It's been a rough month for me. I had 2 vacations in May. Both were super awesome fun, but I also didn't exercise as much as I normally do, and I certainly did not eat the way I normally do. I gained some weight, and lost some energy, stamina, motivation, etc.
So I was in California for a long weekend with my boyfriend and daughter. I had every intention of running a few days while I was out there, *knowing* that I would be coming back the day before another race. I managed one sorta decent run, and one very short mile that was horrible.
Going into my third BolderBoulder, I was not very optimistic. I was pretty psyched when W said "I'm too sick to race, but I'll run with you" - because that meant for the first time in at least a year I would actually NOT be running by myself! Here is a pic of the three of us before our run (courtesy of N, who walked/jogged a few waves behind us):
Like every other year, we park at W's house and walk down the street to the bus that takes us to the start line. This year, the construction was worse than usual in Boulder and it took about 40 minutes to get to the start line. Barely left us enough time to use the bathroom and we got to our start just a few minutes before heading out. I always like to do an iPhone shot at the start line, and I was sorta panicky, and partially cut L out (sorry, L):
L took off at the gun and W and I started out. Last year I vaguely remember starting out too fast and it being a really hard run (in addition to the chafing problem I had). So I held back a bit. Wow, what a difference being in a qualifying wave (and one I wasn't really qualified to begin with) is! I did not have to spend the first mile dodging around all the walkers. Everyone was running (and passing us) and it was a lot more relaxing. However, it was still a hard run. We walked all the water/gatorade stations and I certainly struggled. On top of everything else, this was the first year we had "nice" weather, so it was a lot warmer out.
As always, it could have been worse. I finished a hair faster than the 2008 race, and about 3.5 minutes slower than last year. But, it was pretty fun, and it was nice to run with someone. It was also nice having W wait with us and walk back to her house, stopping at Sbux on the way back.
Yes, it is nice hanging out with me! My legs are sore today like I raced or something.
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