Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Bolder Boulder

Yesterday's big event was the running of the Bolder Boulder. Over 54,000 people entered the 10K run (6.2 miles), and 50, 421 starters finished it. The first group to leave the starting line (at 6:50 a.m.) were the wheelchair racers, and the first completed the course in a fraction over 22 minutes. The citizen's run began next, with "waves" of starters - those who had previously finished a 10K course in a fast time got to start in an earlier group. The first "wave" of runners left at 7:00, and starts continued every 3 minutes until 9:30, with walkers leaving last. The professional runners were scheduled to leave the starting line at 11, but there were reports of stragglers still on the course, so the Pro start was delayed 25 minutes - which affected the timing of the Air Force fly-over, the parachutists' jump, and everything else that was supposed to kick off the celebrations at Folsom Field for the gathered crowd and athletes. Luckily everything worked out.
My apartment is located a quarter-mile from the finish line inside Folsom Field. At 7:00, I took a chair out (and a bottle of Coca-Cola) and set it up on the sidewalk, and began cheering with the arrival of the first racers. I yelled until after 10. Having seen my sister and brother-in-law, and one of their neighbors run by, I retired to my computer, where I spent the rest of the day. After 5 p.m., I let Lovey go out and prowl in the backyard for several hours. She had been talking to me all day, wanting to go outside, but there was just too much traffic in our lot and in the Millennium lot. I read an Edward Marston mystery last night, The Silver Train, but I had the TV on for background noise - folks were partying quite loudly in the area. I glanced up at one time and was surprised to see (though I shouldn't have been), that Ken Curtis was portraying Captain Dickinson in John Wayne's The Alamo.
Oh, well... I'm off to walk the red kids and visit the white girls and Brandi. Have a good week!

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