Bolder Than Boulder

Tomorrow is Boulder's world-famous Bolder Boulder 5k Race, which will
include running legend Frank Shorter and a bevy of competitive races
from the international scene. There's truly nothing like being a
distance runner at the peak of his game, which is where I was fortunate
enough to be in the fall of 1997 as a junior in college. Running well
takes both disciplined effort and an openness to not being able to
control the results of said effort. Train your ass off, but care not
for results (don't "lust" for them, in the Crowleyian sense). For two
months that summer I did nothing but work (I cleaned whirlpools in the
Physical Therapy department of a hospital in the city), purchase
obscure music, and run, sometimes even twice a day. I was doing
hardcore track workouts in the middle of the night at my old high
school track, running 12 and 14-milers at various state parks, even
timing myself on old race course. Hell, I even did a 15k.

As David Deida might say, it takes constant effort and discipline to
become effortless, and that's what I experienced in a nutshell. My legs
and lungs were so used to running as hard as possible that I could
almost feel the actual hills and loops and track workouts in my body,
like an invincible mountain of power resting inside of me every time I
stepped on a starting line. School? Fuck it. Drugs? Bite me. I was in
college to run motherfucka!