Broad Street 10 Miler (1:10.08)

Broad Street 10 Miler is one of my favorite races in the US. It has the energy of a major marathon without having to run a marathon. The crowds can’t be beat, and generally, I have a good time. My two goals for 2023 were to take a weekend trip somewhere and to be smarter with my credit card points. A weekend trip on credit card points achieved that goal. My parents decided they would drive the 6 hours up from Virginia and meet me, plus my brother. So it became a quick family vacation, which is fine be me. Philadelphia was a mixture a light and pouring rain the entire weekend.

Before the Broad Street 10 Miler:

I can’t say I prepared exceptionally well. After the LA marathon, I ran a few workouts and hoped for the best—the day before, I ended up getting 30,000 steps from walking and running. So I didn’t exactly rest and stay off my feet. I wasn’t too worried, and Broad Street 10 Miler was just supposed to be fun. I knew on a perfect day I could run under 1:10. The Broad Street 10 Miler was anything but that. It called for a torrential downpour which happened around mile 9.

My brother drove us to the Broad Street 10 Miler start, and my dad and I arrived incredibly early (6:30, LOL). We mostly relaxed, used the bathroom, and met up with a few friends. By the time we knew it, it was time to run. I did about a 1-mile warmup. I planned for two but it didn’t work out with timing and trying to get to the corral. Last time I got stuck and was unable to get to the starting line until a few seconds before (due to just so many people). So I wanted to avoid that.

Broad Street 10 Miler Race:

The Broad Street 10 Miler started about 5 minutes late. I applied and somehow got a seeded bib. There is a check box during registration that says: do you want to apply for a seeded bib. I thought it really doesn’t hurt anything right? Broad Street Run gives 200 seeded bibs, with the first 100 being for elites. Elites get all the perks, and 101-200 have the “glory” of having a seeded bib. It didn’t do anything for me, but hey it was cool to have. The elites get a bus, special bathroom, etc. I lined up in the same spot that I would have without it. I was surprised any of my current times got me a seeded bib, but I am not complaining.

I started the Broad Street 10 Miler needing to pee, which eventually won out around mile 4. My goal for the first mile was to run relaxed. I didn’t feel like I was working too hard, and I ended up with a 6:59. With the lack of sub-7-minute miles I’ve done lately, I should consider that too hard. Many people were passing me, but I knew if I got caught up in the running faster, I might feel terrible towards the end. I didn’t *really* have any business doing any miles in the 6:50s because I haven’t done that pace much in the last year. My fastest half recently was Napa Valley, and I averaged 7:05. We had a headwind, and I knew I could do more, but that was has been my fastest time.

I didn’t feel great during the second mile of Broad Street 10 Miler. I wasn’t breathing hard but needed to use the bathroom, and my legs felt stiff. I probably needed another mile warmup. But I just kept trucking and ran a 6:53. I thought: Maybe I can break 1:10 today.

I ran a 6:57 next mile and thought I was stopping at a bathroom. My bladder just felt heavy, and I didn’t want to cramp. We had a couple of slight uphills on mile 4 of the Broad Street 10 Miler, and I ran a 7:02.

The next mile was when I found a bathroom. I ended up spending about 20 seconds in there. After I came out, I felt a lot better and just felt better overall. Before the bathroom stop I felt stiff and heavy. With the stop, I ran a 7:14 mile 5 Of course, around mile 5, my shoe started coming untied, and I wasn’t going to run another 5 miles with untied shoes. I quickly moved off the course and tied my shoes. Why am I having all of these personal problems today? I thought, LOL. But I was having fun and running faster than I had. If you take out the stop at mile 6 I ran a 6:33 (with the stop 6:41). I hate to think “what if” but it was really a confidence boost because I haven’t run a 6:33 in a race in a long time.

It started raining around mile 7 of Broad Street 10 Miler, but it wasn’t too bad. As the miles clicked along, I began to feel better. I ran a 6:45 followed by a 6:52. The longer we ran, the better I felt. I was hitting miles averaging below a 7-minute pace, but I had also run a few tangents poorly and darted to the bathroom, so I was above 7-minute official times.

I knew by mile 9 of the Broad Street 10 Miler it would be close to 1:10, but the skies opened up, we had a hill, and my shoes became very heavy. My last mile was a 7:07 pace. I could see the clock as I attempted to sprint in but ended up with a 1:10.08. So close! Mile 10 went under a bridge and it was flooded. I could feel the splish splashing of standing water.

Broad Street 10 Miler Thoughts:

I’m happy with my time. It is my slowest Broad Street Run, but I thought I needed a “good day” to run under 1:10, and I had many issues and was so close. I ran some of my fastest miles in a couple of years so that is motivating.

I can’t remember the last time I averaged that many sub-7-minute miles in a race, but it hasn’t even been in a 10k. So I knew I was progressing in fitness even though it was not as fast as I would like.