Sunday, May 2, 2010

Broad Street! 30,000+ Strong!


Today was the first of three big running days - the Broad Street Run! What an awesome morning! Let's rewind to the past 24 hours or so... Yesterday all I did was drink water... water, water and more water. And it paid off. I ate carbs throughout the day, but I didn't go crazy. No pasta dinner here. I went to bed at 9:30, but didn't really get a good night's sleep. My house was hot (I was going to not turn the AC on all summer, but I caved in and it's now on). I tried sleeping in my own bed, but because I can't open the windows (too much traffic noise from Limestone Road and there is a huge, really freaking loud bullfrog living in the pond in the back)... so after an hour or so in my bed I moved to my guest bedroom. I opened the windows and it was cooler, but then some neighbors were really loud and drunk so I moved back to my room. I finally fell asleep and my alarm woke me up at 3:55 a.m. I was ready. I headed to Julie's in Wilmington and we departed for the race at 5:15 a.m. (I do have to mention I ate a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup egg at 5:00 a.m. - Julie told me last night that if I finished in 1:31 she would give me some peanut butter cup eggs - I told her she was crazy and I would never finish in that time) It was pouring the entire drive up. I figured it was just a passing shower and hoped that it would cool things off a bit, because it was still pretty warm in the early a.m. hours.

We got to the subway a little before 6 a.m. The train was pretty packed with runners, but we found seats. My prediction was that by the time we got to our stop, the rain would stop and the sun would be shining and it would be hot. The rain stopped, but it was still pretty cloudy. We hit the portapotties, walked around the track, stretched, participated in the step aerobic workout/stretch session (this was all within a 2-2.5 hour time period!) We got there early, but I'm glad we did. It gave us some time to just relax and hit up the bathroom without any lines. At around 8:10 we started walking to the start line. The line was divided by colored flags. These colors were based on your predicted finish time. Back in February when I signed up I predicted I would finish in 1:40 so I was in the yellow group.

So after waiting for probably a good 20 minutes it was time for my group to start (my group was closer to the back). While waiting we could see the mass of runners that had already started. It was a pretty amazing scene! 30,000+ runners running the streets of Philadelphia! We finally got to the start and it was go time. I set my watch and was off! I felt really good starting out. On some of my longer runs in the past few weeks I've noticed that it's taken me at least two miles before I settled in. Not today. I was feeling good and started passing people so I could break away from some of the crowd (while there were 30,000 runners, I never felt that it was too crowded). The first 4 or so miles of the course are in some of Philadelphia's poorer neighborhoods. It was nice to see the neighbors out and cheering!! At mile one I looked at my watch and was pretty surprised at how fast I started out. I think my first mile was 8:40 or so. I felt good so I didn't question myself or think I should slow down so I could keep going the rest of the race. Usually I think a lot while I run, but I just enjoyed the scenery and people and my thoughts were pretty quiet. I did have to pee for most of the run so I was probably thinking "I hope I don't pee my pants because I'm not stopping."

I stopped at most of the water spots.( My friend Naty from work, who happened to be in Philly later in the day, commented on the amount of cups on the streets haha!) At mile 4 I ate my second shotblok (I ate one 15 minutes before the race started) and it gave me energy and I kept moving. All along the route there were bands playing to keep the runners motivated! Because of the heat, the city had the fire hydrants on so it was nice to be able to run through the water to cool off. It was a really hot run even in the morning. Once we approached City Hall there were tons of people cheering on the sides so that helped. Around mile 7 I really started feeling tired and wanted to stop, but of course I didn't. I still had to pee and I began contemplating peeing my pants, but I didn't want to (even though a lot of runners do!) because that's pretty gross. I kept going and going and going.... Mile 8 I popped another ShotBlok (I ate a total of 5 for the whole race). There were still tons of people cheering, but all I could think about was how hot it was and how bad I had to pee. So mile 9 is approaching and I'm getting tired. I wanted to stop. Fortunately, the song I was listening to kept saying "don't stop" so that helped a lot. I hit mile 9 and I said I'm doing this for Michelle. (Michelle Rigney was my good friend who lost her battle to melanoma in June 2008.)

Mile 9 was the hardest. I was almost there and I still had to pee. I'm sorry for sharing this, but it's my blog so I do what I want. But I started peeing my pants. hahahaa. I got it together and was able to hold it. Once I was in the Navy Yard there were tons of people cheering and I knew I only had a 1/4 mile left. I saw my mom and stepdad cheering and that was a really huge help! My mom was screaming and we gave each other five!!!! She was so excited! I saw the finish line banner and kicked it in high gear. I did it! I crossed it. I stopped my watch and my unofficial time was 1:31 (Julie predicted it with her peanut butter cup eggs!). We started walking to the refreshment tent and there was a mob of hot, sweaty runners. I was feeling overheated and we got a water bottle and waited to get through the refreshment tent. I got a soft pretzel and a bag of treats. Inside the bag was a banana, orange, fritos, yogurt breakfast bar and teddy grahams. I wasn't that hungry, but I was able to eat the banana, soft pretzel and some of the teddy grahams. I met up with my family, they took my picture and we headed back to the finish line to watch Julie finish. I wasn't sure if she already came in, but we found a spot along the fence and waited. I was able to watch her finish and she had her white stunner shades on which helped me to find her in the crowd! We were cheering loud and I was so proud!!!!!

So for those who read my blog or facebook updates, you know I talk about eating a lot. Today I'm not really feeling hungry. I thought I would be eating a lot today, but I'm just not feeling it. Maybe tomorrow! Tomorrow I'm planning to eat a muffin from Purebread for breakfast (the peanut butter cup muffin taunts me every morning when I pick up bread for the Food Bank) and then I'm hitting up the Pizza Hut lunch buffet! I love Pizza Hut pizza!!!

So that's it. The Broad Street Run - complete! It was an awesome experience and I am already looking forward to next year. This race humbled me though. I have a lot of work ahead of me before the marathon in October. In two weeks I'm running the half marathon in the Delaware Marathon Running Festival. I'm looking forward to it! But it will be a lot harder than Broad Street. 3.1 more miles and the course will be a lot more challenging. I hope we have cooler weather on that day though.

So looking ahead to this week's training schedule.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 5 Miles
Wednesday: RPM
Thursday: 6 miles
Friday: Body Pump
Saturday: I'm going camping! I will probably go hiking, canoeing and other outdoor crap
Sunday: 11-12 miles

Peace. Love. Run.

1 comment:

  1. Love this post :) I think you need to change your blog name.. 9 minute miles is NOT slow. Glad you got it together..pee pants would not look good on you :) WAY TO GO Kim!!:)

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