Bolder Boulder

Yesterday I raced in one of my favorite road races. After racing for the first time in Boulder in 2008 I have been itchy to return so after my recovery went well post-Boston marathon, I was excited to get on the starting line. Training has been progressing nicely. I am obviously very early on in my preparations but with each passing week I feel my fitness increasing. My biggest concern was going from two months of sea level training at Stanford up to the altitude in Boulder.

This year I was excited to have my older sister, who has recently moved to Boulder, experience Bolder Boulder for the first time, which also happened to be on her 31st Birthday. Neither of us were disappointed with our experience at this years race. Even though she slept through her alarm, missing her wave's start time she still managed to sneak in another wave and had a great race. She said afterward that she was thinking about turning pro (she was mostly joking, however I think she could have been an excellent runner if she wanted).

I was very pleased with my result. Even through I ran slower than 2008 I think the conditions and course were tougher. I was pleased that my turnover felt very controlled, whereas in most cases I feel like I am sprinting all out in a 10k. I wasn't as pleased with my heavy breathing but that is to be expected when not training at altitude.

I guess what I learned from my experience at this years Bolder Boulder is that sea level training seems to be working very well for my speed development at the shorter distances, but if I am serious about racing at altitude I had better be training at altitude. Lucky for me, Bolder Boulder is the only race I have ever done, and hopefully will ever do, at altitude.

I must say that running into CU's packed football stadium was epic. I promise everyone, it is nearly as good as running into the Olympic Stadium. What I love about it is the crowd reacts with a deep roar to every runner that comes into the stadium. The race management has done a brilliant job in creating an out of the box race that makes all runners feel like super-stars. At four miles into the race I was hurting so bad that I remember thinking that perhaps this would be my last Bolder Boulder, but by the time I hit the stadium and ran the final stretch that thought had all but disappeared.

Congratulations to everyone who finished this years Bolder Boulder, to team USA women for finishing second, for my teammates on solid runs, and to the race management for letting us shine on the big stage!