May 2016 Running Challenge

Firstly, welcome to all the newbies and congrats to everyone on their races this past weekend. It seems like everyone was very happy with their results, and I can tell you that it truly makes me so much happier to know that others did so well because I know we all have our bad days and our good days, and I really need to remind myself of that right now.

My (long) Sunday recap:
I ran the Broad Street run in Philadelphia. For anyone who may not be familiar with it, it is the largest 10-mile road race in the US with somewhere around 40,000 entrants. It's a race that has been on my bucket list since I started running about six years ago. I won a spot in the lottery last year, but I injured my hip about a month before the race and had to defer. My injury hung me up for about four months - it just wouldn't heal. Deferment meant that I was guaranteed a race spot this year. I have heard so many awesome things about Broad Street. The race actually nets a slight decline, and it runs straight down Broad Street from Central High School in North Philly to the Navy Yard in South Philly making it flat, fast, straight, and the spectators along the length of the ten miles was supposed to be just awesome. I had myself so much looking forward to this race, and I decided it would probably be a once a done thing for me.

Sunday morning, my boyfriend's mom dropped us off at the start around 7:10am. It was so damn cold and rainy. My boyfriend hung out with me until about 7:45am at which time I got into my corral. I decided to not change corrals and just place myself at the front of my assigned corral, which seemed to actually work very well for me. The race started at 8:00am, but my corral didn't take off until about 4 minutes to 9:00am. By this time, it was pouring, and the temp was somewhere around 45 degrees F. Around mile 2, I decided I had to pee. I think it was just from being cold and wet. I contemplated stopping, still having 8 miles to go, and I decided to do so to be on the safe side. Besides, I was there for "fun" not to beat myself up. I stopped, and it took me almost exactly 10 minutes to get through the line and start back on my way.

It poured, then just rained, the entire time until I got to Center City. A few blocks north of City Hall, it was just drizzling, which was awesome. My boyfriend graduated from Roman Catholic High School for Boys, which is on the corner of Broad and Vine in Center City Philly, so he decided to wait there to see me pass. He actually ran with me, in his jeans while holding an umbrella, for about a quarter mile towards City Hall where he left me to hop on the subway to make his way to the Navy Yard. This was a nice little break in things, because I was starting to get pretty miserable around this point. I was soaked and my body was just tired, though I'm not entirely sure why. His little stretch of encouragement that happened to come shortly after a run through Temple University's campus, where the students were just awesome, helped lift my mood a bit.

By the time I got around City Hall (and made a front-and-center appearance on NBC 10 news), it was outright raining, again, and the rain continued, steadily, for the remainder of the morning. There's really nothing exciting going on between City Hall and the Navy Yard, and pretty much everyone I talked to at the start told me that the second half of the race is not nearly as exciting and interesting as the first half, so I was expecting a whole lot of nothing. I ate my gel, had some Gatorade and a bunch of water, and plugged along.

Somewhere during mile 8, my intestines decided they didn't like me anymore. I knew it wasn't going to be an issue, but it definitely wasn't comfortable. This was something I had never experienced during a race, before. I continued to plug along. Then, I hit the last water stop. Just before I went to take a cup of water, something didn't feel right, and I looked down at my hand. My hand was so swollen, I didn't think I could actually grasp the cup, so I gave the guy a high five and kept running. I think I confused him, but he laughed and wished me luck. Then, shortly after the mile 9 marker, my legs decided to revolt. My joints were getting a little stiff before this point, but now my legs were cramping. It was the weirdest thing I had ever felt in my life - muscles cramping up, but with absolutely no pain. My legs decided to just stop functioning, and I was starting to stiffen up from the waist down. By the time I reached the gate to the Navy Yard (about a quarter mile to the finish line), the toes on my left foot would curl under every time I lifted my leg to take a step. I felt myself losing my balance a few times, so I stopped to walk fearing I would end up on my face. I spotted my boyfriend with is phone facing me, so I jogged past him for his photo or video or whatever he was doing. I then walked for about .15 miles, and decided there was no way I was going to be seen walking across the finish line, so I "booked it" for the last little stretch. I had decided that I would rather look like I was giving it my all and fall flat on my face than copping out at the finish.

I, thankfully, did not fall, but I was swollen, stiff, completely soaked, and freezing. I also must have been a bit out of it because they were handing out mylar blankets and water bottles somewhere after the finish line, and I 100% did not see them or even notice people had these things until after I made my way through the tent where they handed out the medals and bags of foodstuff. Both would have been very nice to have at that point, but I couldn't get back out of the little festival, and I just wanted to get on the shuttle to the subway station. I found my boyfriend, I handed him the bag, he commented on how swollen my hands were, and we went to the shuttle bus. After we tried getting on six different buses and were turned away from each of them, we just walked to the subway. I was quite angry, as were many people around me, but I really just wanted to leave. I figured, at that point, I was already freezing and soaked, so it couldn't get much worse. It was about a mile walk to the subway from where we were. My boyfriend tried giving me his umbrella several times, which was quite sweet, though I was so wet it really made no difference at that point. He, at least, was partially dry, so I told him to just keep it. No point in us both being soaked. I don't think I had ever been so happy to be on a subway car than I was yesterday. It was dry, kind of warm, and I could sit. I froze, again, for the next two-block walk to the car, where I covered myself in a towel and roasted my boyfriend out of the car for the drive back to his parents' where I took a super-hot shower before my boyfriend and I drove over to one of my favorite brunch spots so I could have my favorite French toast.

Today, everything about my legs are sore, and the knee that was giving me trouble last month is in quite a bit of pain. My HRM also ripped a horizontal line into my chest, yesterday, and it is quite painful. I never had this happen, before, but I guess it was from just being outright soaked for so long. My hands are also a little sore - I guess it was from them being so swollen, yesterday? I'm not sure.

I finished with a not so great, but not completely awful finish time, and it would have been improved by 10 minutes had I not had to stop to pee.

I decided I'm going to run Broad Street, again. Maybe I'll do it next year. This was not in my original life plan, but I feel like I have to give it a second shot. What I believed would have been one of the most fun races of my life turned into the downright most miserable one. There were actually a few hundred people who came out to cheer on the runners, which was super admirable, but it was nothing like I had seen on TV for past years. Also, by the fourth sign that said something to the effect of "hurry up, I'm cold" I wanted to punch the person with the sign in the face. Actually, one person at the back of City Hall had a sign and was actually saying this to the runners going past him. The runner directly in front of me yelled over to him "*kitten* you" as she flipped him off and continued on her way. I laughed then looked at the very stunned sign holder and shrugged, but I secretly wanted to high-five the runner in front of me. The energy running through Temple was outright awesome, and it is what I would imagine most of the race being like that had it not been 45 degrees and raining the entire morning. My fingers are crossed that next year, or whenever I managed to snag a lottery spot, again, the weather on Broad Street Run day will be a bit nicer.

EDIT: In all my complaining, I forgot to mention that despite how awful I felt, I actually managed to run in negative splits.

05/01 10.00 mi – Broad Street Run
TOTAL 10.00 mi
GOAL: 45.00 mi

Upcoming Races:
06/04 – Wissahickon Trail Classic (10K)
08/06 – Foreman Foundation Chocolate Tour 10K
09/18 – Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon
10/09 – 5,000 Yards Dash