... and in marches summer

A little while back, I made myself some promises. Once Broad Street was over, I'd go to the doctor to treat my stress fracture and I'd get on my bike. You know, the one I spent several hundred dollars on almost two years ago. The same one that's a nice 'conversation piece' in the living room. I'm embarrassed to say that I could count on my fingers how many times I've ridden the dang thing (probably on one hand). It needs a tune up (derailer issues) before I ride it and I'm too embarrassed to take a bike that has clearly seen little use to the bike shop. I need to get over it. And, no, I haven't scheduled a doctor's appointment yet, but you know what... the ole leg is feeling pretty okay, so I'll likely ignore it again for a while.

And now onto the purpose of this entry: as if this needs stating... today was Broad Street. This race holds a lot of significance for me as it was the inspiration for me getting involved in this bloody sport. I always think of Polly, my dear friend from graduate school who I watched run Broad Street in 2001. She's in Indiana now raising a family and kicking some serious neuropsych-ass out there. I miss her and think of her when I run this race.

Going into today, I didn't have great feelings for how I would do. I'd been fighting off a cold and recovering from last weekend's half marathon. To add injury to insult, I did something - I have no idea what - to my left foot yesterday. Kind of feels like a mild sprain just below the outer ankle and I was keenly aware of it as I walked around pre-race this morning. But this was Broad Street, I'd be damned if I was going to let those things dampen my spirits too much.

Along with the typical excitement, I learned this morning that this was Amy's first Broad Street. How could that possibly be?, I wondered aloud. Subways, she said... she was intimidated by the whole taking-the-subway-to-the-start thing. I didn't even bother trying to wrap my head around this weird 'logic' that has kept her (a local and a long time runner) from ever running this race! Whatever. We did the usual pre-race wandering around...waiting in porto-potty lines (singing about 'workin' on our fitness'), pinning on race numbers, dreading taking off that last layer so we could stow our bag on the bus, and lining up with the 17,000+ other registrants.

I don't have much to say about the race itself. It's Broad Street!, so it's fun... lots of positive energy, drums, dance troupes, and it's downhill (and we had a nice tailwind much of the way). As I suspected it might, my foot felt fine during the race. I barely gave it a second thought. I was tired, though... around mile three I was thinking that this would be a long race. It was about at that point that Amy pulled away from me and Stacey caught up to and quickly passed me. It was fine... I was tired, glad to see my friends having a good race. I tried not to have too much of that save-yourself-I'm-wounded-on-the-battlefield mentality. To my surprise, I was sustaining pretty good splits - around 8:20. It felt like work though. I had some slower miles, but nothing too far off.

Just before mile 9, I spied Amy again. I was surprised, but happy that I had caught up. I didn't want to catch her too soon for fear that I wouldn't be able to hang on and she'd smoke me like a salmon in the last half mile. I held on and caught her within the last half mile. We entered the Navy Yard together and were both glad to be just about done. This being her first Broad Street, Amy asked where the damn finish line was (she had had enough). I told her it's always farther than you think, but that it should only be another minute or so ahead. We pretty much ran it in together... I think she finished just before me, but I won't be sure until we see the results. Seebo marvels at how we truly don't have that end-of-race competitiveness with each other.

Of course, it was good to be done.... and much to my delight and surprise, I finished only about 30 seconds behind my time from last year - and still in the 1hr 23min time frame. I could not have been more surprised or pleased. Well, of course that's not true - I could have been more pleased... if I had bested my time from last year, but, really, considering that I didn't even think I'd come close, I was very happy with the outcome.

We caught up with Kevin and then Seebo near the awards stage. Seebo, doing a fine OMW (old man walk), but otherwise looking good after another SPRNTC performance. Amy asked how long he'd walk like that. I estimated 'til Tuesday (good 80's band, incidentally) - we'll see how my prediction fares. Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice post-race party at Matt's place - just a mile or so from the Navy Yard ("Hey, there's boats!", Amy marveled as we walked back to the car. Seebo was glad to know he's not the only one to space such things.)

So now we're unofficially off to the summer. The spring races are all but over and racing will slow, if not stop, until the fall. While I'm glad for the break, I'm sad in a way. It's been a good spring.

P.S. Sad news about a fellow runner.