Broad Street Run-- Race Recap part 3 (finally)

I finally seem to have recovered from the GI issues I had about a week ago. I'm feeling WAY better and I realized that I need to post my final post about the Broad Street Run. If you'd like to read the first two parts, you can scroll down a post or two to find them, they're right there.

We last left off when the three of us were heading to bed to get some sleep before the race, we got in from dinner a little later than we wanted to and 5:00 AM seemed to come WAY too fast. We were staying at a Residence Inn which has a kitchenette, this was great for us so we didn't have to head out to find some nourishment really early. We cooked up our bagels and brewed the coffee and enjoyed. After eating breakfast, we got dressed in our race gear and posed for the obligatory pictures.

We headed down to the lobby, checked our bags with the front desk because we were moving to a different hotel for the next night (don't ask.) and we headed out to meet the BIL at the subway a couple blocks away, it was 6:30 AM.

We got to the subway and met up with BIL, headed down and ran into hundreds of other runners heading to Philadelphia's Central High School for the start of the race. It was pretty incredible. It took about 25 minutes on the (very crowded) subway, we were packed in and standing but my excitement was so high that I didn't even mind.

When we got to the field, we looked to find our starting corrals, I was in pink, the last corral and the others had corrals, much closer to the front, I didn't let it get me down though, I was going to enjoy this experience with our without them. It seemed like a long time until the race was actually starting, we waited in line for the port-a-potties and participated in the group warm up which was actually quite fun. I enjoyed watching the HUGE group of people, all with the same goal, stretching, moving and getting pumped up. FUN!

Finally, it was time to line up. I had a can of pineapple with me because I like to eat pineapple before I run so I found a spot in my corral and cracked open my pineapple. Each corral took off in turn and about 40 minutes after the start of the race, it was the pink corral's turn to GO!

I started off at a very slow pace, listening to Carrie Underwood sing, "Before he Cheats" which I know is about a 5.1 on a treadmill, as the crowds around me thinned out, I was able to run a little faster but I never went too fast as I knew I couldn't keep up a fast pace for ten miles.

I was really enjoying my run through the city, we passed Shriner's Hospital for Children which is where my mother worked for years and I silently talked to her in my mind, I knew she'd be proud of me. We passed Temple University where The Sister and the BIL went to school and then we passed by Broad and Diamond which was the main intersection near Frederick Douglass Elementary School where I used to teach. Memories came flooding back, some good, some not so good but I could see City Hall WAAAAAAY in front of me so I kept running.

Did I mention it was getting hot? Really hot? I mentioned that last year's Broad St. Run was really chilly, well this year it was supposed to be close to 90 and it was approaching that temperature quickly. I don't mind the heat, in fact I like it but I hadn't trained in hot weather at all. I made sure to stop at every water stop to stay hydrated and because I was running behind thousands and thousands of other runners, there were wet cups all over the ground causing a slightly slippery situation for those of us who might be a bit more clumsy than others and by that I mean, ME! I had to slow to a walk at a couple points but I just kept telling myself that I had to make it through 10 miles and a little walking would be fine. The fire hydrants were open and every once in a while, I ran through the edge of that too to get a little spritz.


When I passed City Hall, I knew that I had approximately 4 more miles to go, I was more than half way there! This is when it got hard, it was hot and I was getting tired but I just kept going, slow and steady finishes the race...


Miles 7, 8 and 9 were actually kind of fun because this is when we were heading in to South Philly, the spectators that were there were very encouraging, I slapped hands with lots of little kids who were there watching and they helped keep me going. I started to get very emotional as I neared the Naval Yard, the end of the race. The ships on the river were beautiful and even though it was close to 90 degrees, the breeze off the river felt really good. I did see a few people who had collapsed and had emergency personnel helping them out, I felt surprisingly good considering...

As I crossed the finish line, I got extremely emotional and started to cry! I had done it. It took me one hour and 54 minutes but I had done a ten mile race! HOORAY!

In hindsight, I think it went well, I am proud of myself, it was an awesome race and I will definitely do it again next year. It would be nice if it's not 90 degrees next year but for me, I think 90 and sunny is better than 53 and rainy like it was last year but I'm sure many would disagree with me. I leave you for now, I have a few more thoughts and pictures that I'll share in my next post. It's Wednesday, one of my busy days and I need to start getting ready to tackle the day. Have a good one friends!