AA BBig ImprovEEment

The t-shirt slogan for this year's BolderBoulder (BB) was Altitude Attitude (AA) and I qualified and registered to run in Wave EE. YipEE!!!

As it turned out, I didn't actually get to start with my wave, which was only disappointing because of the previously mentioned correspondence to my first two initials. The reason I didn't get to the front by the time my wave started was because I got stuck in the line for the FedEx mobile locker (to transport to the finish line any belongings I didn't want to run with). I was so COLD after last year's run that I basically packed enough extra clothing to be prepared in case of a post-race blizzard. Even though it's not my initials, Wave FB was a fine wave to start in. I mostly just wanted to start with people who were my pace or faster so I would get off to a good start rather than have to spend the first mile weaving through joggers and walkers. The race used chip timing, so the actual wave you start in doesn't really matter for purposes of clocking your time. Added bonus--according to the announcer at the start, Wave FB included the only couple ever to get married during the BolderBoulder!

I set my trusty Garmin's virtual partner feature to pace me for a pace of 9:49/mile, which was my goal based on my 5k time last week at the Federal Cup and last year's BB time. The first part of the race is down hill and that coupled with the excitement of the start meant for a very fast first mile. I caught my pace at sub-8 min/miles several times, so I knew I needed to slow down, but I also felt pretty good and thought I would be able to keep up a pretty fast, consistent pace and would likely exceed my goal. Because of such a fast first mile, my average pace was just over 9 min/miles for the first 2-3 miles of the course. I decided to slow down a little for miles 3 and 4 so I would be able to speed it up again at the end. (That was a convenient decision because much of miles 3 and 4 were uphill.) This strategy didn't work out exactly as planned because I ended up getting a cramp around mile 5 and couldn't push quite as hard as I wanted. But, I pushed on, got a good laugh out of two guys wearing gorilla costumes, and saw that my average pace was right around 9:30/mile -- I was psyched! For the last 2K, I really wanted to keep my pace fast enough so my average pace would stay the same. I checked my Garmin and was nearly 2 tenths of a mile ahead of my "virtual partner," so I knew I would easily beat my goal and just wanted to beat it by as much as I could. As I neared the CU Stadium, I thought the visual of the end would be all I needed, but I completely forgot how steep the last hill leading into the stadium was! I had to slow way down to make it into the stadium and my average pace dropped by a few seconds. Once I got into the stadium itself, I was able to speed up and finish strong in a Ralphie-style victory lap.

My Garmin beeped as I crossed the finish-line, signalling that I had finished my 10K at an average pace of 9:36/mile with a total time of 59:41. That's 18 seconds faster per mile and almost 2 minutes faster overall than my time from last year! This was actually the first time I've ever done the same exact race more than once (it's hard when you move all the time) and it was exciting to be able to compare my performance year to year, even more exciting to beat my previous time by so much.

But, when I got home, I checked my results online and they told a slightly different story. The timing-chip clocked me at a 9:41/mile pace with an overall time of 1:00:11.57. Not too disappointing because it was still faster than last year's time and my goal time, but it would have been nice to have the official results show that I broke an hour. It's a bit perplexing because my GPS watch should have been accurate. If it were only off by a few seconds, I would have assumed that I didn't start my watch at the right time, but 30 seconds is a pretty big deficit. I haven't decided which time I'm going with . . . it's hard for me to understand why the time I clocked was off by so much, but it's also hard for me to go against something official and on the internet. I guess I'll go with my official BB time. If for no other reason, it will be easier to beat my time next year.

The BolderBoulder was the official kick-off to an all-Boulder, all the time race season. My next race is the first of the Boulder Triathlon Series: the 5430 Sprint on June 21st!