Broad Street Run

My parents picked me up at 6:45 and dropped me at the start line, which was really nice because it meant I didn't have to drive to the sports complex and fight the crowds on the subway. I got there in plenty of time to go to the bathroom and find the starting line water, then came the wait for actually starting the race and for my corral actually starting, and I took off. My knee was feeling fine! Then I got to mile 0.5, and my knee started hurting. But I was committed. To finishing, not to my time. I was just going to do what I could. I decided that between the crowds and the knee I'd just enjoy the race. I stayed close to the sidewalk for high fives and cheers, and waved to people as I ran.

Around mile 2, I saw my parents and husband. So I waved and kept running. This was probably when my knee was bothering me the most, but they said they couldn't tell. As I ran past Temple, I high fived the owl, waved to people in the stands, then high fived the football team. High fives gave me more energy than clif shot blox. There was a bit of a funnel effect to get around city hall, but then I immediately crossed to the other side of the street and it opened up a little bit. Around mile 7, I kept telling myself "just a 5K left, 30 more minutes of running." At this point, though, 30 minutes seemed like a long time. My husband saw me around mile 8 and said I was looking quite tired. I didn't see him, so I couldn't pretend I was excited.

Then came mile 9. I signed up to run with Jimbo's Squad. My boss has been running with them for a while, so I signed up, too. I didn't know anyone else running with them and couldn't find them at the start, but at mile 9, I saw their cheering section. They were yelling for me, and I was waving and fist pumping. At mile 9.5, a guy came up behind me and was like "hey, Jimbo's Squad, can I cross the finish with you?" He was also running with Jimbo's Squad. The clock time when I finished was 1:49:xx, and I was pretty certain I'd started somewhere around 0:20:xx, but couldn't be sure. So, I thought I was close. When I finally met up with my family, my mom had been getting text message updates, but they were all giving her the clock time and giving my pace based on that as well, so I still couldn't be certain that I'd beaten 1:30:00 like I wanted to.

We stopped for lunch, then hopped on the subway to head home. When we got above ground, I had a text from my sister Elaine telling me that she saw a sub 2 hour half in my future. I got really excited and tried to text her back as I was walking down steps, when I thought better of it and waited until I was on the side walk. I was really hopping down the steps, as my left knee wouldn't bend enough for me to walk down the steps like a normal person. She texted me back and said my time was 1:27:46. 8:46 pace! I was so excited! My last 10K was slower than that. Now I really want to do another half, but I totally need to take a few weeks off from running. Maybe at the end of the summer.