My First Triathlon!

Part of my bucket list for this summer was to do my first triathlon.  I decided on the 5430 Sprint distance at the Boulder Reservoir.   Distances:

750m swim
17.2 mile bike (it cracks me up that this is the only event not measured in metric)
5K run

I convinced Ryan Kramer to do the event with me.  It was his first tri, too, and he did really well!  I ended up losing the most time in the transition area...I can't believe how difficult it is to take off a wetsuit, dry your feet, and put on your bike shoes and socks.  Didn't get a chance to nab too many pictures, but here are a few.

The transition area:

My "station":

Some of the ones from the pro photographers:

Bolder Boulder 2010

Another year in Colorado, another BB10K.  This may be my last one for a while, which breaks my heart a little...

This year, the race completely snuck up on me.  Between last-minute school items, graduation, and learning to mountain bike, I dropped the ball on keeping to my running schedule.  I ran with Ryan and Joe, who were both more prepared than I was.  Regardless, I still had a lot of fun, and was still able to beat my last year's time by 8 minutes!  I'm still not sub-60, but I'm almost there...I was 1:00:27.  :)

Joe went all out in his America theme.

I'm going to miss the BB10K, but maybe I'll find an excuse to come back to Boulder for Memorial Day Weekend next year.

Water Buffalo Stampede 5K

This last weekend was the 1st Annual Water Buffalo Stampede 5K! It was a fundraiser 5K for the CU Swim and Dive team (my lovely roommate Ellery is the captain of the Dive team). It was a quick course around campus, and a dirt cheap qualifier for the Bolder Boulder 10K coming up!

A whole round of engineers + Elsbeth ran it, too. It was Elsbeth's first 5K (VERY proud of her, and you better believe I was that obnoxious person screaming at the finish line for her), and Matt, Marek, Eric B., and Byron (all of my grad projects team) joined in.

A lovely picture at the finish line (courtesy of Elsbeth)...Matt somehow snuck his way in.


I'm really excited. I've made a lot of progress since I started running and cycling regularly--I'm almost back to my high school 5K time when I was on the cross country team (which was still really slow, but progress is progress)!

Panicking Poultry (Nov 15, 2009).........................................32'24"
Quicker Quaker Oatmeal Festival (January 9, 2010)...........32'08"
Water Buffalo Stampede (March 14, 2010)...........................28'01"

At this pace, I need to have another race on my radar for May. I think it will be the Bolder Boulder. :)

Lafayette Oatmeal Festival '10

Saturday was the Lafayette Oatmeal Festival! Last year, I did the 5K, and the year before that, I just indulged in the oatmeal (have I really been keeping a blog for that long? Dang!).

The starting line...it was chilly that morning.
The giant, inflatable bowl of oatmeal to remind us all why we're there!


The 5K was pretty standard fare...here's a swiped picture from the official event photographers. I'm sprinting for the finish line!After the run, Ryan and I were ready for our hard-earned oatmeal breakfast. The toppings line was a bit long for Ryan's patience...
Supposedly the "World's Largest Topping Bar"...complete with candies, dried fruit, fresh fruit, sugars and spices, sauces, jams, dips, peanut butters....

Mmm breakfast...I promise there is oatmeal underneath all of that fruit! We also got oatmeal pancakes. They were serving muffins, too, but we were stuffed!


Completely random, but...the trash cans at the elementary school where this was held are decorated to look like trash monsters. Complete with arms! Ryan suggested this makes throwing away trash more fun for kids, so there is less litter...interesting idea...

Panicking Poultry 5K

It has been a while since I have been in a race, so I decided to sign up for the Panicking Poultry 5K foot race to benefit the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Boulder.

Ryan signed up with me, and we headed to the Boulder Reservoir the morning after a decent snow dump. It was chilly, but the sun came out for the second half, just in time for us enjoy the after party!



Shiway requested that I dress up as a turkey, but I didn't have the resources or the guts. However, the race officials from Boulder Running Company were most definitely sporting their gear!
Ryan and I both finished, with a time better than our 5K time last year at the Oatmeal Festival. Oatmeal Festival 2010 is next on our list!
The after party was hosted by Boulder Sausage Company and Avery Brewing. Delicious drinks and bratwurst were plenty, as were prizes. I won a raffle for a free Mizuno half-zip running shirt, which was really nice! For $25, the food, beer, prize, charity donation, and run was MORE than worth it!

BB 10K

Memorial Day Weekend in Boulder is always awesome.  It was a bit (nay, quite) rainy this time around, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the Boulder Creek Festival and Bolder Boulder. 

I've run the BB10K once before, walked it before that, and volunteered a few times.  Last year, I was in Europe and missed it...but I was definitely here this year!  I began training in March, but was rudely interrupted by a cold during finals week.  Definitely messed up my training for a full 2 weeks... completely set me back.  I still had fun, though, and beat my 75min goal.  Ryan ran it with me, and we finished in 1:08 without having to stop or slow down to a walk.  I don't have any pictures other than the copywritten ones from the photography company the race hired, so here are the really small resolution pictures: 

 You can barely see me and Ryan weaving through the crowd in this photo...I think we could have shaved a few minutes off our time if we didn't have to expend so much time and energy weaving through the crowds!  55,000 people is a lot, and it didn't help that we accidentally got registered under a walk/jog wave instead of jog/run.

Lafayette Oatmeal Festival

Last year, I went to the Lafayette Oatmeal Festival for the first time. It was a lot of fun, so Ryan and I decided to go again this year.

We signed up for the pre-breakfast 5K, which was a lot of fun (but so chilly)! My time was nowhere near my old Cross-Country 5K times from the days of High School, but I finished in 31:01--not entirely embarrassing, and certainly beat my goal of breaking 35:00! We skipped out on the health fair this year, after loading up on oatmeal and muffins.

I have no pictures this time around, except for one of Ryan running that I jacked from the oatmeal festival website. Sadly (or luckily), there are no photos of me.

The afternoon of the race was consumed by a well-deserved nap...if I'm around in May, I'd love to tackle the Bolder Boulder!