BOULDER, Colo. -- With singing and dancing, Monday at Wednesday nights at Boulder’s Flatirons Running often look like a big party.
But it’s really just the excitement before the training runs for Beyond Limits.
Beyond Limits is a running program created in part by one of the owners of Flatirons Running back in 2001 to help people with physical challenges train for the BolderBOULDER.
What I wanted to do is create something for people who normally feel like they’re not connected,” Henry Guzman explained. “Since this is a running community, I wanted them to feel like they were part of something.”
John Austin has been running the BolderBOULDER for 19 years, even before he joined Beyond Limits.
“It started one day when I saw it on TV and I told my mom I wanted to do it,” he said.
His favorite part? That final run into Folsom Field.
“Everybody stands up and cheers.”
While just six runners and two mentors from Beyond Limits took part in the BolderBOULDER the first year of the organization, 35 pairs of runners and mentors will be representing the group this year and Guzman says he hopes they inspire others.
“I would do anything for this group -- I would do anything for these kids and adults,” he said. “Their only responsibility is one to finish, two to inspire -- inspire other people who think they can’t do something. ‘Maybe I can, maybe that will get me off the couch, maybe that will get me moving, maybe that will get me to look at things differently.’ That’s their job.”
