This run started about 3.25 miles away. My friend Jesse knew parking down at the start would be a shit show, so we started out run in the dark down the Schuylkill River trail and it was magnificent! Cool and breezy at a nice pace.
We showed up about 45 minutes before the race start, and just walked the staging area which was filled with people doing stretches and adjusting their iPhone arm bands and such.
This was the race I was sort of training for all summer. The sweaty runs, the time at the gym, this was the event I really wanted to push and see what I could do. Especially since I’ve been working on losing weight since June 1st – like, for-real trying to lose weight. I was down to about 180lbs at this race, down from 195 in June and feeling great.
The race started off and I was motoring along. I was in the E corral, which I’m finding I am way underestimating my speed these days, and end up spending a lot of energy just passing slower people in front of me. As we headed south on a skinny street, I had to get up on the sidewalk to pass people in front of me. Usually moving that fast would have winded me, but it was a cool morning in the high 60s or so, and I was feeling great.
At one point on Washington Ave, heading West, the sun was beating down, and it was starting to get rough. There were less people cheering, and all the runners were spread out, so it just felt slower. But then it headed north again, and again, on a narrow street, so it felt faster, and I found myself passing a handful of other runners.
I kept glancing at my watch, and couldn’t believe the numbers. Mile two I hit 9:08, and mile three was 8:50. What? I mean, I’ve did some of those Nike Run Club speed runs, but those are like, “run fast for 2 minutes,” but here I was running a MILE at those paces?! What? My last full mile (mile 6) was 9:01.
I wanted to get under an hour, and I did, hitting an official time of 56:27 (official results, Strava), which is a 9:05 pace. I still can’t believe how well it went.
