Boulder is Overrated

thats sort of what you get when you move to a college town....and especially a college town in a mountain....

Did you really move to Boulder for the "running community" or was there a specific reason?

what no one wants to admit wrote:

For being the mecca of running there is no racing scene. There are some in nearby Denver and other suburbs but hardly any races in Boulder itself.

I go to school in Fort Collins and I've always thought Boulder had a big racing scene for a town it's size. There have been plenty of big races.

There was a series of short road races last summer (a 3k, 2k, and 1 mile) that got big guys like Pete Julian and Steve Slattery. The Best XC Race on the Planet was the "tune-up" for the XC Championships in Boulder last year. A ton of the Hansons-Brooks guys plus Fasil Bizuneh ran that. There's the Bolder Boulder and 3 smaller races in it's series. There's the Boulder Backroads marathon (although I will admit that's not the biggest/most elite marathon in the world). Plus countless smaller races going on all the time.

Does CU allow unattached runners in their meets? Seems like that would provide some decent competition. In addition, XC nationals was in Boulder and there was a tune up race for that race before hand. I don't know about the road racing scene out there, but I'd rather have a few big time races a year than a charity road race that can be won with a 16 flat every weekend.

Yeah this guy is just bitching cause he is 40 something and can't get any 20 something ass. Boulder has plenty of races, almost one every single weekend in the summer and plenty throughout the year. Then you have the big one like bolder boulder. Plus if you want you can run unattached in one of the CU races, so this guy must be in the wrong part of town. And are you stupid!! Of course theres a singles scene have you been to the hill or pearl street?? If you can't find any girls its cause your looking in the wrong clubs or your just fugly and no one wants to talk to you!

In addition, XC nationals was in Boulder and there was a tune up race for that race before hand.

Funny the comments that were posted then said that the local organizers for XC nats threw out some outlandish crowd size number, and the Boulder Police Department reported that not one traffic officer had to be assigned to the gc the race was held at the crowd was so small. Someone is lying. I don't know who ?

I've never had a problem hooking up with people to run with in Boulder, sometimes you just need to ask, whether its finding someone to run with or the cute coed at the Lazy Dog

its like this guy read the article in the New York Times from 2006..

I'm not much for the track, but I thought CU was open to use at certain times during the day/week...doesn't seem so bad..

Boulder Police Department wrote:

Funny the comments that were posted then said that the local organizers for XC nats threw out some outlandish crowd size number, and the Boulder Police Department reported that not one traffic officer had to be assigned to the gc the race was held at the crowd was so small. Someone is lying. I don't know who ?

Most of the traffic control / crowd control was done by volunteers. It was a pretty huge crowd, but there wasn't really a need for police. There was only one busy street for everyone to cross from where they parked to get to the golf course, and at certain points there were volunteers who would hold up traffic to get people across. Other than that I guess that BPD wasn't really necessary.

what no one wants to admit wrote:

Boulder is overrated.

So is Flagstaff, what's your point. Living somewhere will not alone make you an elite athlete.

Organizers always state fantastic crowd sizes. US Nationals looked like 2,500 to me, a littte smaller than the Big-12 Xc championships at Lawrence that year.

{quote]Most of the traffic control / crowd control was done by volunteers.[/quote]

I was there, traffic control was done by one volunteer, not "by volunteers".

I agree that the crowd numbers were probably overstated, but as far as the traffic cop situation goes, keep in mind that the meet isn't like a football game where everyone shows up at once and creates a lot of traffic for a short time period. There were 4 races and people showed up over the course of the whole morning. Some people came for the kids race and stuck around for the other races. Some people showed up at the start of the 12K.

Yes, the attendance was such that it was easy to get in and out before, during, and after the races. Most people stayed the whole time since it was the only thing going on in town, and most of the crowd left at the same time. The main street in front of the golf couse is a busy street and the volunteers were need to slow the fast cars, and not to control the spectators cars, there were so few. There were plenty of hotel rooms in town that weekend. We got a table easily as the restaurants afterwards were not that crowded either.

"Too many snowboarding and ski bums. Too many mountain bike x-games types too."

Too many whiney middle-aged running nerds too?

not bad.

6/10

Harry Kooter wrote:

There were 4 races

6

Uh, I would admit it. In fact, I have and probably even on this board. THERE IS NO MAGIC TO BE FOUND IN BOULDER. IT IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT. Guess what? I hear Austin touted as being "cool" on a level with Boulder. I have been to Austin multiple times and while it has Boulder beat by a long way with the music scene, that is pretty much where it ends. Austin is no longer the Austin of Linklater's Slacker just like Boulder is no longer the Deek/Jonesy Boulder of the '80s. It is ridiculous the way so many locals complain about Boulder not being how it was when they discovered it X years ago. Show me one popular community anywhere that has remained essentially unchanged over the past 20+ years. It is definitely tougher to make a go of it for poor, sub-elite runners (or even elite runners, as evidenced by the Culpeppers' and the Slatterys' choice of residence) but it can be done.

It is pretty easy to hook-up in Boulder, if you want companionship and cannot find it in Boulder then something is probably wrong with you or your approach. Try Denver, I am always amazed by the proportion of single women I run into on the rare occasion that I am out down there compared with what you will find in Boulder. Sure there are a lot of snobby, narcissistic, myopic yuppies and self-righteous, narcissistic, burn-out hippies around town, but I avoid socializing with either group and do just fine.

There are plenty of races around, between the downtown Boulder series (Uni Hill 2K, West End 3K, Pearl St. Mile) and the old Boulder County series (Sunrise Stampede in Longmont, Lyons River Run, Cure 4 miler in Eldorado Springs, Neder Nederland) and the all-comers meets twice a month in the summer, not to mention Bolder Boulder and Colder Boulder and plus Eerie Erie, High 5, Lafayette Oatmeal Festival, the Dash & Dine series, Boulder Marathon (formerly Backroads), and the new Front Range CC series as well as others you should find plenty of meaningful competition for much of the year. It would be nice to see a 15K/10 miler, a 25K/15 miler, and a 30K/20 miler on the local race schedule. Perhaps someone (you and/or me?) could do something about that?

CU's outdoor track is open to the public, go look at the sign on the gate if you want to familiarize yourself with the hours that it is open. Or forget about it and go to Fairview High School, which has a track that is as good as CU's and is basically always open. Go train with Tempo Sports or the Boulder Distance Project if you need a group. Or overpay Bolder Boulder or Bassackward Sports or one of the other pay-to-play groups of runners if you want a training group. Or, here is a crazy idea, be friendlier to other serious runners you see training and racing and maybe you will get invited to group runs and workouts. There are training groups around town and they are not all that secretive, but you do need to make some effort. I can understand if it might seem that with a reputation (based mostly on things that happened 10+ years ago and RW junkets-cum-rankings) like Boulder's there should be more training groups around. I agree. In fact, I am wanting to establish an informal-yet-serious training group - which would roughly fill the void between BDP and BBTC and its clones yet not be a vehicle for personal profit beyond improved performance - and if you would like to at least talk about it (reasonably) then send me an e-mail at the address provided. Perhaps you could leave your stamp on the Boulder running community in a constructive manner, as paltry as you may perceive it to be.

Austin is racist as hell, and the summer humidity sucks. Austin is the most liberal city in Texas, which doesn't compare favorably on the national scale. Austin is the most gay city in Texas, and Texas is the most gay state in the U.S. I've never been able to understand how so many gays thrive in such a hostile city and state that hates their guts with a passion ;-) If you can stand the Colorado smugness, Boulder is a better place to live. Just a friendly reminder, the tall tales they tell in Boulder rival those you hear in Texas.

Alamosa is the place to be if all you want to do is concentrate on running. That is what Coach Vigil told me. He knows his stuff. And Alamosa isn’t bad at all for that...you got endless trails, long country dirt/asphalt roads with very little traffic (great for tempo runs) all weather track, dirt track, indoor track (not to hard to use all these Adams state facilities) Cole park (great place to do intervals either on grass or asphalt), and there’s always a few elite/semi elite friendly post collegiate runners who you can hook up with for workouts (both female and male). Alamosa is only great if you plan on making running one of your very top priorities. If you have other goals and activities to pursue I wouldn’t recommend Alamosa. You might be better of in a larger more diverse town. This is just my personal opinion.