March 20, 2013

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BOLDER BOULDER

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child;
but when I became a man, I put aside childish things.”  1 Corinthians 13:11

The quotation from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians contains much wisdom, even without considering the spiritual context intended by Paul.  As we go through life, things are important to us for a while, and then we outgrow them.  “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary is a beautiful song illustrating that concept.   There are also things in life that outgrow us.  The Bolder Boulder road race might be one.

In Colorado and nearby states, the Bolder Boulder 10k is for many the road race of the year.  Each Memorial Day, tens of thousands of people flock to the streets of Boulder to run or walk the 6.2 mile course or simply to observe the spectacle.  The race was conceived on a smaller scale.  Only some 2700 people participated in the first race in 1979.  As I recall, that race started around noon, or very late morning and was followed by a picnic lunch.  I did not run that year.  In fact, I predicted that it would not be successful.  Why, I asked, would anyone want to run on pavement at noon on Memorial Day.  The heat would  make the whole experience unpleasant.

I missed badly with that prediction.  In the 30+ years that have followed, well over a million athletes of all abilities have participated; and I have done so myself a number of times.  Continue reading →