A Bolder Boulder

As some of you know I ran in the Bolder Boulder 10K on Monday with about 45,000 of my closest friends. It was really a lot of fun. Sure I was completely winded by the mile and a half mark, but what is a Minnesota boy to do in this crazy elevation. There must have been at least 8 or 9 bands within the first two miles and another 10 or more along the way. There were also a couple of places with belly dancers and I was so proud as I passed by the Luther Church and the entertainment they provided were two 85 year old women who supposedly were either polka or country dancers (I wasn't quite sure as they were just waving to the runners as I passed by). Despite the lack of oxygen at the high elevation I did manage to muster up the strength to pass a runner, who I'm guessing was just finishing the third grade, just before the 6 mile mark.

It was pretty cool to finish in the University of Colorado Football stadium. I was surprised at how open the road really was with so many people running. They did a great job of spreading things out with a wave start that worked pretty well. Incredibly there were so many waves to start that one of the people there with us actually started an hour after I had already finished. It was also fun to see the guest starter this year was former Denver Bronco Ed McAffrey.

After the citizens race was done they had a big Memorial Day Celebration. It was well done, despite my not being all so patriotic. The highlight, though, were sky divers that parachuted into the stadium right near the end of the presentation. It turns out it was so windy only one of the six jumpers landed on the field. Two landed in the stands, one landed in the midst of some of the last walkers to cross the finish line, one landed on the roof of a building next to the stadium, and the big final jumper with the 20 foot American Flag landed in a tree behind the stadium. Knowing that everybody was okay I must admit there was a certain amount of entertainment in their flying wild like that.

So that was my Monday... Memorial Day... For sure there were plenty of memories created that day... Did I mention the hotel room had a hot tub in it? If only had the right person to share it with... maybe next time...