RandomFailure

Before getting into this, I have to say upfront that the Broad Street Run is one of my favorite races. It is one of the few races where I will circle the date on the calendar far in advance to make sure we don’t schedule anything for that day.

But with the recent expansion of the BSR into the largest 10 Miler in the country, some things have gotten out of hand. I would change/suggest the following:

1. The Expo. A necessary evil to get the race number and T-shirt/goodie bag. But the current set-up needs to be changed. The current space (the VIP level of Lincoln Financial Field) is too small and the layout is dreadful for those of us who would like to get in and out as fast as possible. You have to go to one end of the concourse to get your number, and then go all the way to the opposite end of the concourse for the T-shirt. I appreciate the “need” to funnel people past all the vendors, but there needs to be more space and a quicker in/out option for those of us who don’t want to browse. I went on my lunch hour with people from my office – including travel time we were gone about 2 hours.
2. The start. Getting 30,000 people to line up for a race is a logistical nightmare at best. The start corrals help, but they are way too large. Cutting the field into 3000+ people chunks doesn’t help all that much. The corrals should be shrunk, and there should be more of them. Harder to set up, but easier for racing.
3. The finish area. I haven’t had an issue with this until this year. Far too many people in the Navy Yard and getting out of there is really difficult. The main exit (a sidewalk at the entrance gate, 1/4 mile above the finish) is a choke point and foot traffic comes to a crawl if not a stop. Going around whatever that building is next to the gate is not a problem, but it should be marked as an alternate exit.
4. The participants. People, you owe it to yourselves to look over the information included in your goodie bag. It includes useful tips like where the finish is (after crossing the line, some guy asked me, “We don’t finish at the stadiums?” No dude, they were at Mile 9.) and that you should keep moving through the refreshment tent (I had some idiots stopping right in front of me because the didn’t think they’d get their bags, even though 5 feet further into the tent, where we all had to go anyway to get out, there were no people and thousands of bags).

This is a little late, but that’s OK.

I didn’t have much of a goal in mind for Sunday’s run, and that was further dampened by the unseasonably hot weather. The hottest BSR since my first in 2000, which was a truly awful day of running for me – I wasn’t ready for the distance or the weather. (Four months later, I ran the PDR in less time.) This time, I thought I would be better prepared, solely based on experience. Whoops.

Lots of things went wrong, from the insanely crowded subway ride to the start (my foot was cramping up because I couldn’t stand up very well) to my new watch going nutty (it’s one of those Timex tap watches; I stupidly set the sensitivity too low and it misfired repeatedly, for a total of 39 laps in a 10 mile race, so I have no idea what my splits after Mile 4 were without a lot of guessing).

Thanks to the crummy winter weather, illness, and work, I didn’t have enough time to ramp up my training to where I would have liked it to have been (only one run of 10 miles), so I was a little short on the preparation. I figured I could handle a 7:00 per mile pace. Just enough to keep myself in the second start corral. Until Mile 4, I was hovering around 7:00 per mile. I took water at almost every stop (skipping one of the two right around Mile 5), even if I didn’t really need it. And then, like most of my other on-the-fly BSR plans, it all fell apart around Mile 5. I obviously wasn’t ready for a 7:00 pace. I had to stop to walk twice: once between Miles 6 and 7 and once between Miles 7 and 8. About a block each time, just long enough to catch my breath and get it together again.

You know it’s a bad day when you think about stopping. I did a few times after Mile 6, thinking that it wouldn’t be that bad too take a left turn and head home (a little over a mile east of Broad). But I didn’t think I could have lived with the DNF due to wimping out. I finished in 1:17 and change, my slowest time in years. Not that big a deal considering I was not prepared. I’ll take this as more training and move on to other running over the summer.

Not a great way to start the running year. I ran a little over 4 miles on Jan. 1, not wanting to get anywhere near the Broad Street crowds gathering to watch the Mummers.

Since then it’s been too damn cold for me to get out and run. After several years of trying various clothing and low temperature combinations, I’ve found that my limit is 20F, either with or without wind. So with temps in the low 20′s in the morning and crazy windy, there’s no way I was going out to run. We’ve even had to put the sweater on the dog to take her out.

And I’m getting my right knee injected again on Tuesday, so I’ll be out of commission for a few days due to that. Fun!

Going into a race with low expectations is nice; that way, there’s no disappointment afterwards. I had only one goal for this uniquely Philly race (at 8.4 miles, the distance itself is somewhat unique): finish in under one hour. I hit 59:50 – just made it.

But tactically, it was once of the worst races I have run in a long time, if ever. I started out too fast (pretty much usual for me; mile 1 in 6:06), but I felt comfortable and had some people nearby that I thought I could stay with. Then Headphone Woman came by. A relevant aside: two weeks ago at the Bridge Run, she went flying by me a little after mile 5. This time, I thought I could stay with her, even though we hadn’t hit mile 2 yet. I suggested we run together, to try to catch the woman ahead of us who was, at the time, the first female. This was the big mistake: I really couldn’t hang. I stayed on for about 1.5 miles and then couldn’t hold the pace any longer.

Some people passed me in ones and twos. The depressing moment was when a group of six guys went by me like I was standing still. The challenging part of this event is that it is completely run on the path, and we have to dodge all the other people using it. Around mile 6, we hit the boathouses and the regatta that was going on. The combination of spectators, rowers, and shells made for some interesting dodging.

I just focused on finishing in under one hour, which seemed to be slipping away. I could keep track of the quarter mile splits thanks to the numbers painted on the path. But I had slowed considerably; I was maintaining about a 7:20 pace. Hitting the start of Boathouse Row, entering the last quarter mile or so, I knew it would be close. When I finally saw the clock, I knew I had it in under an hour.

I need to not be so stupid next time, especially when I’m not ready to run that fast. 

A short report this time (I don’t have the wherewithal to write a long one).

I really enjoy this event, with three exceptions:

1. Parking for the event. There’s only one entrance to the parking lot. This morning, I got impatient and parked in a different lot.
2. The huge delay from gathering everyone together and leading us to the start. But this is more of a function of the nature of the event – running over and back on the Ben Franklin Bridge – than anything else. Logistically, they have to make sure all traffic is cleared off the bridge and everything is in place.
3. A minor quibble: too many turns after mile 4. I think some of this might be forced to get to 10K. It get difficult to stay on rhythm, which I lacked today.

The bridge portion (the first half) went about as I expected (mile 1 in 7:00, mile 2 in 6:31 (mostly downhill), mile 3 in 6:50). Surprisingly, not that many people passed me on the first downhill, like had happened in the past. And today the flats just killed me. Not sure why. Saw tons of people lined up along the course, waiting to get in to see the President give a stump speech for NJ Governor Corzine (who ran today). Out of the few hundred people standing around and doing absolutely nothing, about three cheered for the runners (Thank You!). Caught a temporary side stitch around mile 5; shook it after about three minutes of so, but the damage was already done. A few people went zipping by me between miles 5 and 6.

Overall, not a bad run. At least I finished in front of the guy dressed like an extra from Braveheart. I need to do some speed work over the winter (provided I can maintain general fitness in the weather).

LBRR = long boring race report; PDR = Philadelphia Distance Run (half-marathon)

Raced today. Finishing time (1:34:46; a 7:14 per mile average pace; #988 out of 12,247) was about what I had expected, based on my general lack of training. What I had not anticipated was the huge slow-down as the race progressed. With no goal time in mind, I felt that this would be a good day just to get out there and see what happens. Things started off well (each of the first 5 miles in the 6:50 to 6:59 range, which felt comfortable), but I slowed down drastically from there. I could definitely feel the slowing down. Around mile 10 or so, my legs felt like bricks. And having a wandering mind (thinking about a whole host of things other than running) didn’t help either. I had to keep mentally checking myself back in to what I was doing.

This is one of those days where having a four story row house is not much fun – too much stair climbing when all I want to do is rest.

This Sunday will be my 10th consecutive Philadelphia Distance Run (best time: 1:30:02, in 2007).

I’m fortunate enough to have been healthy and injury-free at this time of the year for 10 years. That is something in itself. Though I am still recovering from my knee “injury” (I still don’t know whether it’s an injury or not). Not that the distinction matters. What does matter is that I lost 2 months worth of running (including the time off for injury and the recovery period to just get back to where I was). The problem was that I didn’t want to increase my mileage too fast and risk further injury, so my longest run was about 11.2 miles on August 30 (vacation plus mild taper thrown in afterwards).

Finishing won’t be a problem. I just likely won’t be racing. I have no goal time, which is good for relaxed running. I just want to be able to maintain the start corral number.

I have run exactly once in the last 15 days. This is the longest I’ve gone since I re-started running almost 10 years ago. Combine the too cold for me weather (anything below 20 degrees F, with or without wind chill) and exhaustion from studying for the PA bar exam (class at 9:00am, then work for a few hours, then home to study some more), and that leaves precious little time for running. OK, I may have wimped out a little on the weather – some days it might have been 21 or 22 degrees – but I’m not going to split hairs. I’m hoping to get out tomorrow morning, since we’re supposed to get some wintry mix Tuesday night into Wednesday. For those in warmer climes, that means snow followed by ice and/or rain, which means a colossal frickin’ mess on the streets and sidewalks. Fun!

The Philadelphia Distance Run (PDR in case you couldn’t guess) is in two weeks. I went for 12.3 on Sunday. It was not pretty. I would like to cover another 3/4 mile in about 10 minutes less. Running by myself won’t cut it. I’ll need to rely on the kindness of others to run with. I know I could try latching onto a group, but that generally doesn’t work for me. There’s usually a very loose cohesiveness and after a while, the group blows apart. Or I just wind up drifting far enough off the back that it appears to blow up. I haven’t raced in a group of strangers for years. I’m not fast enough to stay with faster people and apparently just a little too fast for others to hang on. Sort of like the way I drive, just with less cursing.

Time for another Broad Street Run LBRR (that’s long boring race report for the uninitiated). This is my 9th consecutive BSR, so you’d figure that I would pretty much have all the kinks worked out of any training plan and getting to the start. Well, you’d be wrong. My training wasn’t anywhere near where it should have been. I knew that I could run the 10 miles – that wouldn’t be a problem. The question was: how well could I do? I wasn’t expecting a PR (like last year) or even close. Too much else going on (like baby Caroline and an insane work load of late) to train as much as I would have liked. Plus, this was going to be my first race in 6 months. That was due to some scheduling “errors” on my part where other things were scheduled for days when I could have raced. Oh well…

Since it would have been impossible for Karen and I to coordinate getting Daisy up, out, and fed and get Caroline up, dressed, and fed before I would need to leave to be at the subway stop, I opted to take a bus. Luckily for me, I live close to a stop on the 29 route, and saw a bus that would get me to the station about 3 minutes before the train arrived. The bus was late – not good. But since it was just before 7:00 on a Sunday morning, we made up the time. I zipped across the street and down into the station. I heard a train coming. From the station entrance, you’re one level above where the trains are, so it’s hard to tell if it’s a northbound or southbound train. I ran for the turnstile anyway, just buzzed through (free ride up to the start), and got halfway down the stairs when I heard “Doors closing”. Oh, crap. I was about 3/4 the way down the stairs when I could see that the doors were closed and that there were plenty of seats on the train. Damn thing was early! Two Express trains and 15 minutes go by before the next local. Luckily, there are seats. I honestly don’t recall if I’ve ever sat on the subway on the way to the start.

Pre-race routines get difficult to do when there’s supposed to be around 22,000 people. Not enough room to do a decent warm-up run and find a place to stretch without banging into people and/or getting stepped on.

I hate waiting until the last minute to get into position to start, so I moseyed up about 8:15. Still no start corrals, a problem that should be solved for next year. At least, that’s what the race director said during the pre-race announcements.

Gun goes off, and we’re under way. Mile 1 in a brisk (for me) 6:22; took about 28 seconds to cross the start line. Funny thing is that this pace does not feel too fast for me. Mile 2 goes by in 6:24. Again, this doesn’t feel too fast.

An aside (I gotta figure out how to do an in-post sidebar): It’s somewhere around here where I start having to deal with “asshole runner” syndrome. Must be a consequence of the race growing, but there’s a decided lack of proper race etiquette. At least two different people pass me on the left (right next to me) and without even looking, begin sliding over to the right, to get in front of me. There’s plenty of room, and no need for this. One a-hole almost trips me by getting under my feet. Unbelievable! Later on, some ya-yo takes his half-full water cup and throws it right at my feet. “Thanks!” I say, loud enough for him to hear. I got a mumbled “Sorry” back. It’s not like we’re fighting for prizes or anything where I run in the pack. This behavior is nuts. How frickin’ difficult is it for you to look around you before you do something!?! Especially when you know there are that many people?!? Mini-rant over.

Mile 3 is in 6:34. I can begin to feel the effects of the fast first two miles. Mile 4 in 6:46. This is not good. Not only am I slowing down, but I’m slowing down a lot and I can notice it. And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Mile 5 in 6:51. Mile 6 also in 6:51. Hmm.. maybe the slowing has stabilized. I’m still a bit fatigued. Enough so that I can’t even muster the strength to look for Governor Rendell and yell my displeasure about dropping a casino 500 feet from my front door. Though with my luck, I would have said something and his security detail would have tackled me in the middle of the street.

Mile 7 in 7:01. For some reason, I think I’ve passed Mile 8 already. I’m getting a bit delirious (not Eddie Murphy Delirious, the bad kind). Mile 8 is in 7:04. This is getting worse than I thought. The people who I held roughly in view for the last few miles are fading out of sight ahead. Mile 9 in 7:10, Mile 10 in 7:11-ish (I hit the watch a bit after I cross the line in an attempt at a nice finish picture for a change) for a finish time of 1:08:14.

Not my best, but not my worst either. I’m OK with the time, just not the way I went about getting it. I would have been happier with a more consistent run. And definitely not blowing up that badly. A 50 second difference from first mile to last is a bit much. But that goes back to the lack of training in general and speed/pace work in particular. Good news is that there’s five months to PDR.