Race Report: Bolder Boulder 10K

It's never happened to me before: I was the first to use one of the hundreds of port-o-johns set up for the nearly 60,000 participants in the Bolder Boulder 10K this morning.

Yes, that's right. I entered said port-o-john for my first pre-race pit stop at about 6:15 a.m. and found the lid closed, the floor dry, the TP unopened, the murky liquid in the pot empty of human waste (no, I do not look on purpose, but c'mon, you can't help noticing something like that). My friend Kathy had the same experience. Neither of us expects this to ever happen again. And when we emerged from these pristine port-o-johns, a great blue heron wafted above us.

Both the toilet and the bird were good omens for what turned out to be a respectable race. I'm going to tell you the truth upfront: I am nowhere near ready to try for a BQ time in my next marathon. But I am getting closer. The thing I'm proud of with this race is that I made a plan, and I stuck to it. I didn't bonk. I didn't blast out too fast at the beginning, and I didn't slow down at the end. In fact, I sped up.

As usual lately, I was nervous last night and this morning, especially after Kathy and I wished each other luck and moved to our separate start waves. The A wave (the fast ones) went off at 7 a.m. The waves are distinguished from one another by volunteer-held signs and ropes, and as each one begins its race, launched by a trumpet and a gun, the other waves then move forward. So you can see and hear each start. You know others are already running, and you are still waiting, anticipating. Standing in the CC wave, I kept to the left (because I knew the first turn would be left), my jumpiness growing with each wave's start: A, AA, AB; then B, BA, BB; and finally C, CA...then CB...and then my own wave stepped to the front.

I had discussed race day strategy with Dan, my husband. Last year, this race was the first in a series of disappointments for me, and going out too fast was the biggest issue. Dan said the vital thing would be for me to stick to a reasonable pace for the first mile (as well as the second and third, which feature lots of uphill). "Pass no one" in the first mile, he admonished.

And damn if I didn't!

Oh, it was tempting. Ahead of me I saw the heels of the CB runners like the churning hooves of racehorses, headed toward that first turn at Valmont. Inside me jangled all the nerves of a year of disappointment followed by a tough goal established, and steady but slow progress. I'm not a patient person. When the gun went off for my wave, it would have been so easy to bust it out. But I heard Dan's voice inside my head (as Kathy said later, like that of Obi Wan Kenobi): "Pass no one." So I let them go by me. And when the D wave folks behind me began to catch up, I let them pass too. I put a little Zen smile on my face. I concentrated on staying at 8:35/mile (which is my bare minimum BQ pace), and on running the tangents.

Miles 2 and 3, with their hills and false flats, found me still feeling good. But I didn't loosen the reins yet. Only in mile 4, beyond which I knew lay lots of real downhill, did I begin to bear down. Mile 5 begins near the crest of a hill. I heard Dan's voice again: "Once you get into the fifth mile, you can let it rip. And on the last mile, run as fast as you can."

And, again, damn if I didn't!

The thing I'm proudest of about this race (besides sticking to my plan) is that I ran the last mile at about the same pace as that downhill mile 5, despite a steep-ish hill going into the stadium where that beautiful finish line is. I wish I could have run mile 4 a bit faster. But the general direction of each mile was exactly right, a miraculous thing for someone who has never been good at pacing (even with a Garmin to help).

Two things I remember about those last two miles: one is that I barely noticed my surroundings, different from past efforts on this course where the belly dancers, the bacon-offering residents of the neighborhoods, and the weather all diverted my attention from the business at hand. The second thing is that I passed lots of people in those last two miles, just as proponents of negative splits say you will, but it was with no feeling of triumph, none of that video game sensation that you're picking people off. I remember thinking, "I'm passing people, but it's not as much fun as they say it is."

What was fun (besides the post-race massage, hanging out with Kathy--picture below!--and watching the elites finish to the roar of the crowd in the stadium): setting my post-pregnancy PR of 52:24. I didn't beat my overall PR, but that was set at sea level and on an easier course.

It was progress. It's nice to have no regrets, to do what I set out to do.

We both got super cold after the race, so we bought some snazzy new shirts with a classic Bolder Boulder theme.

Race Notes: They changed the course slightly this year. The first mile, instead of being slightly downhill as in years past, is now slightly uphill. This didn't make a lot of difference to me, as it was all I could do to hold myself back on that part of the race. I think this change was an improvement. The start area felt much roomier. We did a one-mile warm-up with no dodging necessary and found our way easily to the wave starts. In prior years, this has felt rushed. Things like coffee and water were much easier to find as well. Good job, Bolder Boulder organizers!

For another great race recap and some truly awesome pictures that give you a good flavor for the craziness of this race, visit Julie's blog, You Just Have to TRI, and read her race recap.

Training and Fueling News: Now it's time to start my ramp-up for the Top of Utah Marathon on September 17. I'll have some news on that front in my next post. It's also time to begin the Sugar-Free Challenge. Last week, my old enemy, the scale at North Boulder Recreation Center, registered 130.2. Needless to say, I was over the moon about this, and it, and my successful race today, make me look forward to truly eating like a marathoner.

Bolder Boulder Build-Up!

It's that time of year in Boulder!

Signs like this are now up on many of the roads and highways around town:

To give you an idea of how running crazy this town is, especially around Memorial Day and the Bolder Boulder 10K, I took a ride around town on my break at work and took a couple of pictures (yeah, I know, me taking pictures...hell IS freezing over). I just joined Boulder's new B-Cycle program, which lets members borrow bikes from stations set up around town to run errands without hauling the car out every time. Here's me this morning with my giant B-cycle cruiser--that thing was like the tank of bikedom, but it got the job done:




Yeah, I do wear clogs pretty much constantly.


The first great thing about the Bolder Boulder 10K is that the course is marked with little signs all year round. These signs mark the miles....

...and also tell you when you need to turn (sometimes it's a weird turn, like this one).




That pointy peak on the left is Bear Peak. The sign is blocking Green Mountain, which I'm still hoping to run at some point.

The finish line is inside the University of Colorado stadium, where all runners are cheered by the crowd in the stands. You know you're almost finished when you pass the statue of the legendary Frank Shorter, who helped get this race started.

The race has its own store, set up for several weeks at the 29th Street Mall:



Fancy, huh? I didn't take this--borrowed it from the Bolder Boulder's Facebook page. Thanks!

I'm excited about the race this year. I am in the CC wave, which starts at 7:10 a.m. (my kind of time). My goals are pretty nebulous. I'd like to beat my time from last year for sure (it was 55-something), my post-pregnancy 10K PR from 2009 of 53:24 and (moonshot goal here) my pre-pregnancy PR of 51:42. Beating my post-preg PR isn't certain. My appetite is finally mostly back post-stomach-bug. But I still get a wave of queasiness every once in a while, and my sleep has been seriously compromised this week in Dan's absence (he's been in Finland for a work trip; he gets back Friday--yay! I MISS him).

So I'm going to try to sit back and take whatever race day gives me.

Even if I don't do well, I'll be able to get a massage, watch Ryan Hall later in the elite race (I wonder if I'll see him at any restaurants ahead of the race this time!) and hang out with my friend Kathy, who just ran her first-ever sub-25-minute 5K and will be starting about two minutes after I do.

We'll both be running well behind this guy, who took the RunColo Challenge I mentioned a few weeks back and qualified for the Bolder Boulder's fastest wave, the A wave, by running on a treadmill wearing paper leis and with an inflatable duck around him for the required two miles. He ran it in 11 minutes and 10 seconds. Wow.

I actually watched the whole video. There's not much action, except that toward the middle the duck falls off. But I was strangely riveted. As usual in Boulder, I am not worthy.

Another Food Post

With my unintentional detox continuing, it's time for another post about food.

Deep dramatic sigh.

My "commitment" to the Racing Weight plan lasted until I got onto the plane to Missouri with my kids last month. Since then, I haven't been eating my worst ever, but it's not my best either, and my once-more plateaued weight has reflected that.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm down two pounds from that plateau thanks to last week's stomach virus. But stomach viruses aren't a long-term solution to food issues.

So I'm trying a different tactic: the 10-Day Sugar Free Challenge co-sponsored by Amanda at RunToTheFinish.

What's different about this? For one thing I won't be doing it alone. For another, it's simple: watch out for sugar; other than that, everything else is good. And for a third: it's time-limited. 10 days, June 1-June 10. I can do almost anything for 10 days. And if going sugar-free feels as good in the end as advocates say, perhaps I'll even find it easier at that point to continue, and to make other healthy changes.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like getting my weight down is absolutely essential to achieving my Boston goal. I've even resorted to checking out diet books, which I hate. I had one under my arm to return to the library in disgust this morning, and I found myself trying to hide it from my co-workers. I get sick of both reactions I get when people see books like that in my possession. They want to know either a) why someone like me is reading it in the first place ("Are you anorexic?") or b) why I'm not reading this other great weight-loss book I should be reading (in other words, or so I take it in my insecurity, "You need some help, chunky girl").

Both camps mean well. But I'm an adult, and this is a matter I consider private. Food, like politics, isn't something I like to discuss or obsess about out loud. I only do it on this blog because it's so intertwined with running and because I know most of the people reading this know I'm not anorexic or truly overweight.

I just want to be faster!

Here's hoping the Sugar Challenge will be a step in the right direction. God, would I love to stop talking about diet! It's just....boring, and embarrassing. Talking about running is much more fun.

NPR Recommends....A couple of running books here. I'll definitely be picking these up.

My First ZOOMA Run, and My Unintentional Detox

The first official run in the lead-up to July's ZOOMA Colorado Half-Marathon and 10K was two weeks ago. But we had no runners sign up for that one. So for me at least the action truly got underway today, my first Saturday in my new town, when I tagged along on a run led by Danielle, one of the other Boulder area ZOOMA ambassadors.

Happily for me, Danielle knows Longmont well, having grown up here, and she picked an awesome place to run: McIntosh Lake, about three miles from my new house. I ran over there to meet up with the group (three other ladies came out!). I planned to run there and then home afterwards and thus get six miles on top of whatever the group decided to do.

Before I describe the run, though, here's a picture of McIntosh Lake that I found through Creative Commons (photog was Mark DeVries--thank you, Mark!):

Longmont's further out on the plains than Boulder, which actually gives you a better view of the mountains.

Gorgeous, isn't it?

Now, we were there mid-morning, not at dusk, but the lingering cool from a week's worth of rain and a light breeze made for great running conditions as well as great views. Danielle, her eager dog, another runner named Joy (who is coming off an ultra!) and I decided to start by going around the lake. That's a 3.5 mile loop. Then we would think about whether to add miles or not.

I was already thinking a big N-O-T to that. My normally insatiable appetite still, as I type, has not recovered from the horrific stomach bug I had on Wednesday and Thursday (see the Unintentional Detox section below). I think I was low on glycogen, electrolytes and water, because I had to walk a lot on my way over to McIntosh (remember, that's only three miles) and then I was really breathing hard when Danielle and Joy and I started around the lake. I ended up walking the three miles home, which made for a 10-mile outing total and a mere seven miles of running. It was a BONK from the beginning.

But this run wasn't a failure at all. I had forgotten how much fun running with a group can be. Just chatting with Joy and Danielle (and later with Margie and Terry, two other ZOOMA runners whom we had missed at the meeting place but ran into on our way around the lake) made the time go faster. I didn't walk the miles I ran with them at all.

I'm looking forward to the other ZOOMA runs! If you want to join us, head to our Meetup group and sign up. And if you decide to do one of the ZOOMA races in July, I can get you a discount--so let me know!!

Unintentional Detox: So as I mentioned, I have no appetite. Still.

This is so weird for me! I love to eat!

Due to the stomach bug, I have lost two pounds (weight had been hovering at 133.8 for several weeks; this morning it was 131.8). I realize most of that loss is probably water, but it was still heartening to see that number on the scale. It's a number I haven't seen since 2006.

I've decided to take advantage and "detox" myself by eating only healthy foods and smaller amounts at that for as long as possible. And because I'm still vaguely nauseous I have had no problems sticking to this so far (two days--no world record, I know, but not bad for me, The Serial Breaker of Food Resolutions). Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast (pre-run): 1/2 cup of Cheerios; small bowl of fresh pineapple; 1 banana

Second Breakfast (post-run): 1 cup plain unsweetened Greek yogurt; 1 banana (one of the other runners this morning is a nurse who told me I'm probably low on potassium; cue the bananas)

Lunch: tons of fruit (blueberries, strawberries, grapes, pineapple); two slices Swiss cheese; one mini-bagel

Snack: one squeeze packet Justin's Honey Almond Butter (I love Justin's)

Dinner: two whole-wheat tortillas spread with one plain avocado; four or so baby carrots; 10 Greek olives

All I drank was water and some diluted G2 Gatorade on the run.

I'm psyched to be having no cravings (the lunch was even at yet another 4-year-old birthday party, where I had no interest in the potato chips or the rainbow cake pops). But I'm a little worried since the run felt so hard. Can I really eat like this and run well?

The Bolder Boulder is a week away. It's not my target race, but I'd like to do better than last year. After last week's Magnolia Rd. run, I was sure I would. Now I have to say...we'll see....