 Hello my friends and welcome to a special edition of Running with Ryan today We're talking all about the Boulder Boulder and welcome to the Boulder Boulder It is the best day of the year here in Boulder, Colorado. What is the Boulder Boulder? Well, it's one of the biggest 10 K's in the country over 50,000 people hit the streets right here in Boulder, Colorado. It's been going on for 41 years It's one of the oldest 10 K's in the nation Some of the fastest runners from around the world come here and for me personally it has special significance because This is the race that got me excited about running when I was just a little dude when I was six years old I ran my first Boulder Boulder, and I absolutely loved it. Since then I've run almost every single one I've only missed it twice when I was living in Honduras during the Peace Corps and I've started to work for the Boulder Boulder. I do a lot of the broadcasting for the Boulder Boulder. I run it I love it. It's a huge community event. It brings this whole town together. It is my favorite weekend of the year I call it my Christmas Day So today ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna go running with the director of the Boulder Boulder, Cliff Bosley All right, here we are at the Boulder Boulder offices Let's go pull Cliff out of whatever he's doing. I know he's a busy man, but it's time to run There he is the man the myth the legend Frank shorter Olympic gold medalist and one of the founders of the Boulder Boulder We're gonna get him on this show sometime. I snuck into their warehouse. Check this place out They have all the old posters on the wall from all the Boulder boulders They even have a bunch of Christmas trees from their race in the winter the colder boulder And I'm just gonna sit here and wait for Cliff. He's kind of a busy guy. Oh wait. There he is. Look How's it going Cliff? I imagine you're kind of busy. Yeah, I think you're busy races in two days. Yeah You have plenty of time to go for a run though, right? Yeah, let's go do it I would like to point out that we are totally twinning today same shirt pants Look at these shoes Colorado flag on the shoes Boulder Boulder Boulder. Oh, yeah, look at that I didn't even notice that that is so awesome. Are we there yet? We've got a few steps you can do it So let's go way back way back when you were a child. What was your first Boulder Boulder? How old were you? 12 12. Yeah, 1979. Gosh, you're old. I know You know, it's become a legend in the entire world really some of the best runners the best elites The best citizen people come out to run this race But you always talk about the community aspect talk about that. Well You know it's I think brings Everybody in town together. Yeah, you know, it's Memorial Day. It's the largest Memorial Day tribute in the entire nation So there's a lot to do with patriotism and honoring our troops. Yeah, the race is awesome because it's about running. Yeah, and but it allows us the opportunity to maybe do something more and Honor those You know service service men and women who've given their life Yeah, defending the country my grandpa fought in Vietnam I have plenty of friends that have gone off to war and served our country and when those jets fly over I always get a tear in my eye. It is such a powerful moment and Essentially the entire city of Boulder is in that stadium Feeling that energy and to me, that's the magic of the Boulder Boulder for sure Ryan and if it's the Boulder Boulder didn't exist where would those thousands of people otherwise go yeah to pay tribute or Even think about Memorial Day. That's very true. So not not that people don't but This kind of connects at all. Let's go. Let's go back to the race You've brought in over the years some of the fastest runners in the world and you really value having some of the atop International elites and it's I think correct me if I'm wrong the largest prize purse outside of a marathon, right? That's right. Yeah, over that period of time over a hundred and ten Olympians from a bunch of different countries have raced at the Boulder Boulder. That's so cool And when I was growing up, I mean there was the legendary Rosamoda Arturo Barrios Armando Quintanilla Like all these legendary names and even today, you know, you have some of the fastest Kenyans, Ethiopians, Americans You even brought in a Cuban team and even for those who are never going to be in the Olympics like me When you run into that stadium, it's just like whoa They're all cheering for me You know, it feels so good no matter what speed you're running You feel special running this race because you know, there's people all along the course cheering you on There's bands and music and Elvis and you know It's really is a community event and you feel like an all-star exactly. Yeah, and that's what it's about from the beginning the battle cry has been oh, yes, you can yeah, and You know that resonates right? Yeah, it's our affirmation To 50,000 people that yes, you can do this. Yeah, theirs to us is oh, yes, I will Exactly and over the years you've started what's called the middle school challenge, right? Where you're trying to get young kids Involved with running and not just running fast, but just physical fitness in general, right? Right currently we're in 90 middle school and grade schools with about 2000 kids Wow and They started their training back in March and So here on Monday They're gonna run in a special wave with all their classmates, I love it and running is one of those sports that pretty much anybody can do You know, you don't have to be rich. You don't have a lot of equipment You essentially need a pair of shoes and some time to train Exactly and so I think of running is like the great Equalizer that's why when you watch the Olympics in the summer there are runners from every single country involved Because no matter if you're from a small village in Africa or a town in Sweden Everybody can run It's not like the bobsled where you know Not many people can do bobsled because you need to have a bobsled run to train on I think your points right about Sort of an international sport But an international Past time. Yeah, like soccer. Yep, exactly. So you've been the race director for how long now? so I've raised Let's see. I've directed 20 races 20 races So mean we get through Monday we 21 That's that's a great thing, but it also means you probably haven't run the Boulder Boulder yourself in a long time. Yeah, the last Boulder Boulder I got to run was in 1989 Oh man, that was a while ago. It's changed a lot since then my I have two younger brothers and two younger sisters and all five of us Ran it together that day. Oh, that's cool. It's awesome Speaking of that, there's a lot of families that run together family reunions that are happening You know and the Boulder Boulder just it brings the state together for me. That's that's it That's the magic and you have how many volunteers over 2,000 volunteers, right? 2000 race day volunteers. Wow, and we We figure right so guess what on Monday if I don't show up the race is probably gonna happen. Okay, good Where's Cliff? Oh, it's fine. We have plenty of volunteers Those two thousand volunteers don't show up. We're not going anywhere. Yeah, that's true and Correct me if I'm wrong, but those volunteers They a lot of times are raising money for certain nonprofits or groups that they're part of right? Yeah after school athletic clubs bands national honor society Service clubs and so this is the equivalent of their car wash Yeah, except we're bringing the cars and let's talk quickly about some of the Satellite races that you call base races now around the world that happen at the same time as the Boulder Or, you know the same weekend. Yes in fact we Normally they coincide So they're running at nine o'clock Or eight o'clock. Yeah on Memorial Day halfway around the world. Oh, that's cool It means we're getting photos the night before and they've already run their Boulder Boulder. That's so cool. So there's see 2400 running This year quickly your dad so your dad started it, but you still work with your dad, right? Yeah, we work together He's a genius. He's a genius. Yeah, and he's a nice guy. Yeah Virtually every innovation we have Wavestart stadium finish Age group times. Yeah all came out of his head. Wow That's cool, and I have to say that, you know I love getting the metal in the mail sent to me for being top ten of my age group and It means a lot for a young person to like get a Boulder Boulder metal What was what place did you get last year? Last year? I got fifth place. Okay. Yeah I'm gonna do better this year. Well, you're not I'm in the 40 year old category now So I think most people are getting slower and I'm kind of maintaining We're getting faster or getting faster. Yeah, I do feel a little faster. So now you're officially a master. Yes Wow, am I really? Yeah, I feel so all know your master I remember when I was a kid and I would see the masters and I was like all those gray-haired hair old guys So a race with 50,000 people that produces a lot of waste But you guys compost all the cups and tell me about that stuff. Yeah, so We have eight stations and along the course at the start and at the finish and so There's about 250,000 cups. Wow. So we work with eco cycle and The University of Colorado's recycling center and we're able to compost every one of those cups We talked about the pro races. How much money? Do they win? I know you said it's the biggest prize purse outside of a marathon. Yeah, how much can they? Well, so last year total prize money paid out was about a hundred and sixty-six thousand three hundred dollars to be exact about yeah, and the We have a let's see that was paid out to We take here roughly A dozen and a half athletes Wow, and so so it doesn't and a half athletes are sharing a hundred Okay, about half the field half the field and so And that's men and women. Okay, so Yeah, it's a big deal and the men and women get equal pay, right? Oh, they do absolutely Absolutely, look at this. So these are the trucks where all the journalists and stuff are driving in front of the winners, right? Here yeah, look at that cool, huh? So we get about a hundred people on this one and about 50 on that Where do you store these? There's a barn out East near I-25. Yeah. Well, you're all ready for the 4th of July parade with one of these I know so they come out one week a year. Okay. Yeah, 358 days a year there on blocks Undercover Well, I can't thank you enough for you and your father and Frank shorter and everybody involved all the volunteers For putting on the best race I've ever run and will ever run and I wish you the best of luck. Thank you on Monday. You too. Yeah. Thank you Thanks for the good word. You got it And thanks for running to help it and tell our story That's what helps it get better. I love it. Well, here we are at the offices I'm gonna drop you off so you can get back to work a little sweatier than normal But go Boulder Boulder and thank you all out there for for following Cliff Bosley, I'll link to some things some information about him and his family and what they've done over the past few years here in Boulder and we will see you next time for another edition of running with Ryan