Bolder Boulder Recap

Yesterday was Memorial Day and for those of us in Denver and Boulder that means the Bolder Boulder 10k.  This was the 8th year in a row I've ran it so it has become a tradition.  The Bolder Boulder is a huge race with over 50,000 runners and walkers but you don't notice it until the end because you start in waves.  Each year I have been able to move up in starting wave because it is based on your previous year's finish time.  I was in wave #9 CB so I started early.  One of my fellow runners Jennifer rode with me up there and ran in the same wave.  She has always been a bit intimidated because she thought it was a huge mass of people and difficult to get in and out of Boulder for it.  I have a system for this race: I drive up, park in the same spot that is near the start, run, walk back to the car (the race starts on one road and finishes inside Folsom Field - the football stadium for the University of Colorado) and drive home.  I am home in plenty enough time to watch the elite runners on TV (they run after everyone has cleared the course) and then the program afterwards (they honor several veterans, have skydivers from each branch of the armed forces land in the stadium and have a flyover).  This year worked out exactly as expected although I wanted to find an old friend in a later wave but I could not get back to the start before her wave took off.

My goal for this race is always the same: I want to finish faster than the year before.   I did accomplish my goal and did it without looking at my watch for the whole race.  I usually look at it a few times so I can pace myself but I wanted to hold off until at least the halfway point.  I didn't look at it then so I decided I am going to run the whole race by feel.   The course for the Bolder Boulder is somewhat tough in that there are lots of turns and you are going uphill from miles 1-4 until you reach the highest point of almost 5,400 feet then you have a good downhill section before you go back uphill to run into the stadium and finish.  All in all I am happy with how I did but now I have to change gears and get ready for the Missoula Marathon in July.

I'm wondering if anyone else has run a race without a watch?  I ran one other time where my watch went dead because I forgot to charge it but never consciously made a point of not looking at it.