It has been a little over a week and I realized that I did not update what went down up in Boulder at the 24 hour race. I ran on a relay team with 8 other individuals and I am proud to report that Team Go Fast Addiction won the open division. As a team, we completed 168 miles in the 24 hour time period with most of us running 3 shifts or 21 miles. I ran a shift late on Saturday afternoon after Eric S. and I completed a nice ride in the Boulder heat. My next shift came at about 4:30 on Sunday morning and it was actually quite fun. The sun was just starting to rise and the temp was perfect for running. I then completed the last shift of the race at about 11:30 with 30 minutes to spare. With the exception of the last leg, when the mercury had risen into the 90’s, I was able to run fairly consistent 7 min/mile splits over the 7 mile course. All in all, it was a fun weekend, and I got to hang out with a great bunch of people. Congrats to Greg, Christine, Eric, Scott, Eman, Bobby, Carrie and Jenna!
I also met some truly amazing runners – those who competed in the 24-hour and 100 mile divisions. I don’t know how they do it, but they can take a beating, run forever, and do it with a great big smile on their faces. Many of these people have finished the daunting Leadville Trail 100, which makes the Ironman look like an afternoon joyride. (I actually finished reading an article about the Leadville race and some sick and twisted part of my brain got excited and wants to do it someday)
Eric S. also convinced me to run the Bolder Boulder with him this past weekend, although it did not take much convincing on his part. For those that do not know, the Bolder Boulder is probably the largest 10k road race in the country, with about 47,000 finishers. It has been a Memorial Day tradition in Boulder for the past 28 years. I have run the race on several occasions and have always had a good time… not just in the race itself, but in joining thousands of others after the race in Folsom Field to celebrate members of the armed forces who made the ultimate sacrifice. It is also a great opportunity to bump into people who I have not seen in a while, namely my coach Mike Ricci. I have been avoiding him due to the fact that I have not really been putting in a great deal of effort towards training for this little Ironman thing coming up. I guess seeing him at the race showed him that I am committed to staying fit, although Monday was supposed to be an "off-day" so he obviously knows I am not following his schedules.
