Boise – Full of Surprises

Boise was our ninth stop on our 20 city stop. I flew into Boise from LA and the woman next to me was telling me how wonderful Boise is. I was soon to find out that she was right. I had never been to Boise before and Sekyen and I were pleasantly surprised at what a great small city Boise really is. It is a very athletic city with skiing, mountain biking, kayaking/boating, and other sports conducive to a city that sits next to beautiful foothills. And of course, Boise is the home of the blue and orange, the most exciting team in the WAC football conference – The Boise State Broncos (Sekyen and I checked out the football stadium the night before). In all my travels all over the world trying every Thai restaurant I can find, Boise has the best vegan Thai options at The Mai Thai restaurant. You can find out more at www.maithaiboise.com. Sekyen and I ate there both nights as we closed the restaurant down after the race Friday evening.

I appreciated Sid Sullivan coming up to me before the race. He told me that he was following my races across the country (he said that we raced against each other at Indoor Nationals in 2007 – I checked out the photos of the Boston race and he was right – but with all the hysteria there we never officially met) and he introduced me to some of the other talented runners in the area. Boise area has put together a very strong contingent of runners, especially in the team relay. They spoke about how they enjoy working out together, traveling to races together, and supporting each other in their training. Isn’t that what it is all about with teammates and training partners? The Boise runners are a great example of how a congenial group of runners help make each individual better.



The Main Street Mile in downtown Boise has the tag line “A Mile for Men’s Health,” as the purpose of the race is to raise funds for prostate cancer research and to provide free prostate screenings. Since the purpose of www.OneMileRunner.com is to raise awareness of health and fitness after 30 years of age, I thought traveling to the Boise Main Street Mile was a good fit. The flat downtown course was the shape of a big rectangle as you run the rectangle twice – so you have 8 turns in the mile course. Yes that is a lot of turns, but that was the least of my problems as I really struggled breathing in the dry hot air (Boise is over 2000 feet in elevation – the locals call it a “high desert”). Just after the midway point of the race, I was in trouble. I just gutted out a 4:54 and I am still coughing and wheezing a few days after the race. I was supposed to travel to Chicago over the weekend to visit Sekyen’s sister, Nandi, but when she heard me on the phone Friday evening, she told me to fly home for some rest. It was a good decision. We had not been home in a while, so it was nice to take a weekend in Florida.



I travel to Connecticut on Wednesday to run in the Boom Box Mile on July 4th. If you are in the New England area, come on out and join me for a celebratory 4th run! Here is the footage from Channel 2 the local CBS affilaite in Boise.