waves. They asked for no headphone at the start and then again at the finish so you were sure to hear any announcements.
During the course there were lots of bands and the local folks were great all along the course. Lots of water and Gatorade, I think there were about 5 stops, for a 10K race that was plenty. Local folks were handing out beer and other adult beverages. Some folks were set up with misters and hoses, but they were not need during this cloudy day. There were also a couple of slip and slides set up. I missed the people handing out cupcakes, Lynn saw them.
I thought it was nice that the course distance markers were in both miles and kilometers. From 8.5 K on they were every .2 K. Slight ups and down over the course, and I liked that there were enough turns so you did not see all the folks ahead of you going to a vanishing point. The last .2 K’s lead you up a killer hill to the entrance of the CU stadium. When you enter the stadium ¾ of a lap to the finish. Here they split you in two directions, for water and food, both lines the same. Your bib had two tear off tags - one for food and the other for a beer. I gave my beer tag away. Food bag was a soft lunch bag with various Quaker and Powerbar products, a bottle of chocolate “Silk”, and an orange. It started to drizzle on me at about mile 9.
Crossed the finish line and my I-Pod said 1:08:22 for 10.4 miles at a 10:34 pace. I was happy. I met up with some other folks I knew and waited for Lynn to finish. Then it started to rain a little, I was glad we had packed a garbage bag.
After meeting Lynn in the MASS OF PEOPLE. We went to the expo, not much in running stuff, they were handing out Ice cream, too cold for me, hydration waters powerbars, very little in the way of running stuff again. Looked hard for Disney and No Joy. Anthony Travel was there, they had the Disney Medals out and the gal noticed they caught my eye. Tried to sell us a deal but advised we were DVC members ended that. The expo was very very crowded and not much fun as we were wet and cold. It was like we were out tending cattle with just spurs and a wet sheet.
We left the expo to catch a public bus back to our hotel for a shower. This isn’t your Disney transportation; cold and wet we waited about one hour for a public bus that was to have been running every 20 min. We had arranged for a late check out and got back with 15 min to spare. The maid had already cleaned the room so we just changed into dry clothes. Jacuzzi tub tonight.
Over all thoughts:
I was towards the front and race etiquette was well observed. Lynn said it was different towards the back, but no one seemed to take any offense.
Extremely very well organized and worth the registration fee. The fees were from $40 got you a t shirt, all they way up to $85 for a package that included a SS t-shirt, tech shirt, long sleeve t-shirt, and a pair of BolderBoulder crocs. The options were a nice option. We went for the big package as it seemed like a good deal. Over 62, under 14, or active military, gets you $10 off registration.
Local folks were great.
It is more of an event/happening than a race, but lots of fun. LOTS AND LOTS OF PEOPLE.
It was a fun weekend and I think we will do it again.
There were some costumes, superman, hippies, shrek, Buzz Lightyear, etc etc….
There was a sister race held on the US Nimitz, where ever she was.
