Race Report: 2011 Boulder Spring Half
I don’t know why I do this to myself every year. I go out to Colorado and I become a “grass is greener” guy. I am saying it now, I love Colorado. Anyway, now that I got that off my chest I can give my glowing race report with weekend running highlights.
Arrived on Friday early am and met Coach Jerry who was flying in from Kansas City. We grabbed the rental car, drove to Boulder, checked into the Boulderado hotel and got out for a quick 3 mile run along the Boulder Creek path. The reason for the speedy turnaround was that the Kansas Jayhawks were playing.
We watched the game with Jerry’s college teammate, Charlie Gruber, who was a 2004 Olympian in the 1500m. He is also in prime marathon training mode now as he is running Boston next month. It was interesting to hear him and Jerry talk about running, especially the Boston course. I wish I could have added something, but I am a slow no BQ runner.
Saturday Jerry and I hit the Flatirons Vista trail for an out and back run. After about a mile I had to stop, the altitude was killing me and I literally couldn’t breath. I didn’t remember being hurt this much by it last year; but we eventually continued on and finished a 5 mile run. Hitting the trails of Colorado is awesome especially when your main running trail back home consists of cars and a concrete jungle. 
After brunch and checking out Golden we collected our bibs for the race and headed for a hike at about 6,500 ft. I was starting to feel a little bit better with the altitude and noticed that I wasn’t having to “catch” my breath as much. We found a few hiking trails, explored and ended up icing our legs in the river after a few hours. I tell you, that mountain run-off is damn cold!
Sunday, race day, we woke up to 32 degrees , windy with a chance of snow. After a weekend full of sun we were getting smacked in the face with a late March winter day. Little did we know that it wouldn’t stay bad all day as the sun came out and the conditions were quite pleasant.
The Boulder Spring is super organized, very easy to park, close to the starting line and it seemed like more porta-pottie this year. We stretched, took a jog and headed for the starting line. I get the same feeling before every race, that butterfly anticipation with a dash of doubt that I am not prepared enough. It is exciting, scary and exhilarating all at the same time. My goal for the race was to have fun, enjoy running the backroads, feel strong the entire race and not shred my legs.
I started off at a nice easy pace, about 8:15 per mile. I have so much respect for altitude running that I felt like I held myself back more than usual. The first half of the race is a a steady uphill with a few big hills early on. If you can make it to the halfway turnaround feeling good, the rest really is all literally down hill. I got to the turnaround at 53 min, not too fast and not terribly slow. I was feeling a bit fatigued and my hip was starting to burn slightly.
Just after the turnaround I f
ound a group of runners that settled and settled into a good pace, riding their hips and zoning out for a good 4 to 5 miles. I was probably at a 7:20 pace for this period and was taking advantage of the flat roads over the middle miles of the race. Zoning out helped me tremendously, I wasn’t running a “body” check every 5 minutes and just allowed myself to ease into the pace and control my breathing. This continued until the final 1.5 miles- this is when it seems like all systems failed at once.
My stomach, my hip, my breathing, I lost it all. It was as if my body just wanted to shut down. Coach Jerry met me with about 1/2 mile left and helped keep me on pace over the final few uphills towards the finish line. I gave a final kick at the end and finished with a hard earned 1:43. I ran a negative split, 50 min for the second half. From the finish line I literally jogged straight to the porta-pottie…..wasn’t pretty.
Coach Jerry finished 3rd in his age group with a 1:19 and Charlie finished 15th overall with a 1:16- both making me feel slow! Overall I was thrilled, I ran a negative split by 3 min, my time was faster by 4 min from last year and I had a hell of a weekend in Colorado again.
How was your weekend of running? Have you ever run a high altitude race? Is there a race that you make sure to run every year as a measuring stick?
This is awesome — congratulations! The photos are gorgeous and I’m ridiculously jealous of the location. Although I was out in Utah a few months ago and attempted to run… It was the most difficult run of my life. My lungs were struggling after half a mile. Good for you for getting the race done with a nice time despite it being tough.
So hard running in the altitude! Makes NYC feel like a concrete jungle!
Sounds like a great run and you killed it. Would love to work up to your comfortable pace of 8:15, Colorado is amazing.
Thanks! It is an amazing place. My first half was at a 9 pace, you’ll get there too.
Awesome job! The altitude would not have been something I would have thought about it..but know it would have killed me.
I did the NYC half 2 weeks ago..and love all of it…
Great performance Scott. Congrats!
WoW congrats 1:43 it’s awesome!!!! The 2011 Boulder Spring Half was my first half-marathon and i loved it! I live in Boulder so i’m used to the altitude but I still think it was pretty hard, I usually run about 8 minute miles but Sunday I ended up running 9:15/m … the last 4 miles were so HARD for me… I’m doing my first Marathon this year in Denver and I can’t wait to start training!
Overall it was a great race though, i’m very glad you had a fun time in Boulder… this town rocks!
Congratulations again and keep running!
Congrats on your firs half! That is awesome. Definitely loved coming out there to run. Again, congrats on your first half!
Wow! Altitude and hills! I guess the scenery makes up for it. It sounds like you did great to push through to the end, and your overall time was great.
They were tough, but it was a great experience.
Keep it down with the whole “Colorado is awesome”….don’t want lots of people moving here
Congrats! 1:43 is awesome.
I’m running my second half in a few weeks and I’m hoping to break 2:00….but I probably won’t (I know, I should think negative…just being realistic). Like Wendy I’m also going to try my first full in Denver this fall.