This past weekend I ran the Philadelphia Broad Street 10 Miler. It calls itself the largest 10 mile race in the U.S. I would probably agree to that because I don’t really know of any other 10 mile races. Most are half marathons or 10Ks. 10 miles is an interesting distance.
We got to Philadelphia on Friday night and stayed with my friend Cindy. I never go out on fridays usually because I am just so exhausted from the day. This friday just happened to also start our summer fridays which means I get out of work at 1! In the summer I can usually nap and get prepared to go out at night, but I am still helping the cousin with the house so no nap for me!
Saturday Cheryl and I went to Reading Terminal Market. It is right down the street from my friend Cindy and is an awesome place to go to. They have all these food stands and farmers markets and unique things. We got my dad some homemade doughnuts at one of the Amish farm stands. He said they were delicious. We also found fennel so we can make some recipes from the SELF Drop 10 diet we haven’t been able to try. We stuck to the diet Saturday morning. We got breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts and then had brought lunch with us. After the market we headed down to the run expo at Lincoln Financial Field where the Eagles play. We parked and headed inside.
Now I had run my fair share of races, but this one was seriously the most lax one I have ever done! There wasn’t really an “expo” more like a bunch of different stands scattered throughout the area. Upstairs we just had to tell the people our bib number and they handed it to you. Usually you have to sign a waiver and then prove who you are with your ID to pick up a bib. They really didn’t care and I was also able to pick up bibs for 3 friends who couldn’t make it to the expo without any questions. I had assumed that after the Boston attack there would be heightened security, but not really at the expo.
After, we decided to get some drinks, and my friends wanted to eat. We headed over to XFinity Live which is a venue near all the sports complexes. Philly got it right when they built their stadiums. They built the Lincoln Financial Field (Eagles football stadium), Wells Fargo Center (Flyers hockey arena) and Citizens Bank Park (Phillies baseball stadium) all in walking distance of each other. XFinity Live was built smack dab in the middle and is where most people go after tailgating if they don’t have game tickets or after the game to continue partying. We got some beers in one of the bars and even got a little pre-cinco de mayo highlights in!
After that we headed to the northeast to meet up with our friends for a birthday celebration. We went to eat and then went bowling. I did pretty good. My highest score of the night was a 148! Our friends headed to another bar after but we headed off to bed at our friend Erin’s house to prepare for the race.
Sunday morning we got up at 4:45. The thing with the Broad Street run is that the start and finish are on the opposite sides of the city. We decided to park down by the finish at the Naval Yard and take the free SEPTA option up to the start. We had a little bit of a late start (I needed coffee) and about a mile away from the exit hit dead stop traffic. Right after on the radio we hear there is a truck fire on 95 and both directions are closed. Then we saw the billowing black smoke. We hit the traffic around 5:45 and did not move a single inch until 7:15. People were wandering around outside their cars and a lot of people tried to back off down the shoulder. It was a mess but once they opened the road we got to the lot without any problems. I also heard later that no one was hurt!
The subway to the start took a little longer than expected. I was just glad we got on at the end because we passed a lot of stops in between since the cars were so packed. Once we got to the start it was a madhouse. No coordination whatsoever. Usually they don’t let you in to corrals that aren’t yours, but no one was there regulating. We finally ended up in the orange corral and waited for the start. They played Sweet Caroline at the beginning to honor Boston. I was hoping there would be a moment of silence and there possibly was one but it was so loud you really couldn’t hear the speakers.
The course was nice but very crowded. I have been training for a faster pace recently. I used to run a 9:30 as my slow pace, but training for marathons at 10:30-11:00 I had slowed down. I kept fluctuating my pace which I hate doing but the random hills and declines made it go all over the place. I was very happy with my finish of 1 hour 35 minutes. That gave me an average 9:30 pace! The finish line was just as much of a mess as the start. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people just stop after the finish line. I just ran for over an hour I can’t just stop! I have to keep moving even at a slow walk. The finish was so crowded though it was hard for people to move. Once we finally got to water they were at least cold and then we got our medals and food.
After I headed back to the parking lot to wait for everyone else. I found Cheryl along the way and we walked back together. We waited there for our other friends Jenn and Erin. We hung out with a few of Jenn’s family members in the parking lot and had some beers. I finished the race around 11 but we didn’t get back to Erin’s apartment until 3! The problem with all the stadiums being by each other is the traffic. All the race participants were told to park by the stadiums so there was that and then there was a Phillies game and on top of everything ANOTHER accident on 95. We tried to go around but all the roads were backed up. Showering once we got back was so nice after sitting in the car for so long!
After we went to Nifty Fifties to eat. The one thing I always seem to do after a long race is eat foods that are bad for me and not care. Most people would say I shouldn’t care since I just ran, but I know the running did not offset my chicken cheese steak and cheese fries haha. We also went to our friends house before we left for some more birthday celebrating and beers. It was a nice end to a long weekend (which really only ended after the 2 hour drive back).
Hope everyone else had a great weekend! This weather is starting to get nicer which always puts me in the best moods :)
The Simple Things 