Philadelphia Distance Run

PDR was the first race I ever ran in 1999, so today was like my 10 year anniversary. I can remember feeling intimidated by the whole running scene and very unsure about my fitness. It was a beautiful morning, much like today, and it was a great race. I finished somewhere around 1:38 or maybe 1:42. I missed 2 years in the there somewhere so this is my 8th running.

Anyhow, I was excited to race today. I was tired, not much sleep these days. It is amazing how quickly the definition of a decent night's sleep can change once you have a kid. Six hours of broken sleep was decent. I got to the race early, took my time, warmed up with a few miles and took in the scene. I was happy to spot American marathoner Ryan Hall before the start. He and a few buddies were warming up and he stopped to give the Rocky Statue a slap for good like I guess.

When the gun went off I just ran at what felt like the right pace. First mile 6:33. It took a bit to get going at the start so I was happy with that. In mile 2 I bumped into Luke, a guy I ran several long runs with over the winter, we chatted for a bit and I was surprised to see mile 2 go by in 6:16. Great. I was settling in as we made our way through Center City. I felt decent and the pace felt manageable mile 3 and 4, 6:20 and 6:19. Wow. This was going nicely.

We cruised back to the Parkway, passed the Art Museum and onto MLK mile 5 in 6:31. I really didn't think I was going to keep up that 6:20 pace but I felt good and was happy with the way the race was progressing. I almost felt like I was saving just a bit for the trip back down the river and miles 6,7 and 8 went by in 6:28, 6:27, 6:37.

I was now on Kelly Drive, and had 4 miles remaining. I did not however feel like I had that extra gas left in my tank. I could feel my speed slipping away and people slowly started to sneak by me. Not a horde of people but a few here and there, almost nobody had passed me on MLK.

Mile 9 went by in 6:35. I was trying to do the math on the pace I needed to hold to get under my PR but the answer escaped me. I look now and I had 20 minutes. I had run the first 5K of the race in under 20 minutes but I knew this last 5K was not going to be there. Mile 11 in 6:38 and I am starting to hurt, my turnover feels slow and my face was strained. Mile 12 in 6:53. Ugh. The last mile up the hill towards the Art Museum was all to familiar, pushing hard and slowing down. Mile 12 in 6:57. Finished in 1:25:43.

That time is slower than last year. I really wasn't surprised, the runs leading up to this race warned me that I wasn't in the shape needed. I never really felt like my fitness was increasing greatly during all the interval workouts over the summer. I wanted to give speed work a good shot but it just isn't my thing. I need miles on miles with a few harder workouts thrown in. I suspected that in the spring and this result kind of hammers that fact home.

Hopefully I can get a big block of base training in over winter but for now running will take a back seat to Zachary and Heather.