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May 01, 2005
Just Not My Day
Today was just not my day. I had great hopes going into the Broad Street Run. This race is fast, mainly flat to downhill (there are a few incline "bumps") and draws a great field. As I stated earlier, the conditions can make or break the race. This is one of the races that I had been pointing towards all year. My big goal was to break 60 minutes. If all else failed, I at least wanted to PR (61:49). All of the training I had done indicated that PR was in the bag.
One of the guys who I train with picked me up around 6:30. We made the trip with very little excitement. Our only issue was parking, but we simply followed where they directed us. We didn't park in the lot that I'm used to parking in, but that must have been becuase the Sixers had a home playoff game and the Phillies played later on in the day. We were accross the street from the Septa station and made our way to catch the subway up to the start. A train took off just as we got underground, but the next express train was only about four minutes later. We were among the first people on that train, so we were able to sit for the half hour ride up to North Philly. The race starts in a bad, I mean really bad, section of North Philly. I would never venture into this part of the city other than for this race. It's the part of the city that is always on the news for murders/shootings. We got to Central High, the staging area for the race. My ride wanted to use the toilets and I needed to get a baggage ticket and wanted to jog some. I got a ticket, put my bag down and jogged around the mud track. After all of the rain we had last night and this morning, the track was a mess. Warming up on this track is nearly impossible because you just end up dodging people. I managed to get about a mile in. I headed over to the buses to drop off my bag. I sat on the ground to change my shoes, strip and put my number on. After I dropped off my bag I wanted to use the bathroom, but the lines were immense. I ended up doing the "pee stretch". I'm not really sure how to explain it, but it is basically a stretch to do and discreetly pee while doing it. I hope that none of the people around the starting line noticed me watering the lawn!
I lined up in the back of the seeded runners area. I warned the other folks who I went up with who had never run this race before to line up way in front of the pace they expected to run because the race officials are not particularly good at enforcing it in this race. The weather was cool, damp, sort of drizzling at the start, and there were occasional gusts of wind. The roads were very slick which made me extremely cautious given my tendency to fall. J called me last night and left me a message to have a race plan and stick with it. My plan was to hit the first mile around 6 and then maintain and pick up the pace. I went through the first mile in 5:58, pretty much right on my plan. The second mile was when I started to know that today was not my day. I went through 2 in 12:00, but it was taking more effort than it should have to run that pace. Three miles was something around 18:15 and took a lot of work to run that. The miles pretty much stayed that way. It was taking way more work to run splits that should have been easy. The wind was weird; it was either a cross wind or a headwind. The same gust would even have both in it, but I never noticed a tailwind. Early on I kept reminding myself that it was a long race and not to panic early. There were women in front of me who had no business being there, but I kept telling myself that I could pick them off later. Around seven miles I knew they weren't coming back, but some other chic passed me and that sort of woke me up. I tried to maintain contact with her and tried to get closer. Around this time I had some serious stomach problems and had to soil my shorts a little bit. I wanted to stop, but was not in a neighborhood where it was a good idea. The race runs through most of the various neighborhoods of Philly. One thing I noticed was there seemed to be a McDonald's on nearly every corner...no wonder Philadelphia is ranked one of the least healthy cities in America! I managed to finish in 62:21, not a bad time, but disappointing nonetheless.
I met up with my running buddies and we decided to go out for lunch. I was freezing and did not want to stick around for my award, they can mail it to me. My fingernails were turning blue as we were walking back to the car. We had a nice lunch talking about the race and drinking a few cold beers.
Later this afternoon I talked to J. I don't know if you would technically call him my coach, but he definitely gives me advice and tailors the workouts of the group for me. He makes the workout for everyone, but will alter it if you ask him to help you. I expressed that I was disappointed, but it could have been much worse. He had estimated a finish somewhere between 59:30 and 60:50-where I thought I would be as well. We're pretty sure that it was just an off day. We compared where some people in the half marathon from March were to me today and knew that I just did not run well. It could have been worse-I could have crashed and burned. Instead it was just consistently off. The splits were rather even, just not as fast as they should have been. This week is going to be pretty easy to recover-some striders tomorrow, hopefully the full workout on Thursday. One great thing about this race is that it does not beat your body up the way some races do. In all honesty, this was my second fastest 10 miler, so it is nothing to laugh at.
They just had a segment on the race on the news. I was being sarcastic to say that I saw myself at the start (I did, but it was a tiny blip). My dad was standing there watching and they showed a long segment running into the finish and I was in the center for about five seconds! I'm a celebrity!!!
I ran four miles this afternoon because I didn't get to warm down after the race. I got in the car and sat for a while and also sat at lunch. I think that I actually felt better on my jog than I did in the race.
OK, gotta go and see if someone can get me a copy of that news!
Posted by Blondie at May 1, 2005 06:11 PM
Comments
If we ever meet, I want to see the pee stretch. I mean, I can imagine what it might look like, but I want to know if I'm right.
I'm really sorry it didn't go as well as you had hoped, but at least you got an excellent workout in, and your five seconds of fame. I know it isn't quite what you wanted, but I'm very impressed with your time!
Posted by: Alison at May 1, 2005 10:47 PM
Yes, I am also impressed by your time. I am glad when you saw yourself at the start on the video it was not doing the pee stretch :) That is the first I have heard of it.
Good race report.
Posted by: Audrey at May 2, 2005 06:15 AM
I'm interested in seeing that pee stretch too! Sorry things didn't go as you planned but still, great race! And I'm glad you're being so positive about it, an off-day just happens and you'll have much better days!
Posted by: Nanda at May 2, 2005 11:20 AM