Race to Help Save Lives in Evergreen- Run, Fun and Speed

The USATF Grand Prix makes a stop in Evergreen August 7 for the Colorado 10k road championship. In addition to an ultra fast downhill course, the race series offers more than $12,000 in prize money this year.  Almost $2,500 in prize money will be in play when the runners hit the start line in Evergreen.

The event  is one of four  in Colorado where racers accumulate Grand Prix points. But there is more than just Grand Prix points for racers to consider. Running with some of the fastest athletes in Colorado is also a major draw. Running is one of the few sports where novice competitors can line up in the same event as an elite athlete. And don't forget that the opportunity for a personal best on Colorado's fastest race course is part of the overall package too. You choose your race ( 5k or 10k) and then hope you can keep your legs turning over fast enough to navigate the course.

Combine all of this with a great cause and you have the makings of an Epic year.  Race Director John Wells sent me an overview of the event highlighting the 32 year history of this race. The Alpine Rescue team is one of just twelve nationally accredited mountain rescuer team in our state. According to a press release, Alpine Rescue is the only rescue team to serve three Colorado counties ( Clear Creek, Jefferson and Gilpin). One unique aspect of this team is that they never charge for their services. They are completely funded through events like the Evergreen Town Race. In fact, the race proves almost 1/3 of the teams total funding. This partnership began almost 20 years ago when they got together with the Colorado Road Runners.

There is a first class volunteer organization that helps with the event as well. Each year the race looks to expand the number of runners, and this year having the State 10k Championships promises to be a great draw. Last week Clint Wells won a local 5k with a time of 15 minutes even-and that is lighting fast. But in 1998 the fastest 5k ever run in Colorado was at the Evergreen Town race-an amazing time of 14:07!!

If all of the above wasn’t enough, the race also offers a great post race brunch. Runners are treated to drinks, beer, and fresh cooked ham, egg cheese bagel sandwiches. Oh and don’t forget there is a great tech racing shirt this year too.  The tech shirts are a direct result from monitoring feedback from participants according to John Wells, race director.

Link below to sign up and run in this signature event on the Colorado racing calendar.

http://www.evergreentownrace.org/

Redline 13.1 at Longmont

Saturday July 16^th was race day for the inaugural Redline Longmont Half Marathon . Almost 300 runners and walkers participated in the hugely successful event. The slightly downhill point to point route traveled West to East traversing through much of Longmont before finishing at Sandstone Ranch Park.

     Most runners began the morning at the finish, parking at Sandstone Ranch. The 125 acre park is open yearly from sunrise to sunset and features soccer and baseball fields, a skate park, playgrounds and sweeping views of the front range. Runners boarded two buses and headed west to the start line at Mcintosh Lake –which rests on the far Eastern edge of Longmont. I missed the bus, but caught a ride over to the starting line with some other runners after a quick detour for some last minute supplies. 

     The start area was well organized, and as in many first time races, the event organization gave last minute registrants ample time to sign up. While I heard some comments here and there about the delayed start, I expect some delays for a first time event and just went with it. 

 

     The start was even in that the trail at Mcintosh lake offered plenty of room for any sub 7 minute mile gazelles to move up to the front. I hung back, intending to average 7:20 miles for the run (I did) and found a small group of 4 runners that I paced with for most of the race. The lake is scenic enough along the trail with great views of Longs Peak to take ones mind off of the 13 miles ahead. In fact, the first two miles were quite comfortable along the trail. 

      Just before Rogers Road, we broke to left and headed East. As most of you know, when you head East in Colorado, you are usually running downhill. The course profile indicated a drop in altitude of about 300 feet which made for some nice running. (there was however a nasty little hill at 12.9 miles that we were warned about by the race director). 

     We passed Golden Ponds Nature Area at mile five and Izaak Walton Park at mile 7. I gulped my second of three gels at the seven mile marker and took two waters before leaving the shade for good at about mile 8. Running without shade for the last 4-5 miles made pacing and drinking critical, so I paid close attention to both—mainly water as I kept plugging along the route. I still traded pacing with the 4 other runners in my group-but we gradually spread out between water stations.

     I was certain once we hit the 10 mile mark that I would hit my goal time, so I eased up slightly. I was also pretty gassed anyway. The last hill was definitely as tough as advertised, but once I got to the top, I sprinted in for a final time of 1:36:27.  The winning race time was a blazing 1:20:54.

     Overall I have to give the event high marks. The post race food was outstanding as title sponsor Great Harvest Bread provided sandwiches, and lots of tasty bread for hungry runners. In addition, other sponsors provided lots of drinks and food. There was plenty of shelter for the heat, and even more prizes for the post race raffle.

     I can see this race becoming a signature event for the city of Longmont. Race Organizer Josh Melver indicated that the start time will probably be moved to 6am next year to beat the heat. I have no doubts that next years race may top 500 runners.

Sunrise Stampede 10k, Taste of Louisville

Every weekend brings a new race now that summer is here.
And while I won't be racing again until mid July, the last couple of weeks have been busy with a mile, a 5k and two 10ks.

Normally I would not race that much, but my form has been good and I knew I had a break coming anyway after the Sunrise Stampede. So I decided to full speed racer.

The Lucky Seven Mile Series was simply fantastic. The four race series was sponsored by Human Movement

I was delighted with the race organization and the overall atmosphere in downtown Louisville. This is a series that will make for an excellent tune up for the Bolder Boulder next year. Plus it's just plain flat out fun racing.

Same for taste of Louisville. Great race course, fun race.

The 26th running of Sunrise Stampede was blessed with great weather this runner. More than 400 runners signed up for the 10k. The sun hid behind the clouds just as the race was about to start and that made for excellent running conditions. I really like the Sunrise course. It has some nice downhills that are mixed in with one large hill and some slightly uphill sections. Good course and wide open...

No wave start in the Sunrise but the race clears out pretty fast with the sub 40 gazelles taking off leaving the rest of us behind right from the start. I ended up running a personal best of 42.23 so I was delighted with the race and the event overall.

Bolder Boulder 2011 Wrap up

2012 Bolder Boulder is less than 364 days away…so that means were finished with the 2011 edition.

The course change seemed to play pretty well with most of the runners I spoke with. I actually made the strategic error of running my first mile about 25 seconds too fast—even with the slightly uphill start. I paid for my exuberance in miles four and six however. I achieved my primary goal of finishing in the top 15 of my age group (49), but honestly think I had another 30 seconds in me on overall time.

But, there are no mulligans in road racing so I accepted my fate and ran through my fast start all the way to the finish. My final time was 43:17, good enough for 14^th place out of 408 runners in my group.

I made one decision that I will stick with for next year and that was running in a slower wave overall. Last year I was in AA and that was way too fast. I got passed by about a thousand people I think, So this year I moved back to B. I felt much better overall running with people who ran my pace. I also think not getting passed by a gizillion people on the course helped me retain my edge throughout the run.

Given that my finish group was in the stadium before 8AM, I had plenty of time to take in the expo. I collected lots of treats and wolfed down enough liquids to feel up to walking back to Folsom and Arapahoe to watch the rest of the runners come in.

After a quick trip back home, I decided to watch the professional race this year as well. Ryan Hall, pictured above, ran this years race. He also holds the US record in the half marathon at 59:43!!

I’m happy I watched the pros.  Seeing them run on the same course that the rest of us did was pretty cool.

I think the Bolder Boulder is far and away the best run race on the Colorado calendar. I know there are folks who don’t run it because of the crowds, but it really is a great running experience and should definitely be a must do for all runners.

BB 2011 less than a week away. RD Steve Bosley interview Part Two.

Tho-Run: So Steve part of the big news this year is the course change. I can’t imagine that you just decided to change the course over night.

Steve Bosley:  (Laughing).Well that was us. Yeah that was us. We’ll jump to that.

How it came about is a much longer story but let’s hold off on that. It was in one of our brainstorming sessions, you know maybe such and such might work because if we really look at this we can bring more buses into this new area. You know where the buses came in before with the drop offs the traffic was just terrible. So we said let's move the start closer to the finish line, then buses will have a dedicated route in to town and cars for drop off will have two dedicated drop off zones.

Well; taken together rather than separately, that’s all huge....all those things. Some people talked about tradition and you're giving up the history of the start, the race will lose something. And you know we’ve been planning this for three years! (laughing) We’ve probably got 1200-1500 hours into this.

Judging and planning and all the ramifications and we know we will have missed some things. You just can't, like know for example what is the optimal placement of the port o potties?

But we’ll know after we that first race in. But the issues of how and when you shut the streets down and what time. All that we are really good at. Then we think about just the confusion of two thirds of the runners coming this year will have been to the other starting line. So what does that look like? So there is going to be something that pops up but we don’t think there will be anything of major importance we just look for every single detail.

Tho-Run: There is also the dynamic of the father son pass off of the race that Cliff is running the event.

Steve Bosley:  So many times in a business the son or daughter takes over and all of these changes happen, but Cliff said  I don’t want to change anything, I don’t even know what going on! Well he’s worked on the race since the first one.

He and his sister sat in Frank Shorter's office door when they were…let’s see 12 and 13 registering people on the weekends. And they talk about how cheap I was back then because for doing that they got to eat at the New York Deli which was right next door (laughing). Which they loved!!

So Cliff has literally, before he took over as race director he has been in charge of every aspect of the race.  And all he did, no the only thing he did, I want to emphasize the important, he looked at streamlining everything he possibly could. Like a watch….and you can't you say for years we maintained a reputation as the most innovative race. Cliff helped insure that.

We’re always coming up with something. For several years the media would say what are you doing differently this year? Well how do you measure the thousand little things that smooth this piece out and that so when suddenly you put them all together the race just has a different feel to it. That everything just works.

Tho-Run: I blog and race each year and look at all aspects of a race. How easy is it to register? Where do you park? What does the shirt look like? Is the course accurate? Is the timing accurate? Marshalling, everything—even post race food. I talk to folks too- I have to tell you as  impressed as I am with the race, it’s really one of the few events I run each year where my only concern is how fast I’m going to run!

Steve Bosley:  laughing…We send our guys to other races all the time. And one of the instructions Cliff gave them was go in and register for the race. Be an ordinary person. Do all the things someone would do on race day. And then write down when you are done…where were you nervous?

Where were you wondering what was next? And, the fun part of that was that hey we found you know we are doing all of that!! The great part of going to other races, and Cliff and I still go to other races, is that we come back with pages of notes and ideas that this almost happened what do we do here? Or can we prevent that? Not in any way, shape, or form to say we never have that problem-baloney-we know there’s a fine line between being inches away from problems all the time.

Tho-Run: Another aspect of the race is the chip timing. There are some races I do where I don’t see results for days or even a week. In BB you have results immediately-- for thousands and thousands of runners.

Steve Bosley:  Isn’t that neat? You notice we didn’t go to the chip system for ten years?

That’s when it first came out. But every time we looked at it and looked at the races and the prices and looked at what it was, well the prices were a killer. But we weren’t driven to move to chips because the accuracy of our timing system was so great.  Before the chip, our timing was so good that it really created a question—how do you do this?

It really was a system that evolved in the first few years that we perfected. We would ask people in the surveys How accurate was your time? And one answer would be what is your perception of how accurate was your time? If you think three seconds is ok, then it’s accurate. If you buddy says three seconds off is not accurate then it’s not. It’s all about customer or runner satisfaction. When we would ask more specifically –were we right on, were we plus or minus one second, three seconds, whatever, the accuracy rate was, or the customer satisfaction rate was phenomenal. Well again the media started writing about us and we were accurate with our timing so we weren’t driven to it, to the chip. We waited a couple of years, well then we just developed our own system and went with it.

Tho-Run: It seems like there are really three races on the big day. You’ve got the professional race, runners and then you have the joggers and walkers.

Steve Bosley: It’s all within. It’s all one big race organization and you really hit on a key point. Most races back  then were really emphasizing the race, the non-professional aspect of it. We never called our race the non-elite race as that would then get into the amateur status of our race—and that is another subject entirely what is considered professional or amateur.

It’s only been in the last 8-10 years that we called the one of the races “The Professional Race”.  We don’t have a VIP party, we have a special guest party-I don’t like those terms, VIP, Elite.

Other races would specialize in having a so, so race (citizens) and focus on the professionals-I never believed the two to be mutually exclusive. In the end for us, how much is all that attention to just a pro race worth to your sponsors or to the thousands of runners who run in your race? We like to hear our runners and sponsors say hey that is really a cool event we are a part of! And we will keep working to keep that going.

Lucky Mile Series in Louisville

Interview with David Janowiec

Partner/Chief Marketing Officer  Human Movement

Louisville is getting its share of run events, but a 1 mile run is new. When did you decide to put the event on and also turn it into a series of weekly runs?

A: We wanted to put together a run/race that was very community centered. Something where locals and surrounding area runners could both get to know each other more, but also allow for runners who already know each other to compete against each other on a regular basis. Another goal was for training purposes – in the Spring many runners are pushing short distances at a fast pace on a weekly basis as part of their training programs. So this series really compliments everybody. Kids/families: 1 mile is perfect for kids. Serious runners: can compare their weekly times and compete against others in the exact same course from week to week.

You must have been able to get a lot of buy in from the business owners in downtown--that takes a lot of work. How long have you been planning to run the series?

A: actually, the only business owners we’ve really dealt with on this series are Lucky Pie and Sweet Cow, as it doesn’t affect the others all that much. And the branding is really in line with our main partner – Lucky Pie, so to discuss sponsorship/partnership with other local businesses, especially restaurants, wasn’t really possible. Our other event, the Taste of Louisville Half marathon & 5K touches more on your question – incorporating all of the local businesses much more.

What do you think will surprise people about this series?

A: Hmmm… The biggest surprise to us has been the amount of kids involved. There are a ton of kids running. I think the biggest surprise to the runners, will be how much we put into a ‘1 mile’ run. We set this race up like it’s a marathon, including awards, finish line area, and effort. Another thing that may surprise the runners is how much fun this race and series is. I can’t even count how many people have thanked us for organizing a series based on community and ‘fun’! Our goal is for the race atmosphere to be light-hearted and laid back, but still very high quality and very professional. I think this series will have 400 runners per night in a year or so.

How do you think the race will fit into the overall season calendar for local runners?

A: I think it has a lot to do with part of my answer in #1 above. Putting in ‘speed work’ just before the weekend. Many runners will do speed work 2-3 days before a race, and the Lucky Mile Series offers exactly that. I know people doing the race who have broken their 1 mile PR’s each week! Runners who have been running for 20+ years! It really pushes you to go fast when you’re up against a bunch of other runners in a 1 mile run.

Folks can make an evening of the run as well with lots of goodies after the race. How do you see the event changing as word gets out and more people show up?

A: Our sponsors such as Avery Brewing, Lucky Pie, and Sweet Cow will adapt to the increase in runners and will be happy to do so. The only things I could see changing are the addition of a cash purse possibly, and the addition of more sponsors who want to be a part of such a unique event series. We’ve had several regional ‘industry’ companies already ask about sponsoring the Fall series. Which I’ll have to tell you about. Haha… http://www.tasteoflouisvillehalf.com/lucky-mile#!__lucky-mile

Bolder Boulder 10k 2011 Countdown...interview with Steve Bosley Part One

The 33^rd annual Bolder Boulder 10k is less than a month away.

The race is one the most successful races in the country and highlights the racing calendar for me along with thousands of other runners and walkers.

I’ve always said that the event is the most seamless race I have entered—it’s the only race on my calendar where my only concern is how fast I can run. 

All of the other details such as registration, course safety, accuracy of timing and distance, results, post race food and expo, plus much more, are simply first class. 

Bar none.

The Bolder Boulder is on the short list of must do races for runners along with such classics as The Peachtree Road Race (Atlanta on the 4^th of July) and of course The Boston Marathon.  Runners travel from all of the world to race here in Boulder on Memorial day.

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I sat down over breakfast recently with race founder Steve Bosley to learn more about the race. Bosely is a runner, and a successful businessman. He has combined his business acumen with a lifelong passion for running to create the signature event of the running season for many of us. Bosely talked at length about the history of the race, the course changes for this year, and what he sees in the future for the event.

Tho-run: Talk about the history of the race, how did it come about, when did you decide to organize a road race?

Steve Bosley: I’ll give you the history. It’s quite interesting. It was President Lincoln who said something like victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan, or something like that. Here’s the story. I’ve always loved athletics. My father was a coach. I participated in a lot of sports but was not outstanding in any. I ran mostly for fitness. My father had a heart attack at age 50 and he died at 60, so I was running from heart disease. At the time, my five children were in track programs. I would go to the track meets and I was so disgusted with the coaches and parents, I decided I was going to put on a track meet—but I was going to keep the coaches and parents in the stands!

I knew Frank Shorter who won the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in the marathon. I told him I wanted to organize a track meet for runners. Shorter told me that a track meet has lots and lots of events-you want to run a road race. So I asked him (laughing) —what’s a road race? This was in February of 1979.

So I’d go to races along the Front Range each weekend, as many as I could find. I studied the races and what I found was six or seven things that you really needed to do to take care of your customer. I called the racers customers because I felt that if my event did not do a good job of keeping those runners/customers happy, they would never come back and pay an entry fee to run in my event.

I was President of the Bank of Boulder and called a staff meeting and said we are going to put on a road race. We are going to take all of things, and this is no meant as disrespect to clubs or groups that put on running events, but we are going to take all of those things and do them better than anyone else and run this race correctly just like it was our business. There were so many things that were not being done—take age groups for example. Most races have 12 and under, 13-17, and so 17-20 and so on. Well how can a nine year old race a twelve year old? Or what about a 45 year old racing someone who is 23? It just doesn’t work. So I said lets do it by age. And that first year we gave away ten places! And we have a number of people who tell us each year that they love the race because of the age groupings by year. It’s just one of the many things we identified as being essential to making the race a first class experience for everyone—runners, sponsors, the city, everyone. And there are others too.

Tho-Run: It would seem that being a sponsor of the Bolder Boulder would be a really great opportunity for a company. But it wasn’t as easy as just going out and singing up some names. The sponsorship developed over time didn't it?

Steve Bosley:  If you do things right and take care of people, this is the thing. This is true for runners and sponsors. They just come back. You know it’s interesting that our race became such a big race in Colorado, it could have been born much earlier. There were some other races at the time like the run for the roses that was put on by Leo Palmer who owned a flower shop. As a sidebar I went to him and said I want to put on a race but I don’t want to think we are competing, you are in the fall and I’ll be in the spring—do you want to join forces? In fact, I went to five businesses that first year and said would you join me in putting on a road race? And not one of them said yes.   I say to our sponsors that out of those five business I went to, only one of them survived, the rest of them died. My bank was the one that made it-and so now I say to sponsors now that it’s obvious to me that you are going to be successful if you sponsor the Bolder Boulder!! 

We came back the second year by the way, and some of those companies said hey we want to join you now. And there were a number of lucky things that happened along the way for our race, and one of them was I said no we are going to do this on our own. We were a small business bank and the agonies of partnerships falling apart was enough to give us pause. We decided not to sell any sponsorships because we really didn’t know what we should sell them for or what the sponsors would get out of it. We just decided to pay for it all again and wanted to do things right first –we wanted to lay the foundations first—we wanted to more than just collecting money. we wanted our sponsors to be our partners—

Tho-Run: We all see the banners along the course or at the post race expo for BB of the participating companies, but partnership is an overused term in business. How does it work for the race?

 

Steve Bosely: Oh it goes so deep. Much of it is not even obvious on the surface. First would be finding the right companies tat we can give them their monies worth for what they spend. We’ve gone to sponsors before and said we don’t think you are getting your monies worth for what you are spending. We will let you out of your contract. In most circles that is unheard of. But I think why have someone on board who is unhappy and talks to others about how unhappy they are? You know what? I’d rather have a company say hey you know what this company came to us and said hey we want to let you out of your contract with us and we are ok with that, that is the way you should do business. Laying that piece and then really taking care of the runners—from how do you learn about the race, how do you register, is the course accurate, how close is your chip time vs. the time you had, the course entertainment, even the mile markers, and finally what is your post race experience?  We just think we’ve got to keep plussing it up.Your paying for an experience. We think of all those things and more and we think of them from a sponsors perspective-that all makes for a good start to a sponsorship package.

Tho-Run: I just cant help but thinking there must have been a little bit of luck in getting the race on the right course. What sticks out in your mind as something that was fortunate that you maybe didn’t see at the time?

Steve Bosley: The biggest race in the Rocky Mountain Area should not be in Boulder, Colorado. It should be in Denver. Well, we were blessed at the time that the Denver Parks and Recreation charged a lot for a race. You know there was a big race under Governor Lamm who was also a runner, but we were really fortunate. The Denver races were big but they never really took off over time.

We had a group lay out a course for us one year that seemed to be a pretty good one.  We changed the course a little bit but that wasn’t a big deal. Anyway, lets see two weeks before the race, I said how’s the parade permit? I’d like to see the parade permit. 

Well guess what? We  did not have permission from the city to put on a race. So I went down to city hall. I really did not know anyone there at the time. And they said nope, no way there is not enough time. Sorry. 

And I met one fellow, I believe his name was Andy, I think he was public works and I said boy are we really in trouble, and he said yes you really are in trouble. And he said let me see what you’ve got and I’ll think about it. He was gone for about 15-20 minutes, and when he came back he had a parade permit. 

This guy he wasn’t, I mean he didn’t work for the city very long. His way of doing things didn’t work in a bureaucracy. We would not have had the race that year without that permit. Maybe we would have had it the next year, you know though when you’ve got the momentum going and you lose that-and we had enough participation and everything that we decided to go to the city for the next year right then. And we told them we think there are things we can change. Since then, we’ve included the city in our planning every year.