Broad Street Run

Today is the Broad Street Run, ready or not I'll try and finish the 10 miles in 90 minutes or less.  My ride dropped me off half a block from the starting line about an hour before the first group of runners were scheduled to start.  The groups are identified by color and the staging areas are well marked.  I head to the porta potty before the lines get too long.
 
Now I'm just hanging out waiting for the race to begin.  It's a chilly morning and a number of runners are wearing trash bags to stay warm.  I watched the New York City Marathon and heard about the trash bag trick.  It's cheaper to throw away a trash bag before the race starts then to throw away your good clothes.  I'm wearing a sweatshirt that must be 10 years old so I could care less about throwing it away.  When they finish playing the Start Spangled Banner everyone starts taking off their extra clothes.

The first group starts and the next group moves up to the starting line.  The second group takes off, then the third group and now I'm up at the line.  As we cross the line I hear the beeping of the timing system recording the chips.  The next time I hear that sound I'll have run 5 miles.

I look down at my GPS watch and I'm running a 7.5 minute mile.  I know I cannot sustain this pace but everyone is running fast and trying not to get boxed in by other runners.  Lot's of people line the streets to watch the runners and yell and ring cow bells.  Occasionally I pass a band playing music.  I'm running on the left side of the street and I move closer to the sidewalk to grab a cup of water from a volunteer.  Squeeze the cup and try to sip some of the water without getting it up your nose.  I failed!

I crossed the 5 mile timing mat around 40 minutes into my run.  I was hoping to run 9 minute miles but I'm running 8 minute miles.  My time gets posted to Facebook and my friends are impressed.  So am I but I don't know if I can keep up this pace.

I focus on catching the runner ahead of me and then focus on the next runner.  We zig zag around independence hall in center city Philadelphia and head towards the Naval Yard.  Some guy with a bag of food from McDonalds races across 6 lanes of runners and a runner yells out "that's the faster runner out here today!"  At 7 miles I start getting tired since this is all new territory for me.  I'm determined not to slow down but I'm really tired by mile 9.

I see the entrance to the Naval Yard and I know the finish line cannot be far beyond the entrance.  I looked at last years race results and noticed how many runners crossed the finish line around this time.  I pick up my pace and I'm running as fast as I can go because it's me against the clock.  The clock always wins but today it says the official time for Bob Gannon is 01:20:20.