After a disappointing race out at Stanford earlier in Spring, I had to find another competitive 10k to race before the end of track season. At the same time, I made plans to get back on the roads for a few races as well. As I searched for another fast 10k, I realized I would have to wait until the last weekend of April to do it, which was going to conflict with the Broad Street race I wanted to do. As I looked over my schedule I started to think about the possibility of doing a 10k/10-mile double.
It was hard to wrap my head around at first, because prior to this attempt, I had only ever done a 10k/5k double at our conference track meets - and racing a 5k is a lot different than trying to recover and run a 10-mile race. At the same time, I thought it would be a good challenge to see how my body would respond to a race situation when I was fatigued.
Going into the Broad Street race, I thought I could contend to be the top American and had a goal of running around 50-minutes (5-minute per mile pace). As the race started and I got rolling, I was surprised at how well my legs and body were feeling. I started getting pretty excited when I went through the halfway point at 24:16 because I knew I would break 50-minutes; my attention and focus was now on trying to run under 49 minutes. Unfortunately, I found myself running the last 6.5 miles almost completely alone and not having someone there to help push me a long was probably the biggest reason for not breaking 49 (although having race a 10k 2 days earlier probably didn't help either).
I ended the race in 6th place overall and finished as the top American. I guess the number 6 was my number for the weekend, as I finished 6th in my 10k race on Thursday night (they'll probably name a street after me and call it 6th - fans of the movie, Prefontaine will appreciate that quote). But I had a ton of fun at the race. That was the largest race I have ever been involved with (the Broad Street 10 miler is the biggest 10-mile race in the US). It's pretty cool when a city shuts down for a running event. As runners, we're used to not getting much attention and being at the low end of the sporting popularity totem poll; however, big city races dispel all of this. People line the street from start to finish and it's a great boost to hear people cheering for you the whole way!
The weekend in Philadelphia was also a chance to visit with some old teammates of mine - Shamus and Pat. Shamus was in town for the Penn Relays working with Nike and Pat works at the UPenn hospital and was nice enough to house me for the weekend. I also got to officially meet Pat's wife, who quite easily had the coolest running story of the weekend. The shorthand account goes something like this: in the midst of her long run on Saturday, she stopped to administer CPR to a woman who had collapsed. She ended up having to cut the clothes off the woman and use the AED to shock her a couple of times. She was able to get the woman's pulse back and then outraced the ambulance to the hospital. When I left Philadelphia the woman was still alive. Pretty amazing run!!
I'm at the Columbus airport waiting to catch my flight to Chicago for the MAC Championships @ Northern Illinois. I'm excited/anxious to see how the Bobcat distance girls do this weekend! I'll be back racing next Friday night at the Sunset Distance Classic meet in Athens. It's a great event and encourage everyone to come run/watch! Hope to see y'all there.
Until then, Godspeed!
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| @ the steps of the Philly Art Museum |
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| Shamus posing with my Broad Street Eagle trophy |
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