Wednesday, May 5, 2010

One Tough Broad



There was hype.
There was heat.
There were open fire hydrants.
And there were two holistic health junkies...
rocking the Broad Street Run.

The running guru and I met up in the wee hours of Sunday morning, as per the advice of the organizers, to make plenty of time for the expected crowd. The Broad Street Run is the largest 10 mile race in the country, consisting of 30,000 runners. Broad Street was also going to be my farthest race, and run for that matter, to date. Yikes!

In the three weeks leading up to BSR I had been majorly slacking with running; my weekly routine consisted of two 2-4 mile runs with a 7-9 mile weekend run. I was counting on adrenaline and the cheers of people who lined the streets to get me to the finish line. Little did Ed and I know that it would be the hottest race day on record since 2001 with humidity and a high of 89 degrees.

The race was very well run (pun-intended), especially in light of the weather. Organizers upped the supply of water and gatorade and opened fire hydrants to spritz runners. Ed got sick and towards the end I felt pretty weak but surprisingly I experienced none of the usual issues during practice runs (cramps, knee problems, etc...). We passed a number of people who needed medical attention; some were less than 1/4 mile from the finish line! Ed and I did cross the finish line...and with decent timing too!

Ed's time - 1:18:12 - placed 1995 out of 26251 runners.
My time - 1:38:17 - placed 11749 out of 26251.

I want to give a big thank you to Ed for being my running guru and helping me meet my goal! And if you're thinking of doing a 10-miler, Broad Street is the race to run! You'll get pumped. You'll want to do it again.

What's next? A half-marathon in Philly, of course! Stay tuned.

Photos courtesy of Ed and Rose, the iPhone.

Subway Ride to the Starting Line

The Crowd at the Starting Line

View from the Finish Area - 5 miles from City Hall

4 comments:

Olivia said...

Way to go, my dear! And mad props to the guru! What an awesome experience this must have been. And, as you know, this is a major reason I've started training for a 10k. Can't wait to do a race with you someday!

Jen said...

I can't wait either! :)

Ed said...

Jen rightly deserves all of the credit for completing this run. She was amazing. I would also like to point out that my own running has improved as a result of running with her. Last fall I experienced major knee problems as a result of running too much. By running with someone who was working her way up to 10 miles, I learned to limit and pace myself with how many miles I run. It's paid off as my legs are in great shape. My race times across the board have also decreased dramatically thanks in part to dietary changes like giving up soda and meat, things that might not have happened without the influence of Jen, my health guru. I look forward to more races and runs with her in the future. There are some interesting ones lined up for the summer season.

Jen said...

Thanks Ed! By "interesting" races he meant a 10k trail run in Wissahikcon(which we just completed...more on that later) and a military-style 10k course complete with obstacle courses. That one is in July. I'm both intrigued and terrified.