There are fitness-crazed towns, and there is Boulder, Colorado. Like every Memorial Day since 1979 (minus two COVID years), the city at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains will host the BOLDERBoulder 10K road running race on Monday, May 26. The event captures the essence of Boulder’s lively running culture with live bands at every mile, an optional Slip- ’n-Slide mid-race, and a finish in the University of Colorado’s Folsom Field stadium, complete with a Jumbotron capturing every single person’s finish.
The majority of the race’s whopping 50,000+ participants take part in what’s known as the “Citizen’s Race,” which includes everyone from groups of friends wearing banana costumes to elite-level amateurs running for the podium.
Last year, 32-year-old Molly Grabill and 27-year-old Aidan Reed bested the women’s and men’s Citizen’s Races, respectively. At the time, they simply celebrated their wins. But a month ago, they each were invited to run this year’s BOLDERBoulder as part of the professional field in the event’s International Team Challenge. It’s the first time in event history that both Citizen’s Race winners got called up to a pro team the following year. (Yes, that’s a big deal.)
Unlike races such as the Boston or New York City Marathons, where 40 or 50 elites from various countries toe the line in the professional field, the BOLDERBoulder’s pro race is limited to teams of just three runners per country, with host-country United States fielding two teams of three. The competition is on par with an Olympic or World Championship race as teams from Kenya, Ethiopia, and the U.S. push the pace through the city streets. Professional runners in years past have included Olympians Deena Kastor, Ryan Hall, Aliphine Tuliamuk, and Alan Culpepper, to name a few (of many).
“I was super excited to get into the pro field for BOLDERBoulder,” says Grabill, who ran a 33:29 in 2024, breaking the previous Citizen’s Race record by 21 seconds. Reed beat last year’s field by clocking a 30:02—the third fastest non-pro time ever run on the hilly course.
Who Are These New Pros?
Grabill and Reed may not have sponsors or agents, but neither is a stranger to elite-level racing. Grabill ran for the University of Oregon, competed in the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials, and last year ran a personal best marathon time of 2:26:46 at Spain’s Valencia Marathon. She trains with Ric Rojas Running (also known as RISE Running), a Boulder group of elite runners led by Ric Rojas, who won the inaugural BOLDERBoulder in 1979. Grabill also coaches athletes through the group.
Reed ran for Southern Utah University, and is fresh off a sixth-place finish at the USATF 10-Mile Championships, having run the fifth fastest American time ever posted (45:58). Like Grabill, he competed in the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and then went on to race the 2024 Track and Field Olympic Trials in the 10,000 meters. He also recently ran a smoking 1:01:50 at the Pittsburgh Half Marathon—that’s 13.1 miles at an average 4:44 minutes per mile. Reed trains with the local elite club Roots Running.
Grabill says that after she bested her marathon PR by almost three minutes in December, she may have been in need of an exciting race like the BOLDERBoulder International Team Challenge. “To be honest, I’ve let myself go,” she jokes. “There may be a little bit of panic training happening here,” she admitted the week before the race. “But I think regardless, it’ll be a really cool experience, and something that I’ve always dreamed of and wanted to be a part of. I’m very happy to step up to the plate.”
Grabill found a new love of running after suffering a horrific car accident during her sophomore year in college, when a rock thrown from an overpass near Eugene hit her in the face and knocked her out while she was driving. She says that not being able to run during a long recovery made her realize how much she loved the sport. “I honestly think it’s why I am still running today,” she says.
Reed, who started running in eighth grade, also dabbled in triathlon, trail running, and cyclocross racing as a youth before focusing on track and cross-country. He was the Montana State Cross Country Champion as a high school junior. (He says that he was “a medium-size fish in a pretty small pond” but that Montana is much more competitive these days.)
The Race
While the BOLDERBoulder Citizen’s Race is run in waves that start as early as 6:50 a.m., with the front of the race seeing elite amateurs vying for the win and later waves enjoying a leisurely parade through Boulder, the pro race is a different story.
Grabill explains how, while running in the Citizen’s Race, she’s enjoyed pacing off a variety of people. “There are high school kids that are blowing by you, and these elite, 55- or 60-year-old dads that are just blowing your socks off. So it’s nice, because you can kind of tuck in, and you have a lot of people to run with.”
The International Team Challenge is different. It separates the women’s and men’s fields and is run after the course has been cleared, so there are no distractions. Lead-out bicycles and a press truck filled with journalists precede the front of each race.
If it seems like the stakes are high, that’s because they are. A total of $110,000 is up for grabs, split among individual wins, team wins, and other bonuses. Grabill will be racing on the USA White Team, alongside Emily Durgin and Aubrey Frentheway. Also on the women’s side, the American Red Team includes University of Colorado alumnae Carrie Verdon-Ellwood, Makena Morley, and McKenzie Caldwell.
Reed will race on the USA White Team alongside Joe Klecker and Drew Hunter, professional runners living in Boulder County. The American Red Team consists of 2023 and 2024 BOLDERBoulder champion Conner Mantz, as well as Clayton Young and Jared Ward.
“I anticipate this year it will be a matter of going out in the pack trying to embed myself with the leaders,” Reed says. “I’ll just do my best to latch on and kind of move by people if they go out a little too hot and pay the price. With the depth of quality we have in the international athletes, I would not be surprised if this was a sub 29-minute year.” He’s ready. “If I’m well-prepared and execute correctly, I think top 10 is a pretty realistic goal. On a really good day, top five.”
Both of the newly minted pros are looking forward to the team dynamics. “I feel like when you’re racing for yourself, you can kind of go out and then either implode or hang on,” Grabill says. “But in a team race, you’re racing for something a little bit more than yourself.”