Monday, May 27, 2013

Bolder Boulder 10K 2013–Cave Girl Edition

A few days before the Bolder Boulder 10K Emma (12 years old) and I had a talk. She was being hard on herself about running the race and really wanted to improve on her time from last year. I know Emma, and I know her mind can be her worst enemy (as it can be for most of us). I told her there were two expectations I had for her with this race:

1. No complaining (she is Shut Up + Run’s offspring, right?)

2. Run a race she could be proud of, whatever this means (meeting a time goal, feeling good the whole race, etc.)

This is not to say she couldn't let me know when she got a cramp or got tired. But it did mean that I didn’t want to spend 6.2 miles hearing about her being miserable. After all, she wanted to do this race. I never told her I expected her to do it or that I cared if she did it or not. You might remember last year we had a tough time for the first half of the race – I guess I wanted it to go a bit better than that and for her to enjoy the day just for the fact that she COULD run, and that we were together.

We got our cave girl costumes on and got ready to go.

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At the start Emma said, “I am going to take it one mile at a time. I am not going to think about how much further I have to go.” She ran really strong the first three miles, and said, “I am just having confidence in myself. That is the difference between this year and last year.” YES!

We high-fived our way through the miles, running through sprinklers every chance we got. I hit as many people as possible with my club. I almost did a keg stand at mile 4 (no joke), but I suppose that would make me BMOTY (Bad Mother of the Year). I had to laugh at mile three when I was shooting out snot rockets and Kathy, without missing a running step, carefully took out a Kleenex and blew her nose in the most lady-like way possible. I don’t know why she’s friends with me. It seriously is like Lady and The Tramp.

In the end, we finished in 1:09, five minutes faster than Emma ran last year.

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I loved the smile on Emma’s face when I told her that. It’s true that getting the time you hoped for is not everything, it’s just a part of the day. For me, sharing this race with my family and Kathy, enjoying the warm Colorado sun surrounded by runners, drinking a beer at 9:00 a.m., and scaling fences is what it’s all about.

What? I had to do it to get to the porta potty.


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More shots from the day: Christmas Card?

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Post-run Starbucks visit. I want you to see my manly arm. WTF with that? You should see my hairy armpits too (joke)

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Heidi didn’t care too much about the costumes, all she wanted was to eat my club. I think she thought it was a turkey leg.

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I think she was just feeling sassy because she got a new tag and collar and no she feels all fancy.

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What are your Memorial Day plans? Did you race this weekend?

Do you ever run races with your kids? We run the Bolder Boulder together every year and usually a few 5Ks.

SUAR

47 comments:

  1. Great costumes! So glad it went better this year. That's an impressive time, Emma!
    Sarah
    www.thinfluenced.com
    P.S. She sure is looking more and more like Mom!

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  2. Y'all look amazing!! Love the costumes! Way to go, Emma!!! Sounds like it went much better this year!!! What a fun family day!
    BTW-I think your arms are awesome!!!

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  3. What a fun day! Our plans apparently include freezing to death. Sigh.

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  4. Great job and love the costumes! I run with my two boys a lot. We have done about 12 5Ks together over the past two years. They took on a 4 mile distance for Mother's Day. We are thinking about an 8K at the end of June. I love every single minute of it even when they have a whiny race.

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  5. Totally run the BB every single year. Love it. My husband wasn't feeling well so I walked it with him and we had such a great time. Okay, I had a great time. He really wasn't feeling well. We followed the Teletubbies the entire route. Saw the beer stop you speak of! The teletubbies took part and we wondered about THAT lesson they passed on... hmm. But otherwise, great fun.

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  6. I want to add...my son's plane landed from Afghanistan right in the middle of the race. We've been waiting for him for far too many overdue days and I was SO glad to hear his voice. Wishing I was in San Diego to greet my Marine son(who used to run the BB with me, I was pretty excited that if I couldn't be there, I could at least be at the BB running for him and all of our service members to include his dad. What better place.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, so glad he is home safe. And thank him for his service from ALL of us.

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  7. My kids ran this year, not with me but still made me feel good.

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  8. Great pictures! I ran my first half today! It was harder than I expected but I did it. Hills and wind...whew!

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    Replies
    1. Congrats! Sounds like a rough course, but way to go!

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  9. I biked 10 miles then ran 3, in preparation for my first triathlon next weekend. I want you to know I had to poop in the woods today at mile 2. I thought of you :-)

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    Replies
    1. So proud of you. And so blessed people think of me when they poop :)

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  10. Tell Emma congrats on a great race! Looks like you had a lot of fun too, love the costume choice. I don't think I would have it in me to scale a fence after running a 10K...even to pee. Maybe to do something else? Haha. I ran a 5K this morning locally. I've done it a few years in the past. Not too tough of a course, the "worst" part being the early female only start, b/c who wants to get up early?

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  11. Congratulations! I really hope that when I have kids, I'm able to share my love of running and fitness with them, while allowing them to keep a healthy and balanced perspective like it sounds like you've done with Emma. Awesome!

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  12. Oh my gosh that sounds like fun! Glad it went better for all of you this year! Love the costumes!

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  13. Great race! At first glance, I thought your friend had a cigarette in her hand! (It's the line in the parking lot...). I'm pretty sure smoking is banned in Colorado (unless it's weed), right? ;)

    I ran a 5K with my two oldest last fall and that was an experience. I'm hoping to do it again this year!

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  14. You got guns, girl!
    Cathy

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  15. Your costumes turned out great! Heidi really knows how to handle a club. Congrats to Emma for having a great race and a great attitude!

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  16. I'm just so in love with your new girl. Heidi is gorgeous!

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  18. Congratulations to Emma, that's awesome! My daughter (almost 10) started running 5K's last summer (previous to that 1K's mostly) and has done kids triathlon for 3 years. Just keeping her active my main goal. I'm hoping she loves it and continues as she gets older.

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  19. Have run several 5ks with my daughter (now age 9). We've had years like your 2012 BB (with a lot of whining and crying). But this year, we walked when she needed to and ran when we could and her times are slowly improving and she's enjoying it a lot more. I fear she'll be able to outrun me in another year or two though.

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  20. cute outfits! and you look like a movie star (well- Pebbles) in that picture with Heidi and your daughter!

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  21. Way to go, Emma! Love the costumes.

    Have signed both my kids up for a 1 mile race at Disney World in October, as my husband and I are doing the Tower of Terror 10-Miler. It'll be the first racing experience for both of them and they're already talking about "practicing" running.

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  22. My twin boys are only 4 and I'm afraid that by the time they can or want to race I will be ridiculously SLOW!!! I'll try though as I would love to race with them. You're lucky to have that to share with your kids. You guys looked great - I especially like the pic of you scaling the fence!

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  23. Love the outfits and Heidi is beautiful!

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  24. My stepson has run two races with me; a Thanksgiving Day 8k and a Derby Day 5k. He has plans of joining us for Warrior Dash when he's old enough.

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  25. What a great experience, running with your daughter. Good job setting the expectations. You're a good parent.

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  26. Looks like an awesome run. Congrats to all of you on a great day!

    I ran Cabot Trail Relay for the second time this weekend. Seriously, girlfriend, you have to come to NS and run it one day. If you do, I promise I'll find a really cool team for you to run with. e.g. Check out my race report to see what I mean! http://jannielynn.blogspot.ca/2013/05/race-report-cabot-trail-relay.html

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  27. Oh I totally agree with this post. My son begged me to do this race and all I could remember was last years Cherry CreekSneak, where he complained about the altitude!? "You live here dude!" Anyway, we did Bolder Boulder yesterday and I told him, " I don't care if it takes 2 hours, I just don't want whining!" He wanted to do a 10k because he is turning 10 this week. He rocked it, though I didn't do a keg stand, we stopped for otter pops and walked and zig zagged to hit as many sprinklers as possible. It was 82 minutes of enjoying my kid and running, so much fun. At the finish he kicked it into high gear and sprinted the track, a teenage girl told him "that finish was sick man, so awesome" he was beaming, and so was I!

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  28. Congratulations to Emma for beating her old time while just enjoying the run in the moment. Nice work. I PR’d my 10K over the weekend as well. It was just a good weekend to enjoy a run. Well played ladies. Well played.

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  29. Your costumes are so cute! It would be fun to dress up for a race, but I feel like it could also drive me nuts because I wouldn't be used to it. If that makes sense! I am doing a race with my mom this weekend!

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  30. It's been years since I've done BB, I need to run it with you - WAY more fun!!! :)

    xo

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  31. I ran my first FULL on Sunday! 4:27 was the official time! I had some wicked leg cramping from miles 17-23, so I had to take walk breaks - that never happened during my training runs. I googled it after, of course, and seems like a sodium depletion maybe? I never took salt tablets or Gatorade on training runs, but lesson learned for next time! I didn't crap myself either! Thought of you and some of the blogs of yours that I read during training. Thanks for the tip about the throw away clothes (it was 40 degrees when I got to the start line, so I had a $2 sweatshirt with me from Amvets - after reading about it on your blog, I went to get one!)

    Congrats to your daughter on her new PR! Cute costumes. My daughter is only 4, but she did the kids mini marathon this weekend and won in her group! I can't wait to run with her :)

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    Replies
    1. Congrats on your accomplishment Dawn.
      Noticed your comment as I was writing my own so thought I would send you a congratulatory word myself.
      Personally, I can't imagine EVER running a FULL myself. lol
      Then again, I once could never imagine running a 10k or even a half but that's where i will be at.
      Way to go! Keep at it.

      Mrs White
      http://bringingfurmanhome.blogspot.com

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  32. That's awesome.
    I know exactly how you feel.
    I got to run a 5k with my daughter for Mother's Day. That was her gift to me. lol I was soo proud of her. Hope to be able to encourage her to keep running but as a teenager....she's got better things to do than run for fun. lmao Either way, I was happy she did it with me.
    I actually have a 10k to run this coming weekend to accompany a friend of mine that is running her first 10k.
    Then, it's to continue training to run my first half marathon.
    Your posts are very inspiring and I want to thank you for sharing.
    Oh, and for your tip on the Garmin quite a while ago for my husband. He loves it.
    Now.....I think I want one for myself. haha
    Have a great day proud momma!

    Mrs White
    http://bringingfurmanhome.blogspot.com

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  34. I was pleasantly suprised when my oldest ran BB with us...six middle aged Margarita Mamas. He is training for the Tough Mudder in a couple of weeks. I was pleased that I could still run after the Colfax full last weekend (my first!)

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