Haus of Jacula : Broad Street is OVER! Time to party!

Today was the Philadelphia Broad Street run. Last night I hit the sack early and woke up at 4:40 this morning to eat what I could and start the drive down to the city. While taking the subway to the start, I reminisced about last year, and how I was so overwhelmed by the runners who were participating in the race. I longed to be out there with them, and now was the time. Unfortunately, as many of you know, a lack of effort and preparation in training went into this race, so naturally I was nervous. With my cousin Amanda and my brother and Becky by my side the race began. During the first mile, I was miserable and thinking this was going to be the longest 10 miler of my life. I pressed on and somewhere around City Hall ( mile 5) I got into a solid pace I was comfortable with. My mom and Tyler's girlfriend were at mile 6 which made it easier to keep going. I just kept telling myself to get to mile 8 then, If I needed to stop I would. It was a rough road to mile 8, but a water station was on the horizon so I kept going. I grabbed a water and looked up to thank the generous volunteer and BAM! I realized that the silver fox in front of me was no other than David Murphy from Action News! I love love love love Action News! I screamed "Oh my God I love you!" and went in for a hug. I am sure I smelled like a goat but whatever, I was in heaven. I ran away and was in disbelief. I swear my dad sent me that run in with David Murphy to make it to the end. Former Mayor Ed Rendell was also on the course, cheering people on. Its amazing taking part in something that large. 35,000 people ran today and for each one of them the streets were lined with people cheering and screaming to continue. Its pretty overwhelming running and having that much support. It was incredible, and by mile 10 I was glad I had finally made it to the naval yard ( race finish) and done the race. Congratulations to all the Broad Street participants and thank you to my mom who came out to support my brother and I today. I would also like to give a shout out and a congratulations to my friend Dan Santos, who ran his first half marathon today to raise money for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Great job Dan!