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BOULDER — Aliphine Tuliamuk ran as hard as she could into Folsom Field, accompanied by a roaring crescendo of cheers that carried her the final 200 meters to the finish of the 40th Bolder Boulder on Monday as the top American in the women’s pro race. Cheryl McCarty was supposed to walk, not run — running was against doctor’s orders — but when she got to the stadium she couldn’t help herself.

Tuliamuk, a naturalized American from Kenya, ran with gratitude for the opportunities that came with U.S. citizenship and finished second by only 11 seconds to Ethiopia’s Mamitu Daska. It was a different kind of memorial day for McCarty, a 52-year-old resident of Aurora who celebrated the day with the belief that last year’s Bolder Boulder saved her life.

Every year, stories like theirs and so many others, make each Bolder Boulder an additional volume of compelling stories told with heart, energy, courage and even love.

“I can鈥檛 even begin to tell you how happy I am,” said Tuliamuk, who grew up with 31 siblings before the life-changing opportunity came to run at Wichita State. “Coming into the stadium, I have never had people cheer that loud. My heart is full right now.”

Her life might have begun dirt-poor in East Africa, but Tuliamuk made a point of welcoming the other American women to the finish.

“This course is really hard,” Tuliamuk said. “I wanted everybody to feel that they are loved. It抖阴ap Memorial Day and I feel like it is about love and celebrations.”

McCarty was surrounded by love every step of her 6.2-mile journey, accompanied by 11 family members and friends. McCarty tried to run the Bolder Boulder last year but experienced pain in her hips and had to walk most of it. She thought they were just running injuries.

The next day she went to the doctor. Within days she would be diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer that attacks bone. She had attempted last year’s race with a broken hip and also had a collapsed vertebra.

It’s a good thing she did, though. Otherwise she might not have found out about the cancer until it was too late.

“Absolutely,” she said, “we believe that the Bolder Boulder saved my life.”

She had surgery on both hips, followed by six months of chemotherapy. Then Dr. Timothy Birney, a Denver orthopedist, performed a kyphoplasty to repair the collapsed vertebra, injecting balloons and cement to reinforce it. Then she had a stem cell transplant.

Three weeks ago she was pronounced in remission and immediately asked her oncologist if she could do the Bolder Boulder. He said she could, but only if she walked it. Well, she walked most of it, but she jogged into the stadium and then the home stretch to the finish line.

“I couldn鈥檛 resist,” McCarty said. “Every time I passed a mile (marker), I was happy. I was like, 鈥業 can do this, I can make it all the way through. No tears today, I鈥檓 just really happy to be alive and be here today.”

Hunter Vickers, an 11-year-old who is autistic, was feeling the joy, too. His dad, Will, is an ultrarunner who is preparing for his fourth 100-mile race. On May 19 Hunter did his first race, the Carbon Valley Half Marathon which benefits autism research and runs through his home town of聽Firestone. Nine days later he lived his dream of running the Bolder Boulder.

“Hunter has wanted to do Bolder Boulder for about three years,” said his mom, Monica. “We鈥檝e been telling him when he can run at least to the library and back from our house, he would be able to sign up for this. He wasn鈥檛 able to do that until like a month ago. All of a sudden he was like, 鈥業 want to do a half marathon.鈥� He trained for that going to soccer practice with his brother and ran with his dad. Then it was go time for the Carbon Valley Half Marathon that he did. Now 聽he鈥檚 finally run the Bolder Boulder.”

He ran with Dad, and he loved it.

“I get to run the 10K, there was a trampoline and two slip-and-slides, and I run to here into the stadium,” Hunter said. “I want to be like Dad. I like running and training a lot.”

So does Ian Butler. A graduate of Green Mountain High School and Western State, Butler ran for the first time in the Bolder Boulder’s pro race. It didn’t go the way he wanted — he finished 26th — but he still loves what the race means to Colorado’s Front Range.

“I love how you see so many people changing their lives,” Butler said. “People who have trouble getting off the couch and exercising are motivated every year by the Bolder Boulder. It抖阴ap great to see so many people enjoying the experience. That抖阴ap special to me, to see people changing their lives through running.聽It doesn鈥檛 matter if you鈥檙e trying to get under an hour for the 10K or under 30 minutes, it brings you to that place where you feel that accomplishment.”