Broad Street Race Report

Yesterday I ran the Broad Street 10 miler. This is the biggest (over 26,000 runners this year) and fastest 10 mile race in the country. With the exception of a few gradual inclines, the race is primarily flat and downhill and is a really fun race going through the city of Philadelphia.

I got a great night sleep but woke up to pouring rain. Thankfully, it was in the upper 50's so it wasn't too cold out. I ate some plain oatmeal, got dressed and headed out to meet my carpool buddies. I bought a disposable rain coat at an Expo a while back and never wore it so I pulled that out and it worked great.

By the time we arrived at the start, the rain had stopped. It started drizzling really lighting right when the gun went off but it wasn't bad at all. At least we didn't have to stand around in the rain before the race started. I was in the first corral and what usually is a disaster trying to get around other runners and settle into your pace was not an issue this year. This was the first year they used the corral system and it worked out really well from where I was seeded. I heard it was really crowded towards the back corrals, though. I really wanted to concentrate on running a controlled race and not pooping out by going out too fast. I settled into my pace right off the bat and felt great. The first 3 miles of the race flew by and mentally, I was doing great. At mile 5 I ate some beans hoping they would give me a little kick for the end. Everything was going great but at mile 7 I hit a bad spot. Mentally I was struggling. My body was feeling fine and could keep going, but my head was playing games with me. I just thought I wasn't going to be able to do it. Which is so weird because I run longer than this every weekend. I don't know why I psyche myself out like this. But I kept telling myself I just had to make it to mile 8. At that point, I'd have one mile to go before I could kick in what I had left and finish strong. When mile 9 came along, I was feeling much better. I held back until about a 3/4 of a mile to go, then I sprinted to the finish. I finished with a time of 1:18: 11, which is EXACTLY one minute faster than last year. According to my garmin, (which isn't working right...the mode button won't work!), I averaged a 7:47. I am really happy with the PR but I feel like I had more in me. I still have a lot to learn regarding how much I can push myself, etc. I feel pretty good this morning, with the exception of a little headache from my celebrating yesterday. My knees are a little stiff, and I have a nice blood blister, but the rest of me feels fine.

I woke up to an email from Coach Jack this morning. Ultra training starts tomorrow!! My weekly mileage will really start increasing from here and in a few weeks I'll be averaging over 50 miles per week. Here's my schedule for this week, 41 miles:

Mon - off
Tues - 6 mi
Wed - 3 mi
Thurs - 7 mi
Fri - 3 mi
Sat - 16 mi
Sun - 6 mi