Bolder Boulder

Excellent race.
Many people had asked me if I was planning on running the Bolder Boulder. Friends, co-workers, regulars all knew about the race and asked me if I would be participating. I talk about running a lot and so it would seem natural that I would want to run the Bolder Boulder.
The Goddess and I pondered it while running a few weeks back and decided to sign up. I registered us and waited for the information regarding our wave. Since there are 50,000 people that do this particular 10k race, they have organized it based on waves instead of having everyone begin at 7 a.m. I think that would be a complete cluster. Talk about massive outlet of people loose on the streets of Boulder. Yes, that happens, but in waves. Controlled chaos to a certain degree.
I was concerned about parking/transportation. Pocketsize suggeseted RTD. This is a race that she always does. I think she has done the last ten years of the Bolder Boulder. She is in a qualifying wave and enjoys the Bolder Boulder. She prefers the RTD bus. And, as she pointed out, I could do it from the Colorado Park and Ride station. Easy, accesible, convenient.
A group of my co-workers were also signed up. They were carpooling to Boulder and asked me if I wanted to join them. I told Brett, their ring leader, that I needed to confer with the Goddess before I committed to the car pool. I liked the option of it, but knew that Lindsay and I would be running the race, together, in the same wave. It made sense to drive/bus/whatever with her. Ironically, Brett hurt his foot and opted out of the race. Last I knew, he was still driving the kids to the race. He told me that he would drive them up in a supportive role. Funny, when I ran into them, today, he had backed out. They took the RTD, waited an hour and a half to get to the race and missed their wave.
Lindsay told me that her boyfriend would drive us up to the event. And, that he and his brother had also signed up for the race. It would be a family outing, for them, and Lindsay's parents were running, too. I was looking forward to meeting Jon's brother, Bud, and considered the RTD option, but didn't want to be separated from Lindsay. I wasn't bringing my cell phone and 50,000 people is a lot of people. If Jon wanted to drive, I wanted to be in that car.
I woke up at 5, stretched, showered, and headed up to Arvada. I met them at 7. I had drank a bunch of water and G2 (my savior). Approaching Boulder, it was congested. Many people decided to drive. We drove under a bridge, full of people, waiting for the RTD. At that point, I was happy to be in the car and not standing in line, waiting for the bus.
Jon and Bud dropped us off near the start line. We walked the remainder. I stopped at a porta potty. Thankful for the t.p. still there, but unhappy with the fecal factor. Somehow, it was awful pre-race. Potty finished and walked to start line.
I kept thinking I would see outlandish costumes. Most people were decked out in typical running fashion. I saw Horsetooth 1/2 shirts, Colfax Marathon shirts, Bolder Boulder shirts, etc. Nothing out of place...until, the start of my wave. I look up and see 4 people dressed in gold. Gold cape, gold shoes, shirts and then, one lady wearing short (uber-short) sequinned gold shorts. All I could see was the chafe factor. I did not envy this lady at all. I saw her quitting the race to stop the rub factor. What an idiot! I mean, really--didn't you try on your costume before race day? Kudos to her if she did complete the 6 miles. Realistically, it was doubtful. Small sequins rub.
The race began.
Easy pace. Lots of conversation and distraction. I saw several belly dancers, an Elvis performer, Blues Brothers Band, multiple bad singers, a couple great house bands, marshmellow mile, doritos and loads of bacon. I didn't get any of the bacon, but next year, is a new year. I am so eating bacon at next year's Bolder Boulder.
All in all, we finished and I felt good about it. It was easy. We could have challenged ourselves, but I would have missed out on all of the people. Half of the fun is watching the spectator's interaction with the runners. Lindsay kept telling me about the shots and slip and slides. We didn't see any slip and slide. However, we did watch two men dive, headfirst, into a baby pool. Jealous, but not too much to do it myself. I didn't want to run the final miles with wet shoes.
We met up with her family and watched the elite runners race. What a show! The women were first and they rocked the race. The men had a later start. The Ethiopian team finished together. They held hands and ran the last 1/2 mile as a unit. Pretty freaking amazing.
I understand why it is the biggest 10k race. Boulder is beautiful and the race was fun. I see myself running it next year....