Broad Street Run

Heather and I were out the door at 6:45 and after a quick stop to pick up some bagels for the after run party hosted by Craig and Andy we were on our way down to the sports complex and our ride on the subway. I got to the start later than I would like, as usual, and had a quick pit stop before lining up. Luckiliy I saw a few guys from the group as I was walking to the line and I started next to Stevus who's goal time of 1:01 was just a minute faster than mine.

The weather was perfect, the energy at the line was up, and really how could it not be on a day like that with 15,000 people piled up behind you. The gun went sounded and off we went. Steve and I quickly fell into a nice pace and mile 1 went by in 5:55 a little faster than I wanted but not insane. The barely sub 6's continued and my 3 mile split was 17:54. At this point I knew I wasn't going to be able to sustain this pace but those quick early miles were in the bank for my 1:02 goal.

Stevus somehow found another gear, which on his 30 miles of training in 2006 seemed impossible, and started pulling away a bit by mile 4. I pulled through mile 5 at 29:58, a pr, and I could feel myself slowing a bit. The next couple miles were between 6:05 and 6:15 but with 3 miles to go I realized a sub 1:01 was in reach if I could just hold on and run a decent final mile. Mile 8 in 6:10 or so, mile 9 was the same and my watch read 55 minutes. If I could sub 6 the final mile I could go under 61 minutes. However, after 9 miles a sub 6 is easier said than done and I could only muster a 6:03.

Final time 61:03. I was elated with this finish, a full minute better than my goal and over 3 minutes faster than last year. I quickly found, Ian, Steve K, Stevus, Seebo, Craig and Kevin F at the finish who had all PR'd as well. Just like last year everyone seemed to do well and was in good spririts. Congrats to all the finishers and especially to Craig and Andy for putting together some great omlettes and beers in FDR park afterwards. It was a nice cap to a beautiful morning.