Our First Bolder Boulder + Memorial Day Weekend

Damn. We really know how to pack a weekend. I am absolutely exhausted!!

Today Matt and I ran the Bolder Boulder. It’s a VERY big (3rd largest timed race in the world) very fun race. We hopped on a RTD bus this morning at around 6 AM and rode into Boulder. We had just enough time to pee and walk to our start corral before we were up! We hit the road running. I tried to keep up with Matt in the beginning and over-exerted myself, which led to crampy calves. Once I slowed down to my own pace I did just fine. The course is great … there’s hills, but they aren’t too bad, and they are all done after mile four until mile 6.1 when you head into Folsom Stadium (where the Buffs play!). There’s great crowds along the way who really get into it. We had about 5 houses with hoses out ready to spray people who wanted it (I did!). There were cupcake, bacon and beer relief stations and plenty of cheering fans (including some cheer squads!). The course goes through some great old neighborhoods and is very pretty.

The race overall was very well organized. It felt no larger than the 30K participant one we ran in Nashville, despite being almost 2x the size. The RTD buses made it so easy to come and go from Boulder and I cannot think of a reason to get ot the race any other way. Gear is top-notch and entry fees are pretty reasonable. 5 stars, highly recommended, wonderful experience.

Just about the only thing I’d do differently is my sunscreen. I wore neutrogena on my face which totally clogged up my pores ANYWAY and it ran into my eyes. OUCH. The rest of the weekend was jam-packed. A few things that happened:

• Spend a few hours in Boulder – had lunch at Daphne’s and stood in line for a looong time to sign up for the race.
• Went to the gym.
• We got scoops of ice cream from the local cafe … just a 3 min walk from our house.
• Matt bought a VERY LARGE power tool (.5 ton, not kidding).
• Did the grocery shopping.
• Bought Tabby her FIRST BIKE.
• Let Ben eat an entire apple.
• Matt and two friends disassmbled the very large tool and moved it to the basement (it’s not reassembled yet).
• The kids had a sleepover at Grammy and Papa’s.
• We cooked out with our friends.
• We got hailed on at our cookout (between hotdogs and s’mores).
• We did lots of laundry.
• We made pizza.
• We celebrated Matt’s birthday.