The 32nd edition of the Bolder Boulder 10k road race is behind me and some say this was thie best version yet in terms of weather, attendence, and coordination. Im going to give a play by play of how things played out in the international men's race. The Colorado team consisted of myself, Aaron Braun and Brent Vaughn. I strong line up of working class lunch pal gals who grind and grind. The Mens race was slated to begin at 11:11AM. Just like last year i slept in my own bed and jogged over to the start with my flats in my hands. I showed up and discover that the race was postponed because of bus transportation issues in the citizens race. When the dust settled, we find out that we are going to start at 11:38AM During the final strides, you could feel the sun and heat beating down on you and the race hadnt even started yet. After the gun shot off, the africans sprinted out like usual. Immediately there were two packs. The ethiopians/kenyans and the rest of us. The africans hit the mile mark in 4:15 and the rest of us eclipsed the mile in 4:34. We kept our heads cool knowing that altitude can really come back and bite you if you go out too hard. Sure enough by mile 2, Kenyas 3rd Man (each international team has 3 members) was already suffering and coming back. By mile 3 kenya's 2nd man was also coming back but the ethiopian looked strong and were running 3 abreast like it was a tempo run. The enebriated fans were lined up along the streets of Boulder like it was a parade. By Mile 4, Brent Vaughn and I were clear of the rest of the teams with exception of Ethiopia. At this point, I was hurting big time and my abbreviated training preparation was getting the best of me. I knew i only had to hang on for 2 miles but my body was felt like it was shutting down with every step. By the time we hit Pearl Street and were heading east, Brent had gapped me and I just need to keep gutting it out. I checked my split at 5 miles, my watch read 24:07. I very repectable split. The last mile heading south on Folsom towards Folsom Field was a death march but had to keep hanging in there. I was battling with a guy from Peru the whole length of Folsom where he finally managed to put a small gap on me in the final hill heading into the stadium. I was barely upright as I crossed the line but managed to finish 7th in 30:12 which was significantly more taxing than when I ran 29:53 last year. Brent went ahead and finished 4th and Aaron rounded out the top 10. Only Ethipia ended up beating us and we upset several international power houses. It felt nice to script a little history yesterday becoming the first colorado team to ever finish in the top 3. The post race celebrations took place in the form of a BBQ at Mr. Jake and Danielle Timm's. Something must be seriously wrong with my stomach however because the race has been over of 29 hours and I have barely been able to eat anything and I feel sea sick like I went fishing in 12 foot seas. Whats this about? Im looking forward to heading to Green Bay in 2 weeks for the Bellin 10k and getting another road race under my belt.