Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Hippie Town

Boulder Colorado

Population: 91,685

Elevation: 5,430 ft

Liberal capital of the United States

Qualifications for residency: Caucasian. Very wealthy and/or hippie. Own really expensive shoes and spend 80% of your time participating in/talking about rock climbing, mountain biking, running or kayaking.

Yes, my true love and I trekked the 8 hours through Fruita, Colorado (home of Mike the headless chicken), through the beautiful mountains


and the not-so-beautiful wasteland


and arrived in Boulder for Memorial Day weekend. Purpose? To run the infamous Bolder Boulder. One of the craziest 10k races that I know of.

We spent the weekend watching street performers, walking/people watching in pearl street mall, driving up the canyon, bike riding, drinking soy milk and eating purely organic foods, and watching drunk people dance like it was 1999. (I'm pretty sad that we forgot the camera for that part.)



During the actual race, you'll always find crazy costumes, Elvis impersonators, belly dancers (2 groups this year), and thousands of spectators added to the already 50,000+/- runners. Here's a bit of evidence.



If you can't read his sign, it says, "Tuggie my Snuggie." And yes. He ran the whole 6 miles in a snuggie. Why didn't I think of that?

The race was fun with spectators handing out cups of beer, bacon, tater tots and spraying us down with water guns to keep us all entertained.

And now we come to the after race bag they give out to the runners.

Contents: Organic chocolate silk, Powerbar brand energy blasts, Rice and Adzuki bean snack chips (made with all natural ingredients and natural salt flavor), apricot and mango soy bar, rice crispy treat (finally something I recognize!!), "Bear Naked" organic, all natural granola, and an orange. And don't worry. The bag reminds us that the athletes were powered by 100% renewable energy.

I've never felt so organic in my life.

10 comments:

Jen said...

Fun!!!

sara said...

You're my hero! Did Barney run too or was he just paparazzi?
You'd be so proud of me mija, I've been running 1 mile in the mornings since I started my new job and don't have to be to work so early! I'm hoping to shave my time down to a crisp 46 mins. (Yes, you read it right, I said running... I just didn't say how fast!)

Kendra said...

I love it!!!! Sounds like a fun/memorable event. I would love to try it sometime. Maybe next year. :) I'm glad that you had the chance to get away and have some fun. Thanks for sharing.

Naazju said...

I love Boulder! They're good kids. And it looks like you had a GREAT time at the race!

Molly said...

Amazing! The Rice Krispies Treat among all the organicism, that is. Looks like a good time, especially the singing harpist. Way to go!

JoSue said...

Wow look at you guys!! I wish Clark and I exercised together. I don't have a bike so I can't go with him and he has bad knees so he can't run. Rollerblading possibly?? Looks like it was a fun road trip! I've actually never been to Colorado. I need to go by the looks of it!

BrittWilk said...

you make organic look good, mary. :) i totally have aspirations to run this race now... it looks like way too much fun! maybe someday we'll do it together.

Unknown said...

So was Barney even able to see you? haha. sounds like quite the party. curious, since any timing done by me would be completely irrelevant, about how long does it generally take one to run 6 miles? do YOU actually RUN the entire time?

Unknown said...

not Mark, btw. Jeanette.

Anonymous said...

Sara--Barney wasn't able to run,(bad knees) so he just spent most of the time trying to find a parking spot and sacrificing himself for me. What a great guy.

Mark/Netty--It took me 64 minutes, but I was expecting to do it in about an hour. It just depends on how fast you run. The fastest women runners (professionals) took about 38 minutes. Yes, I ran just about the whole time. (I did walk for a bit at one point)

To all--you're all invited next time we do it. :)