While I’ve been running since middle school, this was only my second non-school-related race. The first one was a 5k. I’m not sure what made me think that a 10 miler was the logical next step. I was pretty nervous before the start, but I’ve got to be honest. I loved it. We took the El and the Broad Street line from West Philly and arrived in plenty of time to wait in lines for the bathroom and gear check. We did a lighthearted warm up to a selection of pop songs and then headed towards Broad to find our corrals. Once I reached my corral, my jitters ebbed away and I got a kick of adrenaline.
Remember how this weekend had record-setting high temperatures? By the start of the race at 8:30 am, it was already in the upper 70’s. The folks behind the scenes were prepared for the heat. Water and Gatorade stations about every two miles and sprinklers attached to fire hydrants along the race route made the heat a nuisance rather than a threat. Sure it may have slowed me down a few seconds each time I made a bee line across the street towards the sprinklers, but at least my body felt good at the end of the race. Good enough to enjoy the rest of my Sunday with some mango sorbetto and a good deal of time outside enjoying the sun.
Congratulations to anyone who wheeled, ran, walked, combined the two, etc… You did it! A huge thanks to the volunteers, organizers, and the folks cheering from the side lines. My knees are pretending that they don’t want to function this week but I expected it from them. I’ll let it go this time, but I think they’re in for more races in the near future.
-Dawne
Photo by Conrad
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