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The day I ran my first Bolder Boulder 10K was the day I fell in love with Colorado.
It was Memorial Day of 1982, and I had moved to Denver six months earlier. When I had accepted a job at the Rocky Mountain News the previous November, I had no idea I was moving to the best place in the world to be a runner. But it began to dawn on me the day of that race, and the feeling has been reinforced every year since then.
I was one of 11,142 finishers that day, just the fourth year of a race that would go on to become a Memorial Day tradition for thousands of Colorado families. The finisher number would surpass 22,000 in 1989 and exceeded 40,000 for the first time 2000. It hasn’t fallen below that since. This year’s event, taking place on Monday, May 30, will be the first time in three years that it has been held — a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
I was blown away by the ingenious stadium finish at Folsom Field, and it was immediately apparent that running was honored in Boulder, which was becoming an international mecca for elite distance runners. For someone as passionate about the sport as I am, this was incredibly exciting. I can still remember my finishing time in that first race: 43 minutes, 8 seconds.
For folks who didn’t live through the running boom of the 1970s, it’s impossible to appreciate what those heady days were like, and the Bolder Boulder was certainly a product of that era. The running boom was ignited by Frank Shorter in 1972 when he became the first American to win the Olympic marathon in 64 years. Two years later, he moved to Boulder, where he’d already been training on a part-time basis, and in 1976 he took the Olympic silver medal. In 1979 he co-founded the Bolder Boulder with Bank of Boulder president Steve Bosley.
For many of us in that era, Shorter was a hero. I can still recall the excitement I felt when I ran my first road race in 1978, a 15K in Tampa, Fla., and saw Shorter on the starting line with Bill Rodgers, another icon of that time. This year’s Bolder Boulder is honoring Shorter with a celebration of the 50th anniversary of his Olympic gold medal. He will be the official starter at Monday’s race, and folks who remain in the stadium to watch the pro races and the Memorial Day observance after the citizen’s race will see a short video honoring his legacy.
Since my first Bolder Boulder, I’ve probably run it 30-35 times. I’ve run my heart out for time, often nearly collapsing at the finish line, and I’ve run it with my daughters. I’ve shared excitement in the Folsom Field stands with running friends and total strangers, savoring what makes Boulder and the race so special.
There are many reasons we love the Bolder Boulder. There is the spirit of the town that produces champion runners, world record holders and other world-class endurance athletes. At the 2016 Summer Olympics I got to see two products of the University of Colorado track and cross country program, Jenny Simpson and Emma Coburn, become the first American women to medal in their respective track events. For someone who is passionate about running, being part of the Boulder running community is something to be treasured. I fondly remember running into Shorter the day before my first Boston Marathon in 2004. It was his idea to sign my race bib for good luck, because he knew what running Boston meant to me.
The running spirit of Boulder permeates the race, but it never would have become the phenomenon it did without the innovative management of Bosley and his son, Cliff, who succeeded him as the man in charge. Both are highly respected in America’s road race management scene, and many races have copied their ideas. Steve Bosley created the idea of the staggered wave start in 1983, which helped the race handle explosive growth without compromising the experience.
“The race outgrew its infrastructure for like the first five years,” Cliff Bosley recalled this week. “That’s why the wave start came about — the bell-shaped curve, with 80% of the field finishing in a 25-minute window. The stadium was overwhelmed. The wave start made it very easy for other races to come out and watch how it was done, then go back home and implement it.”
Cliff Bosley ran in the first Bolder Boulder in 1979 when he was 12 years old. In the early years of the race, while still in grade school, he took race registrations at a card table set up in the back of Shorter’s running store on the Pearl Street Mall. Steve set the tone in the early years, as the sport exploded in popularity, and Cliff’s stewardship ensured the legacy of quality continued.
“Steve was crazy and fanatical about the race being the best,” Cliff said. “It was constantly, ‘We can take care of the runner better.’ That helped to not only grow the race, but it was growing the sport at the same time. He was passionate about running personally, but also that participant experience.”
There is, of course, one other reason we love the Bolder Boulder. It is America’s largest Memorial Day celebration, and the Memorial Day observance in Folsom Field with jet flyovers, skydivers and ceremonies honoring veterans — often featuring men who fought in World War II — never fails to inspire. That’s why thousands remain in the stadium long after they’ve finished their races.
For Shorter, being the official starter in a race with 85 start waves means he will be firing the starter’s pistol 85 times on Monday morning. There is no doubt in my mind that when my time comes to cross that starting line, my eyes will well up with tears of gratitude for the blessings of being part of the amazing Colorado running community for the past 40 years.
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