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A few months ago, my friend Lori called me and challenged me to run the Broad Street Run with her this year.  We did it together six years ago & she thought it was time again!!  I moaned & groaned, but said YES, let’s do it!! 

If you are not a runner (like me) and you do not live in the Philadelphia area, let me tell you a little about this event.  People come from all over the world to compete in this event.  This year this race attracted over 41,000 runners!   The organization holds a lottery to see who can be registered for this race!!  Well Lori & I made the cut!

The race starts in North Philadelphia & for 10 miles travels south on Broad Street through Center City Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Naval Yard where you find the finish line.  Yes—10 miles!!

What I love about this race—is that you see all kinds of runners, old & young—there is a group of grade school kids who participate,  80 year olds, traditional athletes & not so traditional (I count myself in that category).  They assign all of the different skill levels to colored corrals—you know let the professionals upfront, so they don’t knock the less skilled over!  In fact the winner of this year’s event was Haile Mengesha, his time—47 minutes, 52 seconds.  Congratulations Haile!!!!

My very dear friend Christopher was also going to be there.  Christopher had major back surgery not too long ago & he has taken on running as a way to get healthy & stay motivated.  We were so excited when we found each other in our corral!!  We hugged & hugged, and talked about how we were so proud of each other just for being there!!

One of the most amazing parts of the entire race, is that there are hundreds of volunteers handing out water & Gatorade along the way.  And even the locals who live along Broad Street come out to cheer the runners on!!  Sometimes that one person, throwing a cheer my way, really helped to keep  me motivated!! 

As we ran through the campus of Temple University, the Temple band was there to cheer everyone on!!! 

We even had REAL cheerleaders!! 

Each mile is marked with a huge sign on both sides of the road as well as a clock with the currently time of the race. 

Here is Philadelphia’s City Hall—this marks more than half way to the finish line!!!

As I rounded City Hall and came upon mile 6 (ish), I found my friend Daniel waiting & looking for me to cheer me on!!!!  He joined me for the remainder of the race!!  He also said he’d treat me to lunch for completing the race—how sweet!!!  I however chose a raincheck—I was way too tired to be social!!

As we are chatting & catching up, we spotted the mile seven marker, where Lori was waiting. Unfortunately Lori was unable to run the race with me, but she lives on Broad Street and was waiting outside of her apartment with a huge sign to cheer me on!! 

Daniel, me & Lori

Daniel kept on coaching me for the remainder of the race!!!  When we got to mile 9, I could taste the end!!!  By this time my feet were hurting & my legs felt like I had sand bags attached to them!!  But I was NOT going to give up since I had already gotten so far!! 

And then, we saw it—

Once you get to this point, there is ONLY on quarter mile left!!!  “Keep pushing Angel” Daniel cheered!!!

I saw the finish line ahead…. There were soldiers waiting to give everyone high fives for crossing the line.  I crossed, then I broke down in tears.   It was just such an emotional day.  You see, I do not consider myself an athlete—I do work out and have for many years, but this is something I had only ever done once before!  And boy was I so proud of myself for finishing.

I even got to have my picture taken with Mayor Michael Nutter, he was so nice!!

I have to tell you that nothing was as sweet as receiving my medal for completing the race-

My time was 2 hours & 40 minutes—last time I finished in about 2 hours & 35 minutes, I did not train as hard this time, so I was very happy with my time!  Not bad for a non-athlete!! 

While running this race, Christopher & I lost each other, but I was very happy that he finished just a few minutes after me with a time of 2 hours & 49 minutes!

Kristy who works with me at Quacker Factory also competed in this race!  She runs more often that I do, but I was so proud of her for finishing in less than two hours—1 hour 55 minutes!!!  Go girl!!!!

Claudine, Heather & Kristy

I am so proud of all of the runners for completing their goal of finishing the Broad Street Run!  So what goals do you have for yourself??  You won’t accomplish anything, unless you Dream Big (as Jeanne used to say).  Set those goals & put it on the wall!!!! 

Until next time—Quack, Quack—

Angel

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