This was a fun race. Michelle and I drove up to Boulder and had a pretty easy time finding a parking place since we were there for one of the earlier waves. We parked and then walked to the field house, where we picked up our packets and made a pit stop in real indoor bathrooms (yeah!). Then we walked back to my car and pinned on our bibs and stuff, then went for a warm-up run. We got a little bit lost (at least I was kind of lost) on our warm-up run and ended up on the race course. We figured we'd just follow the race course and that would take us back to either the start or the finish. It was kind of funny because the earliest waves had already started and though we didn't really encounter any groups of racers while we were on the course, the course marshals along the way thought we were running the race and cheered us on. When we got almost to the finish, we debated whether to turn off the course and go a different way, and a guy was trying to encourage us and direct us to the finish. So we went in through the field house (the finish was in the field house) and went from there to the start, which was just a block or so away. Because of getting lost, we ended up going a little further on the warm up than we intended and running it a little faster than we intended so that we could get to the start line in time for the start of my race. We made it to the start line 3 minutes before my race started. I was able to start right up on the start mat because there were not a ton of people in my race. I got going to fast at the start of the race because it was slightly downhill. I ran that first mile in 7:12. The second mile was a little tougher with some gradual uphill and I slowed down and ran that mile in 7:46. For the third mile, I was back on the part of the course that I had run during my warm up and was able to run that mile in 7:21. I ran 6:16 pace for the last .1. Michelle was there at the finish line to cheer me on, which was great. I run so many races alone, it's not often that I have anyone waiting for me at the finish.
There was a woman who passed me right after the start of the race, but then I passed her after a while and I was never passed by a woman for the rest of the race, so I think I was the first woman in my race. However, because of the way these invitational races are set up based on your BolderBoulder finish time, they don't give awards by gender, and I definitely wasn't the first finisher overall. Also, I lost a pair of nice gloves some time during my race. I had clipped them to a safety pin that was holding my car key to my pants, but they must have fallen off.
I was pretty beat immediately after I finished my race, but there were about 17 minutes until Michelle's race started. So after I caught my breath a little, we made our way out of the field house back to the start line. Michelle warmed up a little on the road where the start line was, but I was tired, so I just waited for her. Some race official questioned why I was running in that wave, because my bib was the wrong color. I explained that I had already run my race and was running with my friend. And I didn't have my timing chip by that point. The race official said that was fine, but that when I got to the finish I should go off to the side and not through the shoot or else they would time me manually. I tried to let Michelle set the pace for her race, but I think I pushed her to go just a little bitter faster than she might have on her own. I looked for my gloves to see if I could find them as I went back over the course, but I didn't find them. Oh well. It's interesting to me that our splits for Michelle's race follow the same contour as the splits from when I did it alone. That 2nd mile is net uphill, while 1st and 3rd miles are net downhill. Splits for this race were 8:04, 8:40, 8:14, with the last .1 at 7:54. I didn't actually run across the finish line, since I went off to the side once we got in the field house. But I hit the stop button when I saw Michelle cross the line. This was a PR for Michelle!
Just a minute after Michelle and I finished, I thought I saw Nan, and so I chased her down. We visited with her for a little while and Michelle and I picked up our Chick-Fil-A chicken biscuits, and then we all walked out to our cars. Nan had parked in the same lot that we had, so that was convenient. All in all, it was a very fun morning. Thanks to Nan for coming to see us at the end, and Michelle, if you're reading this, thank you! You're awesome! **Addendum** In my race, I was 10th overall out of 31 runners, but I was indeed the first woman in my race, so I awarded myself first in my division even though they didn't track places by sex or age in this race. Michelle was 24th out of 89 runners in her race, and was the 4th woman. See, she is awesome!
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