A day for the ducks

So here is my summary of the day and then i'll give you the details (which, of course, you can skip if you like). The Phillies won the World Series. The Phillies then had a parade down Broad Street. And on a day better suited to ducks than people, I ran 10 miles down Broad Street in 1 hour, 46 minutes and 29 seconds.........and the Phillies postponed because of weather. (wimps! LOL)

This was my first Broad Street Run. It was the 30th anniversary of the run. I had heard so much about it from my friends at Phillyfit and other runners that I knew I had to try it. I had been told several things over the past year. "It's the fastest 10 miles" "People do their best times" "Make sure you get on the subway early or you''ll miss the start" and "The subway is packed like sardines on some trains"

It was these last two comments that helped me outline my plan for the morning. For the Broad Street run you park your car at the stadium complex and take the subway to the Olney station about one block from the start at Broad and Sommerville. If you are not on the train by 7 am you may miss the start of the race (8:30a.m.). I spoke to someone who did miss it. So getting there early was important. For me it was equally important not to have to be packed in like sardines. I was very concerend that my claustrophobia would kick in and I would never make it to the start. I decided that even if I was the only dork on the train at 6:00 a.m. it would be worth not to have to be packed in on the subway.
So I got up at 5:00 had a breakfast of bagel with peanut butter and a banana and was on my way at 5:30. I parked in lot V of Citizens Bank Park and walked over to the subwa stop at Broad and Pattison (later this would be mile 9 of the run). Well I wasn't alone. There were about 75 or so runners already on the subway. Oh I should add that you get a free ride to the start line by showing your race bib. We arrived at the Olney stop a little before 6:30. Two hours to race time.
At the last minute before I left the house I grabbed my MS Walk windbreaker. I knew I wouldn't wear it during the run but it kept the rain off me while waiting for the start; thus also keeing me from getting a chill which would have made me very uncomfortable. I scouted out the gear buses figuring that I'd keep my backpack with me until about 8 am when I would put my jacket in the backpack and put it on the bus. I saw two people from Phillyfit during my wanderings. We spent a few minutes catching up, not having seen each other since marathon day.
At 8 I put my pack on the gear bus and wandered over to the Green Corral. There were already a lot of people gathering there and I wanted a spot in the middle of the street because it is bothersome to run on the slants on the side of the street. (I think there is a technical term for the slant but I have no idea what it is). So with 29600 runners registered for this thing and about 4-5000 in each corral I was very surprised to see one of my Realtor friends right next to me in the corral. It was nice to have someone to talk to for half an hour until the race started. Finally, we began the slow walk to the start line. The race started in waves, yet still there was a steady crowd the whole way.
My goal was to finish and to hopefully run the entire way. I started out at my own pace, letting my Realtor friend run ahead of me. I tried to run down the middle of the street the whole way. Really it was a little off center. At the north end of Broad Street there were concrete islands at many intersections and - of course - on the south end of Broad Street there were cars parked in the middle. I was suprised more car alarms didn't go off as runners used the cars for support while they stopped to stretch. The people who played 'chicken' with the runners were amusing. Two old ladies especially made me laugh. One ran across with her closed umbrella perpendicular to her legs. You had to give way or you were going to get poked. The second lady had a four wheeled basket thingie she pushed in front of her. She made it across! Considering there were few large gaps (unlike the PDR and the Marathon where there were plenty of gaps) it amazed me that anyone would try to cross in between runners let alone these two.
Another thing I heard before the race was how much fun it is to watch City Hall get closer as you approach. Unfortunately we couldn't see City Hall until after Mile 3. Still it was fun. City Hall is at about mile 5.5 give or take. And for the record the run goes around not through City Hall. At Temple there was a banner "Temply University welcomes the Broad Street Runners". At Washington Avenue there was a string bank (under a tent) playing mummers music - of course. At Roman Catholic High School there was a contingent for their band on the steps. Several impromptu musical groups greeted us along the way as well. One man drummed a beat .. which was helpful. If he did that all morning though he worked harder than we did! One group of runners kept a steady military style cadence going for a while. They started behind me and at one point we were even but they were trying to stay together so they had to slow down at spots to do that. It was fun to listen to them for about 3 miles. And of course all along the route there were hardy spectators standing in the rain cheering.
Now you must understand that I very much appreciate what these folks do for the runners. The crowds can really boost you at any point along the way. So do not misunderstand me when I comment on what some of them have to say. It just makes me laugh. For example, the person standing 2-3 BLOCKS from the start yelling "You're almost there!". Or the people at around mile 8 shouting "You look good!" This caused me to comment to the person next to me, "I know what I look like after running 8 miles in the rain, and it isn't good!"
I passsed mile 9 at Broad and Pattison about 10:30 am... the same spot I had taken the subway from 4 and a half hours earlier. As you enter the Navy Yard gate there is 1/4 mile to go. I was so impressed to this point. I was still running and I felt good. Except for a really minor tweak in my right ankle that began at mile 7 I had no pain... knees, back, hips, left ankle and both feet all in good shape. I turned on some speed after the gate and actually passed about a dozen people to the finish. And I felt like I could still go. Yay me! There is something to be said about flat running!
After the finish line we received our medals and proceeded down and to the left were we backed up a bit getting into the food tent. It was teeming rain at this point and I had a funny thought about what a satellite picture at that moment would look like as steam rose off the bodies of all these runners bunched together. Global warming? Breathing deep was not recommended either... LOL
I made my way through the food tent and found bus #39 to pick up my back pack. I found a small overhang to change my shirt and put my rain cover back on. There was supposed to be a shuttle bus back to the parking areas but nobody seemed to know where it was. So I followed the masses and we walked the mile or so back to our cars at the stadium. At that point we were soaked anyway and the walk was good to stretch the muscles out after the run. The mass of people caused a traffic jam under I-95 though.. the cops just stood and watched giving up trying to control it. There wasn't much they could have done anyway. I made it back to my car, changed my shoes and socks which were very squishy and drove home.
This was a fun run. I will definitely do it again. For those who listened to me ramable about my marathon training you know that 10 miles was my nemesis. I ran up to 9 and then 11-15 in good shape. The first day we ran 10 I had a terrible day and every time since it has given me fits. So this day I accomplished a lot!
Thanks as always to Dave, Emma and my other friend and family supporters for helping me believe that a 49 year old can do this.