Paint and Pixels

BolderBoulder

Last Monday I woke up 2 minutes earlier than I had to (which was 4 hours earlier than I normally do), so that I would have time to change my Facebook status to this: "Naomi is BolderBouldering", before I left to catch a bus to Boulder. Then Matt and I competed in the largest timed race in America (largest, meaning the most people, not meaning the longest), along with about 50,000 other people. As I previously mentioned, participating in this event is somewhat of a symbol of me overcoming my past and the things I allowed to hold me back. For some people, the race was a sortof "walk in the park", but for me it was monumental- not because it was particularly difficult for me, but because it was something I would have never expected of myself at one point in my life.

The most unanticipated difficulty of the race was not being aware of my timing as I ran. I had bought a watch at the dollar store the day before the race, but as I opened the package, the watch fell apart. So as I ran, I had no way of gauging whether or not I was in par with my goal pace. The last hill of the race was fairly steep and by that time I had become pretty convinced that I had already failed to meet my goal of finishing in under an hour and was feeling a bit downcast. But, as I ran into the roaring CU stadium, and saw the finish line, I glanced up at the gigantic score board clock and realized that I had about 3 more minutes to make my goal, a feeling of elation came over me and I sprinted to the finish line, finishing 6.2 miles in 58 minutes. I copied the above picture off of one of the websites. I think when the picture was taken, I was just realizing that I would be able to finish in under an hour.

But take a look at the lady (or is it a man?) in the brown shirt about three people behind me. It looks as though she did not make her goal. She symbolizes what I was 10 years ago. Letting hardships overcome me, instead of embracing them. Here is a close up of the face of defeat:

And now, another face of victory:

Matt finished in an amazing 53 minutes- a time he doesn't seem to be proud of, but should be. He was in the top 20% of all the racers- some of them being professionals.

When I got home from the race that afternoon, I again logged onto Facebook to update my status again. This time it said: "Naomi's BolderBoulder 10K finish time: 58 minutes. I am complete".