The Broad Street 10-Miler has been on my to-run list for a long time, but it's usually on the same weekend as the Frederick Running Festival, one of my favorite local races! This year, us four Joyful Milers decided to make it a fun weekend trip and I'm so glad we did!

We first had a BLAST touring Philadelphia and running up those amazing steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art the day prior. I mean, come on, you just have to! The expo was a total breeze ... very organized with many vendors, freebies, and fun photo opportunities. Big thumbs up!

On race day, we didn’t get up too early the morning of the race, but we probably should have left a tad bit earlier since we were staying in Delaware. (A mistake ... next time I do this race, I'll want to stay closer.) The forecast was also not looking great ... rain, rain, and lots more rain, so we made sure to dress appropirately ... or as close as posible. We left our hotel about 6:00 am, thinking we had plenty of time to make the 30 minute drive to South Philly but heavy traffic made this decision another mistake. We navigated the lane closures but got stuck in a huge line waiting to exit the bridge (to get to the stadium parking). Yep. Staying closer is well-worth the money!

We finally made our way to the subway along with lots of other runners. At least we make the express subway train vs. the every station stop train. The subway train was packed and with the weather the way it was, it was actually a blessing not to be standing and waiting in the corrals. By the time we exited the subway, the race had already started. We made our way to ‘find’ our corral, but we were directed to the side. The green corral was filtering into start, and we just happened to land there. No stretching, no thinking – just start running. We still had our ponchos on, said our good-bye and good-luck to one another and started the race.

In hindsight, the ‘late to the start’ was one of the best things that could have happened. I didn't have much time to think about things and just ran, doing my best to take in the amazing crowd support and cheering. Even with the bad weather, there was still pretty decent crowd support. I can only imagine how it'd be under normal conditions! I kept moving at a pretty good pace, keeping my conversation with Rob to a minimum since we were clearly both in a zone.

At about the halfway point, I asked if he'd be okay if I went ahead. Fine by him! We were both freezing and just wanted to finish by that point. So I went into major PR mode while still trying to take in the gorgeous historic buildings and sites. Even with the chill and being soaked to the bone, I thoroughly enjoyed the race and kept smiling!

As I approached the home stretch, I was ready to finish. And I mean ready. Megan had already warned us of the ‘fake’ finish line – meaning you aren’t done when they take your picture and you still have about a 1/2 a mile to run. Good thing she did because I might have been irked otherwise! Soon the finish line came in sight as well as volunteers handing out much-needed mylar blankets. Many thanks to all the volunteers!

Afterward, my fingers were so numb I had to ask a volunteer for help putting on my medal. I then sloshed my way through the rows were snacks were arranged on tables, trying not to drop everything! I then got my bag from bag check and found a quite corner, layering on as many clothes and extra blankets as my frozen fingers could. I soon met up with Rob and we decided to head on back to the parking lot and sit in Megan's van with the heat blasting until the others returned!

All in all, the Broad Street 10-Miler is a fantastic race at an extremely good price. I also appreciate how they offer a legal bib transfer system because things happen! I definitely want to do this race again with (hopefully) better weather. So much to see and do, great crowd support, and very well-organized!

Here's my video recap if you'd like to see more!

The Expo: https://youtu.be/_2BbD0eRVks
The Race: https://youtu.be/AbiHkQQ8TL0

Link to this review