Peter and I have had a tradition of participating in the Bolder Boulder ever since we moved to Colorado 7 years ago. The first year, I think we just watched in awe at the 50,000 people running past our student housing apartment, which was right next to the finish line. Shortly thereafter, we threw ourselves into it full force. Peter ran it as part of a running club, and I began belly dancing along the sidelines as part of the entertainment. At some point, Peter began dressing as Elvis, giving high fives to all the runners (his hand always hurt terribly and he usually lost his voice).

Last year, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to dance, being 9 months pregnant and all, but as it turned out, cancer and surgery had other plans for me anyway (if it weren’t for the surgery, I totally could have done it. I was belly dancing right up until my second surgery date).

So needless to say, I was thrilled to be back this year.

 

I was super, super, super crazy about sun protection, since most years I ended up with a little bit of sunburn *somewhere*, what with all the exposed skin, facing the morning sun, and total lack of shade, not to mention the sweating that comes with 3+ hours of dancing. But, I’m proud to say, nary a square inch was even pinked this year! I reapplied my SPF 50 sunscreen every hour (much more often than recommended, but I know my skin and how quickly I can burn), plus I sacrificed some of my fashion sense and ended up wearing my go-to hat for the last hour or so. My face was beginning to feel like it does when I’m about to burn, even with all the sunscreen, and I just couldn’t handle that feeling. I may have even yelled at one of the other dancers about reapplying sunscreen :-/ I feel a little bad about it, but I would have felt even worse if she ended up with melanoma at some point in the future. I wish someone would have scared me into more sunscreen in the past.

I also had a great time taking some shots of my gorgeous fellow dancers with our new camera. It helped when the my arms ached so much I just couldn’t hold them up for another minute.

Emmie even made it out for the very end, thanks to the super-human efforts of her Daddy. It was pretty awesome to introduce her to her first Bolder Boulder.

And then we all went home and collapsed, in true Bolder Boulder tradition!