Boulder

Eldo to Boulder.  13.69m.  2:30:00.  I know that I’ve gone to the next level on my marathon training when I do Eldo to Boulder.  It’s one of my favorite runs and I felt great today while doing it.  I stopped at 13.69m because I had a brunch meeting in town – I could have kept going because I had plenty left.

Eldorado Springs to Boulder via Mesa Trail: +1,980/-2,772.  10.64m.  2:20:50.  We have a new office at 1050 Walnut Street in Boulder.  One of my favorite things about it is the run I get to do from my house.  I did it for the first time today - a solid 2:20 on Mesa Trail.  I’m sure I’ll speed this up over time, but in addition to a huge altitude gain / loss I started off with 100 oz of water in my Camelback.  It was a stupendous run – I can’t wait to do it again.

Canova Research is currently holding a recruit for male and female runners to participate in a focus group for a leading international running company.

We are looking for both male & female runners who run either 15-30 miles or 40-60 miles per week primarily road running (during running season). Participants must be 20-35 years of age.

The focus groups will be held on Wednesday, June 27th in downtown Boulder. The groups will meet for 90 minutes and participants will be compensated
$100.00

I think it was halfway up Green Mountain, at a point where I could hardly breathe, that someone asked, "Simon, are you training for anything special at the moment?"

"Believe...it...or...not", I gasped, "I'm training for the mile".

Total respect to George and Scott for NOT immediately asking, "Then what the hell are you doing here?" Although I'm sure it crossed their minds.

I've been in Boulder for over 20 years. I've been running since I arrived. In the last few weeks I've done two things that everyone runner in Boulder has probably done before:

1). Run the Mesa trail.
2). Run the Bolder Boulder.

It just struck me as interesting that I hadn't done this before. Regarding the BB, I usualy travel Memorial Day weekend, so that's why.

Anyway, I wonder what other "must do" things I haven't done as a Runner in Boulder!

I did the Bolder Boulder 10K this morning, alongside my youngest daughter (age 9, hence my time of just under 2 hours) and with apparently around 50,000 other runners and walkers. We all had these little chips from Ipico tied to our shoelaces -- the first time that the venerable race has gone digital. (Hurray! It's about time.)

In theory, the system is great: It tracks your overall time and mile splits, and at the end you can send in a text message via your cell phone and (supposedly) within 20 minutes get a message back with your results. Nice.

Signing up for the six-race Dash 'n' Dine 5k series last week, I told organizer Greg Cunningham of Fleet Feet that I didn't know why I was doing it. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Well, look at it out there -- it's sleeting, freezing and there's snow on the way", I said. "But the race isn't until Tuesday!", he says.

Yeah, I guess I'm still not used to the changing weather in Boulder. True, it's snow one minute, sunshine the next. The University of Colorado students have got it right: loads of them wear shorts and flip flops all year round. Well, the weather did change in the five days after I entered...and the treat it had in store was winds of 20mph plus howling across the exposed course at the Boulder Reservoir.