May 26, 2014 - Bolder Boulder 2014, Boulder Colorado

I just completed my 16th Bolder Boulder!  At one time this was the highlight race for the year for me.  Though I still enjoy the event, it does not usually bring as much of a sense of accomplishment as it once did.  This is probably because I have now run half and full marathons and also competed in Triathlons.

At the BB2014 start line.

A selfie at the BB2014 start. 

Going into the race my goals were to finish and to earn a "Beat Your Age Award".  Since I am 55, my time needed to be 54:59 (8:50 pace) or less.  This doesn't sound too difficult since I've run half marathons faster than this pace but the BB is a tough course.  The first 4 miles are pretty much rolling uphill then mile 5 is a nice downhill but the last half mile includes uphill again.

The race could not have gone much better for me.  The weather was perfect (low 50's) and I felt great from the start.  I went out a little too fast for the first mile and made myself slow down since I knew there were hills to fight.  The first mile ended up at 8:08.  From there I settled into a comfortable pace and cruised to the finish. The hill into the stadium at the end was tough but I knew my time was below the goal so just pushed through it.  Here is my pace per mile:
  1. 8:08
  2. 8:35
  3. 8:57
  4. 8:54
  5. 8:38
  6. 9:01
After earning a "Beat Your Age Award" in BB2014

 I did it!  My pace was 8:42 per mile and I finished in 54:05.82.  That was almost 54 seconds better than my goal and I earned a "Beat Your Age Award" for the first time.  I have no idea what I get but am thrilled that I finally was able to beat my age!  More stats from the race:

I was 57th out of 273 55-year-old male runners.  (Top 20.9 %)
I was 4976th out of 20946 total male runners.     (Top  23.8%)

This race is one of a kind.  There are over 50,000 people running this race but the course never seems to get too congested.  It is totally organized and has the best post-race area of any event I have attended.  I'll be back again next year.

Past BB runs:
Year     Age     Time 
1994 -  35   -  55:55
1996 -  37   -  53:47
1997 -  38   -  53:09  (PR)
1998 -  39   -  53:30
1999 -  40   -  56:34
2000 -  41   -  1:06:48
2002 -  43   -  1:07:07
2003 -  44   -  55:42
2006 -  47   -  1:49:17
2008 -  49   -  1:56:59
2009 -  50   -  57:11
2010 -  51   -  56:00
2011 -  52   -  56:02
2012 -  53   -  59:14
2013 -  54   -  55:30



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