Bolder Boulder

     I ran in the Bolder Boulder yesterday along with 52,000 other runners/walkers/wheelchair-ers/crutchers.  It is a fantastic family event which has taken place on Memorial Day every year since 1979. The finish line is in Folsom Field of the U.of Colorado. Finishers stay and gradually fill the stadium, so as you finish you feel like the crowds are cheering for you.
     It is very well organized.  There are 100 different corrals of people starting every 1-2 minutes. The elite wheelchair racers start at 6:50 AM, the last corral of walkers starts around 9:20, so as you run you are never in a massive crowd.  There are bands all along the racecourse and families living along the route have slip-n-slides out, and kids have sprinklers and super-soakers.  There are belly-dancers and bagpipers.  Many runners wear elaborate costumes.  There is always something to keep your mind engaged.  If all else fails, there is the scenery of Boulder's beautiful FlatIron rock formations to the west.
      They offer shuttle bus service from the various park-n-rides all around Denver and Boulder.  Mine left at 4:55 AM, which meant setting the alarm for 3 so I could breakfast, walk my dog, and drive the 30 minutes to the park and ride. It is early, but so worth it.
       At 11:15 the elite races start with the women going first.  They run the same course as us ordinary mortals do, and we get to watch them on the big screen in the stadium. At 11:40ish I started worrying that the last walkers would get in the way of the elite racers.  There were 3 of them still on the course that had to move off to the side in the stadium.  One was a very short older lady who walked with a pronounced tilt to the right which made you wonder if she would tip over before finishing.  She finished after the elite winner who was from Ethiopia, but she finished!
      At noon the Memorial Service started. 125 Armed Forces enlistees were sworn in.  They honored 2 Colorado Tuskegee airmen, 1 Colorado "Rosie Riveter," and 1 Colorado female WWII pilot. There was a 21 gun salute and Taps was played.
      The skydivers then arrived, one carrying a flag for each branch of the service, one carrying a POW/MIA flag, and then finally one carrying the US flag.  While this happens, the song "I'm Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood fills the stadium. It ended with "The Star Spangled Banner" played on a bugle by a 90 year-old-survivor of the Battle of the Bulge, one of the Lucky Eleven. Then came the Air Force Jet fly-over.
      It was a beautiful day leading to patriotic-overload and tears to all eyes.  I love it.
         

        A skydiver lands inside the stadium with the American flag at the end of the 37th Bolder Boulder 10k classic. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post) 

      Here is a link to see some of the pictures from the Bolder Boulder....elites, costumes, proposals, kids, etc. to get a feel for the race.
http://photos.denverpost.com/2015/05/25/photos-the-37th-bolder-boulder-10k-may-25th-2015/#1                    
      PS  My race went just okay.  I noticed the altitude, maybe because I spent the previous 3 days at low altitude in Nebraska.  Also I felt tired through-out.  Next year I will do better...there is always next year...I will do sub-70 then.  Here are my splits; miles 1 and 5 were pretty good.  Maybe I should have concentrated more on running and less on all the entertainment around me?  No, that would defeat the purpose of the whole occasion.
     Mile 1=11.36
     Mile 2=12:11
     Mile 3=12:24
     Mile 4=12:08
     Mile 5=11:41
     Mile 6=12:22
     Finish=1:14:54.55 or 12.03minutes/mile

I finished 38 out of 144 women aged 63.
I finished 11,319 out of 24,238 women of all ages.
Not terrible.

Happiness is a road trip with a good playlist.

     I'm home from a 3 day 1300 mile road trip.  The trip out was long, rainy, the radio stations were generally crappy, but I was saved by a wonderful new CD called "Mock the Vote" by the Capitol Steps, an American political satire group. There is nothing like laughing for two solid hours across I 80 in Nebraska.  (Thank you, Ben, for the CD--I love it).

     The trip ran the gamut, like all road trips. There was the enjoyment of being with my family, and the happy and sincere smiles of new graduates ready to start their adulthood and enjoy all those firsts in their lives. (Congratulations Mike and Jack). Then there was the inevitable looking back on my own life.  I've traveled this road and made this drive many times, and have already accomplished most of those firsts.

      I watched Mollie B's Polka Show on television.  I love experiencing a different life through the eyes of others....experiences I will never have. I discovered that I love the concertina, that all the best polka bands have an excellent tuba-player, and that polka equals happy.  Dancing with the Stars has nothing on Mollie B.

      On the trip back it rained. I was surrounded with cottonwool fog, brimming rivers, standing water, and puddles reflecting my headlights as well as my mood.

      At 6 AM I found a local radio station playing what they called "Hillbilly Country."  They included John Denver and Jim Croce in that group.  The music was mellow and matched the rain.     

      Then came hours of big-rig/RV leapfrog. It is an interesting game.  It keeps your mind sharp, and if done well, keeps everyone alive.  Radio stations were playing great classics. Because it is Memorial Day weekend they replayed some of the best of Casey Kasem's and Dick Clark's Memorial Day weekend shows. Playlist matters!

      Upon reaching "Welcome to Colorful Colorado," the vista opened up to miles and miles of sage-brushed rolling hills.  I drove right into the pages of the book "Plainsong," which you should read if you haven't. Blue skies showed up for a couple of hours before disappearing into my rear-view mirror. Then, I got to skirt just to the north of a wicked thunderstorm with tornado warnings. It is always exciting to watch those take place, but just out of my reach.

     Thus I am home again with my crazy Charleigh-dog, who is now sound asleep in "Charleigh's Chair."

     I'll leave you with a little road trip, toe-tapping "Hillbilly Country" music.  Enjoy this Hank Snow classic.

Exercise fights cancer tumors directly.

     This is good to know.
http://www.runnersworld.com/health/exercise-fights-cancer-tumors-directly


     It is still raining here and will continue through the weekend.  I wish you a wonderful three day holiday no matter what your plans.

Whatever makes you get exercising.....

   

                                          shared from Learn To Run Strong

"The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground."----Buddha

     I have been trying to determine the meaning of this fake Buddha quote, often attributed to Buddha.  The closest I can come is going barefoot, or even wearing the most minimal of shoes, which gives me that feeling.  I feel my feet.  I feel the earth.  It is good. Why is it that you don't really feel your feet when wearing regular shoes?  Is it the loss of sensation, of connection to the earth's vibrations?
     As Khalil Gibran said, "Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."


     I am still waiting for spring.  It is 37 degrees out and lightly raining again today. No barefootedness planned.



     I love the quote below.  I want to feel this way sometime.  

THOUGH WE HAVE NO WINGS, WE HAVE TAUGHT OURSELVES TO FLY "We have the health of endurance, the ability to go on, the strength to not only run for hours, but to enjoy our bodies and the sensations they give us when they are working. We need almost nothing at all to find our happiness: only a few hours, a stretch of road, perhaps a friend, or even better a competitor. We hide in our spindled chests an unusually large and heaving heart–and in our heads a warbled tune, a song, as we move on down the road. Do you know the feeling I know? When your legs have disappeared, and there is only your heart, your lungs, and your eyes skimming disembodied through the air? We are Aristotle's featherless bipeds, we runners. Though we have no wings, we have taught ourselves to fly." Jeff Edmonds, www.logicoflongdistance.com

Seen on Facebook today: It's raining, it's pouring. This is really getting boring.....Off to rescue worms.

     I had to laugh when reading the above quote as it is so true.  Where are the 300 days of sunshine we get each year?  What is this 100% chance of rain allllll day.
     I actually had to resort to the treadmill as I am sort of a wimp.  Charleigh-dog loves it, though.
     At least it is keeping the risk of wildfires down.

How running helps your body, and my plankaversary.

Here is a link to a great article.....9 ways running helps your body!

http://www.runnersworld.com/health/nine-surprising-ways-running-helps-your-body?page=single


I mentioned in the past that I am doing a plank-a-day streak to strengthen my back and core.  It is one of the minimal exercise requirements I ask of myself daily....only 2 minutes of planking. I should always be able to find 2 minutes to exercise, right?  Well today was plank day 1000!  Woo Hoo!