Live Bolder, Run Boulder Baby!

Training was pretty consistent up till about two weeks ago when I rolled my right ankle.  Memorial Day weekend brought many good memories.  Matt and Jenny joined us along with Kyle, Celeste and Cole as well as a whole host of other friends and family.  We had a great weekend with all of them, culminating on Monday, Memorial Day, participating in the Bolder Boulder 10k.  The weather held and for the first time in a long time, I got to run with my brother.

Here we are at the finish line in the CU Boulder stadium.  Way back in 1996 when I decided to run my first marathon, the Twin Cities, Matt was still in college.  I flew in from Charlotte and stayed with him at the dorm.  He and my Mom were awesome that day, I got to see them a few times throughout the race and I certainly needed them.  After the race Matt said he wanted to do a marathon too.   We had the chance to do it again in the Twin Cities and then again in Charlotte a few years later.  Running means a lot to me for a myriad of reasons and I've always cherished the moments I've had with Matt doing marathons or the Hood to Coast relay in Oregon.  I like to run with him, I have fun and get to feel like a big brother again, even though we are now adults (most of the time).  The BB10k was especially important to me since it had been so long since we'd run together.  The feeling of camaraderie, togetherness, achievement and love were so overwhelming for me.  It's part of why I run and why I enjoy running with friends.  We had a bonus too, Annie and our friend Katy jumped in and ran a significant portion of the race with us.  So we all decided to have a little fun along the way.  Our friends Ashley and Eric play in a band, The Goonies and as with every BB10k, there are bands strewn along the course for entertainment and motivation.


Here we are singing "Take on Me" by A-ha, The Goonies are AWESOME fun and it was tremendous to see them so close to the finish.

Looking ahead, I'm still recovering from rolling my foot a second time last week, but things are looking up, Molly Bockmann a good friend and massage therapist worked her magic on my legs yesterday and things seem to be firing again.

In two short weeks I'll be joining a merry band of friends and runners in South Dakota for the Black Hills 100.   We've all run Hood to Coast together for a number of years now and I'm very impressed with this most recent adventure.  They all teamed up with some other runner friends and are raising funds for Admission Possible, a non-profit that helps students gain admission and graduate from college.  Their team name is AD4AP, All Day for Admission Possible.  To donate to this worthy cause and support a bunch of crazy guys from the Mid West who've been training since last year, through one of the coldest and snowiest winters on record, go to this link: Donate to AD 4 AP.  As much as I would like to be running with them, my previous ailments and injuries precluded me from being ready for this historic event, so I am crewing for Steve Byrnes with his wife Pamela.  You might recognize that name from a previous post, a year and half ago, Steve ran 40 miles for his 40th birthday.  I'm excited to see these guys finish and celebrate a good run with them.

I've been speaking with my cousin Andrew, who I ran into while racing in Fruita and he's helping me get ready for the Leadville 100 on August 21st.  He'll also be pacing me to the finish line, for which I am indebted to him, particularly given his amazing race schedule this year.  He's already run the Fruita 50 and the Jemez 50 and is teed up to crush the San Jaun Solstice 50, a grueling endeavor with over 10,000 feet of elevation gain on some of the most rugged terrain in the Rocky Mountains.  But he's not done after that, he'll do the Silver Rush 50 and then the Bear 100 later in the summer...not to mention the possibility of getting a shot at the Hard Rock 100 in July, arguably the hardest 100 mile race in the world.  Stephen Price will also be running SJS, so I wish them both success in the race.

To the right is the elevation profile for SJS, absolutely insane!  It's been great reconnecting with Andrew and I look forward to August and finishing Leadville.


“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.” - James Dean