Broad Street Run - Blue Cross Blue Shield - Run10 Mile

Kind of went by in a blur, partially because of the weather near the end when it started raining harder. I remember hitting the first water stop at 2.2 miles and thinking, "Wow, we're already past two miles." Second stop was at about 4.4, and I thought the same thing. I have a vague recollection of Temple, then a band that struck up a tune just north of City Hall, then going around City Hall, following these two chicks with a bunch of tattoos. Shook Ed Rendell's hand (The Gov) somewhere around mile 6, knew to look for TSW somewhere past mile 7. She says I looked great, like I was just out for a stroll. It was after seeing her that I started picking it up a little, according to plan. Took one last walk break through the 8-mile water stop, then picked it up from there, including pushing what I had left for the last half mile, which I did in about four and a half minutes.

The plan was to keep a comfortable pace and keep the HR no more than mid-150s until I saw TSW, then pick it up from there. Followed the plan perfectly, got the race I'd planned for. Whenever I felt the HR going higher than I wanted it to, I'd move in close to someone moving at a slower pace and hang with them for a while, and then step it up a little once the HR recovered.

Only regret I have is that I probably could've pushed my comfortable pace a little harder. I really lost my time on miles 5 and 6. There were two water stops between four and five, and I stopped at both, explaining mile 5...not sure what happened on mile 6. Anyway, I'm thinking I could've gone a tad harder at the outset, which would've cut some time. I just wanted to make sure I had something left at the end for the last couple of mies, which I did in 19:55, pretty good pace for me. But I'm thinking I probably could've still pulled that off by pacing just a little faster through most of the run.

Same as warm-up...absolutely nothing! Glasses fogged up as soon as I slowed down after the finish line. I never even got the post-race goodie bag because I didn't even know where that was. Had a wet pretzel and a bottle of water, found Jim and the boys, we waited around for Bob, then walked back to the car. By then it was raining like crazy. Not that we weren't already wet but it really got bad at this point.


Not dissatisfied at all. I had a race plan and I followed it. I hate to admit it, but starting with the faster group probably helped. If I'd actually been able to get back to the Greenies, I might've covered those first couple of miles a lot slower. But, I think I may have reached a point where I can push harder. It seemed easier overall this year than last, probably because I'd done it before and I had more training miles in this year than last.


Over 23,000 finishers this year compared to around 19,000 last year, so this thing just keeps getting bigger. It's an awesome experience, though, and a heck of a lot of fun. I'd like to continue doing it.