Broad Street Run:  What JUST HAPPENED?

Broad Street Run, 2006: 1:43:47 on the Chip.
Broad Street Run, 2007: 1:29.37 on the Chip.

I’m not sure how I did it, really.  8:49 pace for 10 miles?  I’ve never done that.  Ever.  I lined up with my father-in-law (who also PR’d that day and beat me by 30 seconds), and we strided with the 8 minute milers all the way down Broad Street.  As my Garmin 305 kept beeping at each mile, I was amazed to watch sub 9 minute miles unfurl, one after the next.  I PR’d my 5K, 10K and 10 miler in a way that I never dreamed possible.

I knocked just about 14 minutes off of last year’s race.  I must say I feel like a different runner than I was last year. 

Not to mention I did the Country Music Half Marathon the week before and PR’d there as well (2:09:33, which is about 5 minutes off my best Half Mary).

My father-in-law and I used to debate whether or not I should call myself a “runner.” I was hesitant to do so because I thought that only those who are fast have the right to call themselves runners.  I was dead-wrong.

Running is about improving yourself.  It’s about pushing yourself harder than you thought you could.  It’s about running behind someone who is out there for their 8 year old son who died of Leukemia and pushing harder, for them, while remembering that your life could be a lot worse.  It’s about just being alive and healthy enough to put one foot in front of the other repeatedly.  And when you make it to the finish line 14 minutes faster than you did a year ago, it’s about remembering that you are, in all respects, a work in progress.

I became an official runner the day I put on my new running shoes and had the courage to open my front door and step outside.

Looks like I’ve been a runner for longer than I thought.

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