Broad Street Run 2008 LSRR

All last week, I had recurring nightmares that I forgot to bring shorts to the Broad Street Run, and I’d have to run in the sweatpants that I wore to the starting line. I’d tried to stay sleeping to find out what happens next in the dream -- but the race just wouldn’t start… the race officials weren’t ready and postponed the start time. And then, I’d wake up from the dream and tell Noah, who as the one guy in the household (assuming Mickey is no longer with us), wonder if I ran in just underwear. I should’ve written about this last week, but I was busy tapering and telling myself how uncharacteristically calm I felt about the big race.

But if my dreams weren’t an indication of my nerves, the freak-out at the Expo upon seeing my F-bib certainly foreshadowed my mental state for the next two days. I’ve never had a seeded number before, felt that it’s a jinx, and just the thought of lining up in vicinity of the Kenyans made my knees weak. On race day, I took a peek at the elite runners at the front and made the easy decision to start behind the seeded section. Afterall, I didn’t feel fresh or confident, and I thought it’d take a perfect day to run among these people.

Here is my mile-by-mile race report (with estimated splits):

1. 1- 6:00 (More weaving through the field than I expected, but the pace was comfortable. I was shocked to see the 6 on the clock.)
2. 2- 6:12 (First subway train roared past us underneath)
3. 3- 6:12 (I was either tired or bored. Either way, I felt like I was starting to fade already.)
4. 4- 6:12 (Decided to hit “split” on my stopwatch but couldn’t read the screen. Another subway went by.)
5. 5- 6:11 (The course opened up as we went around City Hall and all the runners tried to pick the best, different tangents to run in. Someone’s boombox blasted a song about hurting. I noticed a major improvement this year: NOT putting a water stop here in the narrowest part of the course.)
6. 6- 6:17 (Missed Ed Rendell once again.)
7. 7- 6:27 (I had spent all my energy. My gel was buried in my zipper back pocket, but eventually I got it out and gulped it down. Seeing Farrah and Brad waving and cheering saved me from going even slower.)
8. 8- 6:20 (Stopped for water. I heard another subway pass us and it was tempting.)
9. 9- 6:30 (It was surreal that my legs were still moving since I was completely exhausted. I saw Kevin, Noah, and Leah out there, and that gave me a huge boost. At least no one was passing me.)
10. 10- 6:10 (Gasping for air, wishing that I have bigger nostrils, and “sprinting” to the end.)

My net time was 1:02:32, which is my best time by 3 minutes. I also achieved my life goal of age-grouping at Broad Street – the trophy was enormous and I got to take a picture with it with the race director on stage. So, it was a good day!