RR: Broad Street Run

The Lead Up
I hadn't run at all in the week leading up to the Broad Street Run (10 mile race down Broad Street in Philadelphia, PA).  I had managed two bike sessions on my trainer on Tuesday and Wednesday but hadn't been able to fit in a run.  Friday after work I explained to my loving, wonderful wife that I needed to get in a run considering I had a long race on Sunday.  So I headed out for a quick 4 mile run, the goal to see how I felt with my face under 8:00/mile.

Well, I managed the four miles in under 32 minutes, but I was by no means just cruising along.  Yeah, I am not even close to the shape I was in last December.  Regardless, I still felt like going sub 1:20:00 on race day was a possibility.

Pre-Race
I was up at 5:00AM, rearing to go.  Actually, I had to drag my ass out of bed and then forced myself to eat some Pop-Tarts.  I left the house around 5:30AM so that I could get down to the Wells Fargo Center parking lot at 6:45AM where I was to meet my friend Bill.  No problems at all, Bill pulled in right around 6:45AM and we were on our way to the start around 7:00AM.

The start area of the Broad Street Run is chaos.  You have 30,000 people all in a two or three block area, all with no where to go until the race starts.  Bill and my first stop was the porta-potties, and as we soon found out we would only have one chance to take care of business on this morning; the lines were epic.  Again, no issues, we were in and out with out incidence thank goodness.

Around 8:10AM we made out way to our corral, the PURPLE CORRAL.  This were good, we were just chilling out...oh yeah, we were also trying to find a friend of Bill's who was going to run as well.  By a stroke of amazing luck, we found him about 8 minutes before the start.  Things were going very smoothly.

The Race
BANG!  The gun went off and so did we.  I had told Bill that I was targeting 1:20:00 as my finish time, considering my lack of training.  He thought that was realistic for him as well, but if he felt good toward the second half he was going to push it.  Mile 1 came and went quickly as is the case with most races, 8:04, right around on target considering the still somewhat thick crowd.  I could tell that I was going to be struggling a bit though as my heart rate was in Zone 4 and didn't show signs of dropping.

I think it was around mile 4 that I finally started to drop back from Bill and his friend Colin.  I just didn't have it in me to go any faster than I was already.  Miles 2 - 4 were all at 8:03 pace and I was struggling to maintain that.  I silently let them drift off ahead of me and just concentrated on maintaining my pace.  I also popped in three Clif Shot Bloxs with had an immediate affect on me (all positive).

Just before mile 6 the course goes around Philadelphia City Hall and the crowds get quite large.  It was exactly what I needed!  I got a nice adrenaline rush which allowed me to pick up my pace for the next mile or so.  By the time I got to mile 7 I knew that I was going to have to speed up a bit if I wanted to get under an hour and 20 minutes.  I was running a steady 8:04 pace but with each passing mile that left me with additional seconds that I was going to have to make up with fewer miles remaining.

Mile 8 was a bit faster with mile 9 faster yet (around 7:45).  The crowds that had dwindles a bit after City Hall started to build up again and I could feel my energy levels rise again.  At that point I knew that the faster I ran, the faster I would be done.  One mile remaining then I could stop running and down some bad post-race food.  There was a girl running in front of me, she was wearing an orange tank and orange compression socks.  She was running faster than me and I decided that she is the one I would follow to the finish line.

I moved my legs faster; my watch said 7:25 pace.  All I wanted was to be done.  Finally I could see the finish line and I ran a little faster.  I checked my watch and was almost certain that I was going to meet my goal.  DONE!  Stop my watch.  Immediately check the time.....1:19:43.  I managed to get under 1:20:00 and I felt good.  Tired, but good.

Post-Race
I found Bill and Colin about two minutes later, just passed the medal folks.  Bill looked completely spent, this was the longest race he had ever run and he did it in just over 1:17:00.  He ran negative splits for the entire race I think; just a stellar job by he and Colin.  I grabbed a banana, some water and we made out way out.  I would have liked to of hung out for a bit longer, but I had my daughters soccer game to coach at 12:00PM.  No worries though, I was soaking wet with sweat, smelled awful and needed to sit down.  The drive home in the car would do me right.

Final Thoughts
I went into this race more under-prepared than any other race I have ever done.  With that said, I had pretty high expectations for myself (sub-8:00/mile pace for a 10-mile race).  I am very happy that I was able to meet my goal and realized that I still have a bit of residual fitness remaining from IM Arizona.  I have also learned that even if I can't get out for a run, it is a good idea to at least get on my bike and put in 45 - 60 minutes of riding.  It isn't running, but it is exercise and that is better than nothing.

I know I have said this before, but it starts today.  I have about 12 - 13 weeks until the New Jersey State Triathlon (Olympic Distance) and I have to start my training for that.  I have got to get my training schedule set so that I have something to work off of, a reason to get up at 4:30 or 5:00AM.  This past Sunday was a wake up call and I am ready to start working again!!!