The Beautiful People Are.... well, Beautiful!

My Memorial Day Monday was spent in Boulder taking in the Bolder Boulder Pro Team Race. I enjoy the Pro Race (the Elite race), partly because of the Team competition, but mostly because it's fun to watch the best of the best. This year, my son Ryan and I passed on the running to partake in the spectating.

While 54,000 hit the streets earlier in the morning, and I would dare say most all could be classified as beautiful, the elites gave the word "beautiful" a new definition.

Ryan Hall in full flight

In college, at 6-1 139, I remember being a little bigger (at least taller) than my distance running cohorts. To today's elite athlete I would have looked like a giant.

Ryan Hall, who appears to tower over the Kenyan and Ethiopians on television, is just a little bit of a guy (don't get me wrong, though, the dude looks like a stud!). The East Africans are like finely tuned race cars: lean, light with powerful motors.

As small as the men are, the women are/were even smaller. Amy Hastings couldn't have been cuter, while at the same time more fit and chiseled for racing. Renee Metvier-Bailey and Magdalena Lewey-Boulet were both considerably tinier than I had imagined.

Abs and Abs

The visual gift of the crop top made it clear that, despite what we might want to believe when we read the monthly running articles, these athletes are serious about strength and core exercises. The abs of the day, by the way, belonged to Adriana Pirtea Nelson (who claims to do only three core exercises). I must say, all in all, I haven't seen so many six packs since my fraternity days!


That brings us to another Bolder Boulder revelation: all those form drills. Does anyone REALLY do them? Well, I can tell you first hand, because she worked through her set directly in front of us, Amy Hastings does her form drills. As shown in the first few minutes of the women's race video below, Hastings works through her motions with focus. They must be working as Amy has a powerful, fluid stride.

We saw the racers only three times: the start, just past the one mile and right after five miles. Unfortunately, that was it. A few years ago, the Bolder Boulder elite course was a loop where the runners passed a plethora of time. It was a little bit more spectator friendly. Neither course allowed one the opportunity to both watch the race and see the finish in Folsom Field. Because of that, I have no actual Race Report for you.


All I can tell you is that the beautiful people are ..... still beautiful!