Rowan Boulter

Rowan Boulter had never run a 5k before August 21, 2018, the day the City High XC Women’s team had their official time trials at Ashton. But by the end of the race, Boulter had finished first on the team and broken the time trials record with a time of 19:43. Breaking 20 minutes is what most varsity athletes can only dream of achieving, and Boulter had just done it in her very first race.

“I remember at time trials, I thought something must be wrong, this is probably not really normal and I was kind of confused,” Boulter said. “I thought people must have had a bad race and that come the first meet obviously I am not going to be leading.”

But a week later she finished first at the Luther All-American Invite, and then again at Jim Boughton, and again at every single meet the team competed in Boulter was the number one runner, often almost an entire minute ahead of the number two.

“I remember I got home after the first meet and my dad was like, “how are you still in the lead?” He totally thought I wouldn’t still be the top runner on the team,” Boulter said.  “It was pretty crazy. I did feel like I had some pressure on me, going into meets I was like “ I have to be the top runner at the meet, I have to get a low score.”’

Boulter knew that the team was heavily depending on her to perform at a high level, and for a freshmen who had just joined the team, that kind of burden can be taxing. But Boulter found a strong support system in her teammates, and knew she could rely on them to push her.

“It felt great to feel that people depended on me, but it was mostly just fun,” Boulter said. “Competing with so many amazing people and knowing that I am also pushing people was a really good thing.”

Those teammates were there for Boulter all the way through an individual qualification for the state meet. As the sole female runner from City High to make it, her teammates traveled to Fort Dodge to cheer her on. Boulter ended up finishing 35th overall in a field of over 150 runners. Now she is busy preparing for the track season, putting in over 30 miles a week.

“I hope this get me ready for track,” Boulter said. “It’s gonna be different because we are not all running the same race. It’s not like I wanna be the best. I hope one of the races I am pretty good at and I like a lot, I hope the 3000 is fun.”

Now that Boulter has some high school racing experience under her belt, she is starting to learn what her body needs, both physically and mentally, leading up to a race. The night before a meet the team would gather for a homemade spaghetti team dinner.

“Food is pretty simple just like carb, carb, carb,” Boulter said. “I love nuns, the tablet you drop and water and it gives you electrolytes. I had one before every race. When we had to leave school early I remember every day at noon, I would drop one in my water and shake it up. A few hours before the race I would be drinking that.”

As for how Boulter psyched herself up for a race, she would oftentimes study her competition instead of the actual course, trying to learn everything she could about who she’d be going up against.

“I always got really nervous. I remember studying who was going to be at the meet, who am I going to be up against and what I should be prepared for,” Boulter said. “It would make me really nervous but it would also get me in a good mindset. It usually didn’t end up how I thought it would, it was usually different. Usually in a good way.”

In such a mentally and physically taxing sport, Boulter has found a way to deal with the anticipation of the pain she is committing herself to.

“During the season the night before a meet I remember thinking that I was just going to have to go through 20 minutes of pain tomorrow,” Boulter said. “For me it’s just my breathing. Leading up to the meet that all I can think about. It’s not going to kill you, it’s not going to physically hurt you its just gonna be a painful for a little bit but then its over. When I am racing I think about how good I am going to feel afterward.”

Boulter sees her role on the team as not just the number one runner, but as a supportive teammate who is there to push her friends to be their best.

“It’s important to be there for your teammate when they need someone, to help them,” Boulter said. “You encourage your teammates before a race and after a race. You comfort them, you tell them they did great no matter how they did. You always have to encourage, help out, and push them in workouts and practices. You make them work harder.”

Boulter says a big part of being a runner is breaking your own expectations you have about how fast you can run. But Boulter herself is defying the expectations of everyone who sees her. Standing at a height of 5’2’’, Boulter is the shortest runner on the team.

“Going into this year I thought I was really small and since I am the top runner I thought small must be good,” Boulter said. “Then I looked at the number one in the country, her muscles are big. She has so much muscle. That told me small doesn’t make you fast. Size doesn’t really matter. I do like my size for running but I wouldn’t mind some more muscle.”

As for the future, all Boulter can say is that she wants to keep dropping time, hopefully run in college, and after that, just keep running.

“I will try to run as often as possible and if I have kids I want to make them run a lot,” Boulter said. “I want my kids to be runners probably because all the runners I have met are pretty smart really nice people. I want my kids to be like that. I don’t want my kids to have to go through that pain, but I want them to be mentally tough. Hopefully they have my genes so they are pretty good.”