i lived through the BolderBoulder 10k.  i must admit...it wasn't the easiest thing i've ever done, and i highly recommend if you're going to suddenly try somethan new like a 10k - you might want to try the first one at your own altitude...minor detail.

 

aiiight...here's how it all went down...

 

our wave (H) started at 7:50am.  it was pretty amazing how they had 50,000+ people organized - it was very easy to find your group.  i envisioned shoulder to shoulder chaos, but it wasn't at all - very manageable.  plus, people are registered according to their expected times - we were in one of the 60-70min groups.  anyway - we start off with the famous horse race trumpet music and then the shotgun start...made the butterflies build inside of me. 

 

my sis and i were together for the first 2 miles.  mile one we did really well at 9:34, but she wanted to slow the pace down - so for mile 2 we did 10:21.  i'm used to a little quicker pace, so i went off on my own for mile 3.  i felt really great at that point - didn't feel any altitude issues or problems and i was mentally really pumped up and determined.  i did mile 3 in 9:54...then mile 4...i started to get really tired, which surprised me...and then the most random thing EVER happened... 

 

ok, wait...back story...i had been hydrating for two days like a crazy person bc i wanted to make sure the altitude/dehydration thing didn't hit me while running....so i'm talk'n like 10+ big glasses of water a day on both Sat and Sun.  the race day is monday.  i down another big glass of water with my granola bar that morning and head to the race.  i pee at home prior to leaving and then one last time right before the race - in the Harpoon-fest-like port-a-potties (if u've ever been to Harpoonfest you know what i'm referring to - port-a-potty insanity). 

 

now...back to the story...mile 4 - i was starting to feel really tired and just a little off - and mentally really plummeting bc i'm randomly piss'n myself.  yep - you read that right - i'd turn corners on the road or pass someone or anything out of my normal stride really and my body would suddenly squirt out a drop or two of pee.  this absolutely horrified me.  not only did it consume my mind and totally mess with me mentally, it also confused the bah-jesus out of me.  and for the entire mile 4, i didn't know what to do.  thoughts like - "is this altitude playing really mean games on me?"  "how is this possible - i just peed like 30 mins ago?"  "can people behind me tell - probably not bc it's get'n absorbed by my shorts - i think - i hope"  "this is NOT how i wanted this race to go!"

 

so, at the end of mile 4 (which i did in 10:03) i decided to pull off to the side at the mile marker/water stand to get myself a cup of water and let out every ounce of pee.  that's right - i stood on the side of the road and completely peed myself...it was one of the high points of my life.  i proceeded to rinse my legs/etc. with the water and then my sister came running along, so i joined up forces again with her.  i told her "umm...i just peed myself"...and she said "eh - it's fine."  i was utterly horrified and i wish now that i could have mentally rolled with it a lil better...but, i couldn't.

 

mile 5 was TOUGH.  i'm still having the emotional effects of the pee incident and i'm really starting to feel the crazy heat beating down.  i'm not good with running in the heat.  i figured that bc i was running from like 7:50-9am, it'd be nice and cool...again, i was wrong.  being a mile high/closer to the beating down sun didn't help matters.  i managed to bust out a time of 11:25 for mile 5, which i've realized from my sister's time that the whole water/pee incident lasted about a minute and a 1/2...so, i really ran it in 9:49.

 

mile 6.  i had already accepted that the wheels had fallen off.  i have absolutely no idea how i kept going.  my sister (which she told me post-race) apparently was talking to me and all i could muster out of my mouth were grunt-type responses.  i was also in some serious pain at this point, as the pee issue was now affecting me physically...meaning that i apparently didn't rinse it off my shorts enough and it was now starting to chafe the crap out of my inner thighs.  awesome.  then we hit the last like 200 yards.  we finish in the Colorado Stadium.  i was told there was a "huge hill" at the end - which i was rather nervous about.  as we're running, i see a "huge hill" in front of us and say to my sister - "there's no way - i'll have to walk it" - she proceeded to give me some words of encouragement.  then i saw that we only ran up like a 1/3 of the hill and then turned off into the stadium - so i knew i could keep running.  my sister didn't know about my internal acceptance of the hill and again felt she had to motivate me.  at this point, she turned into what i would compare to a female version of the hulk...she took off running and then turned around as she was like 10 feet in front of me and yelled "COME ON!"  to which i responded with nothing bc i had no energy to speak and bc i found her crazy at this point.  the funniest part about that moment is that jon, tom and the kids were right there on the sideline and heard the yell...out of all moments of the race, they see this one.  (although i suppose it's better than them standing at the end of mile 4 watch'n the pee incident)  they didn't know if we were fighting or if she was yelling at them for being in the wrong spot.  jon got a couple photos at this time...see below.  i finished...though that last mile, was even harder as i had to pass a few barfers into the stadium...always motivating.  mile 6 time: 10:25.

 

overall, i did the race is 1:03:50.  not bad for my first 10k, especially when fighting the altitude issues, stopping to piss myself and dealing with some blood-draw'n-internal-thigh-chafe-action.  (i know - that's hot)  it's hard for me to be really proud/content though...just how my personality works.  i set expectations and then when it doesn't go perfect or i don't meet those expectations, i feel let down and like i didn't do well enough.  yah, one of my many therapy issues.  so, what does that mean?  well, now i'm look'n for another 10k to run in the sea level area for redemption.  anyone up for the challenge?  :)

 

my take-aways from the entire 3+ month experience...

here are the photos...they're a lil hard to see given the shade from the trees...and i swear that was one of the few shaded spots of the entire race!  there's one of michelle and i before the race. then, there's one is Michelle - red shirt/black shorts/black hat - in her all bunches of runner-high/hulk-like moment with 200 yards to go.  then there's two of me...one is me waving (red shirt/black shorts) - and how i even had the energy to smile or wave is beyond me - i barely remember it and another one is the back of me running by.  then the last one was taken by the BolderBoulder photo crew of me during the race.