Broad Street - Best Race Ever! - 10 miles (964 total)

10.03 miles (Garmin link)
1:12:04 (1:12:00 chip time)
7:11 pace

Rainy this morning - threw on an old sweatshirt and caught the trolley instead of biking. Made it out to Broad and Olney in 35 minutes. Rain let up, and left perfect running weather - mid-50's and overcast. Had about 45 minutes to stretch and warm up. Much easier getting out the gate this year. For the first time, runners were assigned corrals, and start times were staggered. With 26,900 runners, this made the first mile much faster than last year's - 7:07.

Tried to concentrate on form and keeping sustainable respiration and effort level. Each split surprised me - it was not difficult to keep a consistent 7:10-20, which was faster than I had planned. Easily surpassed my goal time of 1:15 (7:30 pace) and beat last year's time by nearly 10 minutes. Mile 10 was the fastest at 6:49.

Chris and I finished within a minute of each other. We must have been yards apart through most of the race, but I didn't see him till after the finish. My old running mentor Raymond finished a minute ahead of me. Talked to old colleague Alan before and after the race - he beat his target 6:30 pace substantially and had a finish time of 1:02. Scott ran, but I didn't run into him. Saw a few other acquaintances along the way. Looked up at one point and saw Governor Rendell cheering us on - he was right in there with the rest of the hoi polloi.

Now, three hours after the end of the race, I feel no indication of injury. Hoping to be no more than a little sore tomorrow.

[Photo from Broad and Wharton in South Philly at about mile 7 courtesy of my buddy Tony Robertson, who was there to see his son Cole, 15, do his first 10-miler in 1:35! I'm the guy in the center with the horizontal red stripe across his back.]