Unless there is a basketball hoop or a high bar creeping closer in his field of vision, Matt Hemingway doesn’t like running. He hates distance running, in fact.
But there is no length Hemingway won’t go to fight malnutrition in children, which is why the high jumper, an Olympic silver medalist, ran his first Bolder Boulder on Monday.
The 33-year-old Buena Vista native, who won a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games and a U.S. outdoor title in 2005, sponsors a 6-year-old girl from Indonesia named Laras.
“It only takes $32 a month,” said Hemingway, who ran in support of Compassion International, based in Colorado Springs. “People don’t realize how little it takes to feed, clothe and educate a child in poverty. I’ve never met (Laras), but hope to some day. We send letters to each other.”
Hemingway and his wife are planning to adopt a child from Ethiopia. The sense to serve and help others was instilled by his late father, Thomas, a colonel in the U.S. Marines.
“We have just so much in this country, while so many elsewhere have nothing,” said Hemingway, whose recent strained ankle ligaments probably will keep him out of high-jumping competition the rest of the year. “It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Couple vow to go the distance
Many people may have the urge to run after saying their marital vows. Julie and Trey Leins did when they said “I do” in 1996 at the starting line of the Bolder Boulder.
The couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary Monday at the same starting line.
“We won’t be as fast as we used to,” said Julie, 47, the manager of the Point Athletic Club in Lakewood.
A former track and field coach at Wheat Ridge High School, Julie has overcome surgery on both knees in recent years to resume her passion for distance running. She had brothers who were All-America runners at CU.
Why get married at the starting line of a road race?
“It was the second marriage for both of us,” Trey, 45, said. “We thought it would be something different.”
It’s a jungle out there
Peering over the crowd, which at 6-feet-7 or so is easy for Lance Smeltekop, the man dressed as Tarzan was looking for his Jane.
“I think she’s coming in on a later wave,” said Smeltekop, 41, a resident of Nederland and a manager at IBM. “She’s kind of my Jane. I’m still chasing her. You know how that goes.”
Surprisingly, Smeltekop said he did not hear too many Tarzan yells during his first Bolder Boulder.
“But I heard there was a bear loose somewhere, and I tried to hunt it down,” he said. “I’m not fast, so I figured I might as well laugh my way through this.”
A step ahead of Father Time
Even old hippies can outrun their age.
At least, Denver’s Eric Wright can. The 60-year-old social services worker accomplished his yearly goal: finish the Bolder Boulder in fewer minutes than his age.
“I just made it,” Wright said. “I got 58 minutes today.”
A folk music lover, Wright trains for the yearly race on runs around City Park, usually with his dog, listening to Pete Seeger on the headphones.
“It’s a beautiful day today, sun shining, people running,” Wright said. “Can’t ask for much more than this.”
Youth hits the ground running
At 12, Jessica Walters is already a three-year veteran of the Bolder Boulder. But this was the first time for her friend, Haley Olcott, 11.
The Lone Tree residents are big Nickelback lovers, but love the feeling of putting one foot in front of the other more, especially on a day like Monday.
“It’s good for you,” Walters said.
“Yeah,” Olcott said, “it’s better than sitting at home watching TV.”
