Hitting The Pavement

This past Sunday I, along with 30,000 other runners and my favorite gal Caitlin, took part in the Broad Street Run, a ten-mile foot race straight through the heart of my beloved Philadelphia. The following is an artist's rendering of what would have been a blog post had I been running with a lap top, but alas, I'm pretty sure ten miles of asphalt is not the best place to pick up Wi-Fi. To the tale!...

THE START (8:30am): And we're off! After going on a quick warm-up jog and doing some nice stretching in the grass (and after waiting in line twice to use the Port-o-Potty...hey, it's a ten mile race and I've been drinking a lot of water!), Caitlin and I are off and running! The first few miles are really just a jumble of people weaving around each other, so I'm just coasting along at the pace of my fellow runners. It's a bit overcast, but getting warmer. What a beautiful day!

MILE 2: Caitlin informs me that we're hovering around an 8-minute mile. At this point I've given up hope that I will catch the Kenyans, as they have probably finished the race by now. To my left and right are some of Philly's finest- drum lines, bands, homeless people, priests and nuns- everyone has come out to line the sides of the course and cheer us on. I figure it's pretty cool that people get up and cheer as 30,000 strangers run by their front door on a Sunday morning. But then I also figure that I'm about to run into a middle-aged woman wearing purple, so I deftly maneuver to the left. Crisis averted.

MILE 3: Fire hydrant! The city has opened a number of hydrants along the course, and they are spraying fountains of cool relief upon the runners! Caitlin and I see one ahead, and we make straight-away for it. As I pass under the technically wasting of water, I feel like I have been transported the final seconds of the Splash Mountain ride at Disney World. Mmmm, Disney World. Then, seconds later, I am back in the ever-emerging sun. I wonder when the next fire hydrant will appear...

MILE 5: Meat and potatoes time (not literally, of course, because who would want to eat meat and potatoes during a race? Certainly not I!). Where City Hall seemed an eternity away at Mile 1, it is now staring me right in the face. Our pace has remained around 8 mins, and I'm starting to feel it. Come on legs, don't fail me now!

MILE 6: Ouch! It feels as if a bystander threw a knife into my side. Could it have been Gov. Ed Rendell, whom I just passed? No, he doesn't have it out for me...does he? Turns out, because I was running so incredibly fast, I'm now cramping up! Caitlin tells me to grab some Gatorade, which I do, though in my attempt to drink it, I get most of it on my shirt. Whoa baby, this thing stings! Let's slow down that pace a bit...

MILE 7: Well, now our pace has slowed, and City Hall is getting further behind us with every step. We're passing over famous streets like Market and South, and the stadiums are on the horizon. Our fellow runners have gotten more quiet; everyone seems to be mustering the intestinal fortitude required to finish these last three miles. Come on Scott, you can finish this race that you voluntarily signed up for!

MILE 8: Another fire hydrant. My shirt is soaked. I utter to Caitlin, "Ahh, my legs!" She responds, "Mine too!" But wait! What is this? Recognizable faces in the crowd! Caitlin's parents call to us from the side of the road, and about ten seconds later, my family cheers us on from the other side! I guess it's true what they say, that parents can always pick out their children from a crowd of 30,000 who basically all look the same.

MILE 9: The final push! I dig deep and quicken the pace a bit, because hey, in eight more minutes, we can stop running! I barely pay heed to the stadiums on the left (where my Phillies will put on a shalacking of the Mets later in the night...but I digress), and now we're now approaching the Navy Yard. After a few misleading arches over the street, I finally see the finish line. Caitlin and I go for broke- end of the road, here we come!

FINISH: A second after I stop running, I am so glad I did this. What a cool experience for all runners and for the city, to be out and doing something together on this beautiful day. As Caitlin and I catch our breaths, chug a lot of water, and eat a Philly soft pretzel (what else would we eat?), we meet up with our families and watch some more runners go by. For us, it was no walk in the park to complete this race, but for many others, people who were running for more personal reasons, overcoming greater challenges and obstacles, to cross the finish line is a true achievement. Now it's time for some WaWa hoagies!

Philadelphia, I just think you are the greatest.