A BolderBoulder to Remember

And here’s another entry from your guest blogger, Peggy….

Many of you may recall that I ran my first BolderBoulder last May. The 10K is the largest in the country with a field of ~52,000 runners and is pretty much a 6-mile long party. Oh, of course, there are those that take this quite seriously (like my friend Terry Gillach who turned in a sub-40 time…crazy man. And I say that with a great deal of admiration, for Terry is old) but I looked forward to it this year most of all because Chloe had agreed to be my running buddy for the race.

We did a couple of “training” runs prior to the race but agreed that our rules for that day were to a) have fun and b) go at the pace that Chloe wanted to go, be it running or walking. Of course, looking the part is just as important as the actual run, so Chloe and I decided to wear matching “RUN LIKE A GIRL” t-shirts and put our hair up in big pink-ribbon ponytails. And we were especially thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa Schrammel had come to watch us run it.

Kurt dropped us off at the Start at around 8:30 AM on Memorial Day. And after hitting the porta-potties (first rule of running: ALWAYS use the porta-potties) we made our way to our wave, lined up and waited for the gun to go off. Chloe was SO nervous….everyone around us was singing and dancing and she was quiet…I could tell that she was worried. Once I reminded her of our two rules and got her grooving to “YMCA” blasting over the loud speaker, she loosened up and began to have fun.

Finally, our wave was called to the post (yep, with the trumpet…just like at a horse race) and we heard the gun go off. I reminded Chloe to go nice and slow and enjoy the fun. She was getting hot and slowed to a walk at about mile 1.5 but then her spirits lifted, as the next 3.5 miles had LOTS of opportunities for Chloe to get wet….spectators sitting in lawn chairs with garden hoses pointed at the crowd which she ran through, slip and slides in yards that she slid down and best of all….Chloe running into a yard and doing a belly flop into an inflatable pool. All this made the time fly by!

We saw Kurt and his parents at about mile 4 and continued on, mixing jogging with walking, being urged on by spectators yelling “RUN LIKE A GIRL! YEAH!” Upon entering Folsom Field/CU Stadium I told Chloe to go slow down the first stretch and then sprint when she made the turn. And MAN, did she take off….being a 7 year old allowed her to bob and weave between folks as she made her way to the finish. And finish she did…about 2 seconds ahead of me. Did she legitimately beat me or did I let her win? While it’s not as controversial as the Immaculate Reception, like Fuqua, I am taking it the grave. All’s I know is that my little Franco scored big!

At any rate, Chloe and I had a great time and plan on doing this race together every year possible!

Right-side photos, top to bottom: a sampling of the "entertainment" along the way, and yes, that is a male belly dancer; not everyone wears traditional running attire, or shoes; The King (of sorts.)

Left-side photos, top to bottom: Chloe with still a lot of spunk at Mile 4; Chloe and Peggy celebrating at the Finish Line; A pre-race photo.