Here's my wrap up of the Broad Street Run -
the good, (ok amazing!!)
the bad,
and the unfortunate.
So like I had posted earlier last week, I was heading up to Philly to run (for the first time) the Broad Street Run with my boyfriend and some friends from college.
I was excited because it's the first time I was running in this iconic race! This year celebrated the 35 year! Plus, it was the first race I was running with my KU bestie in Philly.
Friday I spent the day at Kings Dominion with some of my students. We walked the park about 100 times!! Needless to say I was exhausted Friday night, and had an early flight on Saturday morning out of Norfolk. Early Saturday morning when I was up getting ready to head to the airport I got a phone call that the flight was delayed. Ugh! How can a 7am flight be delayed!! Long story short - I was supposed to be in Philly by 9am, but didn't get there till almost 11!
Once in Philly Josh and I head over to the expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. For a race that was hosting about 40,000 runners packet pick up was super quick and easy. We walked through the expo for a while and then headed out to do some touristy things in the city.
It has been a long time since I've been a "tourist" in the city.
I'll admit it - I'm a geek. I love museums, old houses and I really really love wax museums. And not the Madame Tussauds fancy one with famous people, but the old creepy ones depicting historical events. Weird....I know.
Checking out the Liberty Bell
Selfie at Betsy Ross's House.
Oh hey there Benjamin!
So we wandered around the city for a few hours, checking out The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklins Burial site, and Betsy Ross's house. It was an enjoyable but exhausting afternoon.
Later we headed to my friends house to have dinner and crash for the night.
Sunday morning we headed off to the start of the Broad Street Run. Typically they urge you to park at finish of the race and ride the septa train or shuttle bus back up to the start. We opted for parking at the start of the race and taking the train back after the race. Since I'd never been to this race before, I was just going on what my friend thought was the best idea. It only took a few minutes for us to find parking - thankfully and we walked to start.
WOW! I've run a lot of races but have never seen this many people at a start. Or at a race at all!! It was absolutely amazing. I tried to take some pics, but couldn't quite do it justice, till I saw a guy standing on the back of a flat bed and I asked him to take some pictures for me. Just unbelievable.
We were supposed to start in the very last corall, and my friend was starting in one much earlier one - but with all the people I didn't think it was possible for us to get back to where we needed to be, or we'd be run over by people moving to try and get in. So once the corral we were standing to the side of started moving, we headed on in.
That's my picture of the Green Corral where Court was supposed to start.
View from the top of the flat bed towards the start.
Somewhere at the very back of that picture the Pink Corral was standing. That's where I was supposed to start....
I was no where near the time I needed to be in the corral we started running with, but we went anyway. My friend took off......I could see her for a few minutes but then she disappeared in the crowd.
The great thing about Broad Street is all the support! The streets were lined with people for the entire race. Some areas were more crowded then others, but the support, cheering and encouragment never disappeared. There was no miles of trudging on by yourself (and your handsome running partner).
Because I found myself in a way faster corral, I was pretty much passed the entire race. It really didn't bother me much, it was actually motivation to keep going.
The miles easily ticked by, and I stopped for most water/gatorade stops. I knew I was WAY undertrained, and I wanted to make sure I stayed hydrated and gave myself a break.
Josh told me before he thought I would make it to Mile 7.5 before I started my run/walk combo, Court said she thought I would run the whole thing.
For the most part, I ran the whole thing.
There was a moment around Mile 9.25 that I had to stop. I was exhausted, every part of my body hurt and I wanted to cry, but I kept going. We were so close to the finish.
I finished in ....... 3 minutes slower then my 10 miler time for the Surf n Santa.
I thought I would have done better, but my undertrained self just couldn't keep up.
I was slow.....like super slow.....so slow Josh walked next to me at one point. But I kept going.
There was just something about the determination in my head during this race. I honestly don't know what it was. Maybe it was the fact that because I had started running in an earlier corral that I kept getting passed and there were people around me all the time, or that there were crowds around me all the time cheering us on. Whatever it was - it worked and motivated me to keep going.
When we finally did finish we grabbed all our stuff and luckily found our friends. The weather during the race was great, and then all of a sudden after we finished, it started to get cloudy and rainy. We quickly made our mile trek from the Navy Yard back to the train station, and back up to our cars.
Pre Race Picture
Yea for my KU Bestie who encouraged me to come up and run!!
Taking on the Broad Street!!
Bestie's with Matching Running sneaks! Totally not planned!! HAHA
Overall it was a fantastic race and one I will happily run again....but this time with the proper training!!
So thanks Philly, Josh, Court, Roberts, Mike and Baby Daniel for making my first experience at the Broad Street an awesome one!!
Post race selfie with my new bling!!
My times were not fabulous, and I came home with some Plantar Fasciitis in my left foot, but I also came home with some great motivation to get back out there and run more consistently in time for the Wine and Dine!!
