Broad Street

My Broad Street story starts 15 hours before the gun, at a party in Collegeville PA on Saturday night. I attended a Chili Cookoff party. This included cooking my own chili and trying everyone elses when I got there, 12 in all. I had gut full of chili, a few beers, and a couple slices of apple pie when I went to bed. I joked during the party that this meal wasn't exactly carbo loading and I was going to pay for it tomorrow. I did.

As usual I made it to the start just in time. Heather and I stepped off the subway with 15 minutes till the gun. I dropped off my gear bag, fought through hordes of people to hop behind a wall and pee and then ran to the front of the crowd to get as close to the starting line as I could. I was able to get right up front with the "fast crowd". Saw Seebo, Steve, Deirdre and a couple guys from my work, said hello and we were off.

I wanted to go out easy and mile one was 6:02, a little faster than expected but it's nearly all downhill and par for the course. My stomach wasn't exactly settled but my legs and lungs were firing on all cylinders. By mile two I was feeling better, 6:06. The first five miles just flew by. 6:07, 6:11, 6:05. I cruised through the half in 30:33 and I was feeling great. My plan was to pick it up and try to run a negative split. I was also thinking about sub 60 at this point. It would mean running 5:54 or better for the last 5 miles but it seemed on the edge of possible.

This was also when my stomach started to act up. Mile 6 in 5:59 but I was forced to put on the breaks due to my distress. Mile 7, 6:21. Now I'm angry, knowing I can run harder but fearing the repercussions if I do. I just tried to keep pushing it without going to far. Mile 8 6:32. Mile 9 6:37. At this point I would call my running comfortable, relaxed almost like I was out enjoying a run instead of in the last couple of a race.

As I cruised through the final mile and approached the finish the announcer said, "#687 (my number), you look to good" Meaning that I hadn't really been giving it my all and he was right. I just couldn't push the pace. Mile 10 in 6:28 for a total of 62:36. Nearly 3 minutes off of last year's PR performance and I think my 3rd fastest overall. This was my sixth year at this race and the first time I didn't PR.

I was aggravated after finishing but it passed. I was due for a less than stellar Broad Street and overall it really wasn't that bad of a race. I enjoyed it start to finish. It was also great to be able to run that time and not really feel like I had raced. Almost like a nice long workout. There is always next year.