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Well, my first Broad Street Run is in the books…
I completed today’s 10-mile Broad Street Run in 1:36:17. You can click here to view my result, but a) first make sure the “year” drop-down menu says “2014” and b) then search for my bib number: 24716. (Note: When you see the results, I am the Brian Kelley at the top, and that’s it…I have no idea who the other one was listed in all those other events at the bottom of the page.) This was my first “big event” as I ran down Philly’s Broad Street alongside 40,000 people. Plus, it was very cool to run through the heart of a city that I love so much.
I did see some areas in need of improvement regarding the event itself, which was surprising to me since this was its 35th year…and, actually, that in itself was part of the problem. The finisher’s medal incorrectly says “35th anniversary” instead of “35th annual”…the words “annual” and “anniversary” are not interchangeable. It was the 35th edition of the annual race. However, an anniversary can only happen a year after the initial event. Think about it…I got married in 2010 so my first anniversary was 2011, my second anniversary 2012…and so on. Pretty basic stuff. This year marked just the 34th anniversary of the first Broad Street Run (2014-1980=34). I’ll address that and some other issues in a separate post later.
Anyway…in addition to running a pretty good race (for me, anyway), I want to say that I feel great and I am no longer experiencing any of the health issues discussed in my last post. That said, I am following up on everything to see if I can find a cause for the numbness I was experiencing.
Now that the Broad Street Run is behind me, I have to get back to training for the Atlantic City Triathlon on Sept. 14, and then the Trenton Half-Marathon on Nov. 8, 2014. (See the January 18 update and original post below for background information.)
Please see the Training Tracker below to follow my major training swims, rides and runs. And, again, I apologize for not yet having a chance to reverse the order of the tracker so that the more recent results are at top…hopefully, I’ll get to that for the next update.
1/18/2014 UPDATE:
Earlier this month (see original post below), I wrote about training for my first half-marathon, the Trenton (N.J.) Half-Marathon taking place Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014, and my other goal of reaching a target weight of 168 pounds.
Well, when I wrote that, I was also eyeing another ridiculously ambitious goal…competing and finishing in the Atlantic City International Triathlon on Sept. 14, 2014. However, I was still waiting to hear back from the organizers regarding a question about my bike. Well, I was given the information I needed and have officially registered for the event, which includes a one-mile swim, a 20-mile bike ride and a 10K (6.2-mile) run.
I’ve never done an official half-marathon before, but at least I’ve run 13.1 miles in training so I know I can do it. I have completed a swim of around a mile, have ridden 20 miles on a bike many times before and have 6.2 miles several times. However, I am in no way ready to do all of these in sequence at one time, but I’m learning as fast as I can how to get myself trained and conditioned for it.
So I must revise the 2014 fitness goals I listed in the original post. They are now: 1) get weight down to (and stay at/near) 168 pounds, 2) complete the Atlantic City International Triathlon, and 3) complete the Trenton Half-Marathon.
Wow…when you write it all out, it looks daunting. What was I thinking? Oh well, nothing to do now but to get in shape and ready to compete.
At the bottom of each of these posts, you will find a training tracker so you can follow my progress.
Original Post – January 9, 2014:
Last year, I tracked my training for the Trenton 10K, which took place Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013. It was the first organized race I have run other than a 5K. I finished the Trenton 10K with a chip time of 59:46.399, and my goal was to finish in less than an hour…so mission accomplished.
But as I watched the half-marathon runners start their race that morning, I regretted not being more ambitious with my running goals. After finally shaking off a persistent head cold I came down with the day after the race, I mapped out a route and completed a test run of 13.1 miles in 2:27:27—and, admittedly, that included about a half-mile of walking.
Now that I know I can do it, I want to announce here that I have registered for the 2014 Trenton Half-Marathon, taking place Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014.
I also want to use this opportunity to finally get into the proverbial “best shape of my life”— a sports cliché used by so many aging veterans heading into training camp. The holidays and two bouts with colds have basically put me back to square one as far as conditioning is concerned, but next week I’m going to start getting serious about working out everyday and tracking my caloric intake. And, of course, I’ll be tracking my training runs here on the blog.
In addition to training for the half marathon, it is my goal to finally get down to 168 pounds, which means losing about 23 pounds. I had lost 35 pounds back in 2006 after a false heart disease scare, but my weight-loss efforts stalled at 173—leaving me five pounds shy of my goal. Unfortunately, I gained nearly all of the weight I lost back again within the following year and have only been able to lose about 10-15 pounds a couple of times since then.
So…those are my two main goals for 2014: 1) complete the Trenton Half Marathon, 2) get down (and stay at/near) 168 pounds.
I’ll be posting updates on my progress here every so often. The table below includes my swim/bike/run distances and times during this training period. Items in bold are personal records or other milestones. Also, I finally reversed the order of the table so that the most recent activity is at top…
| Date | Swim/Bike/Run Distance | Time |
| 5/4/2014 | 10.0 miles (Nike+ recorded 10.2 miles) (run) | 1:36:21 – Broad Street Run (10-mile personal-best) |
| 5/2/2014 | 3.1 miles (run) | 28:15 |
| 5/1/2014 | 3.1 miles (run) | 26:23 (5K-distance personal best) |
| 4/28/2014 | 4 miles (run) | 35:44 |
| 4/24/2014 | 10 miles (run) | 1:39:04 (10-mile personal best) |
| 4/22/2014 | 5.02 miles (run) | 50:18 |
| 4/21/2014 | 5.02 miles (run) | 46:38 (5-mile personal best) |
| 4/13/2014 | 3.1 miles (run) | 26:57 official chip time – Barnabas Health Lakewood BlueClaws 5K |
| 4/9/2014 | 3.14 miles (run) | 26:52 (26:35 personal best 5K time) |
| 4/2/2014 | 3.11 miles (run) | 26:51 |
| 3/27/2014 | 10 miles (run) | 1:45:49 |
| 3/21/2014 | 15.25 mile ride followed by 6.21 mile run | 59:25 (bike)/1:05:14 (run) |
| 3/11/2014 | 18.46 mile ride followed by 3.11 mile run | 1:10:09 (bike)/30:40 (run) |
| 3/6/2014 | 6.21 miles (run) | 58:45 (10K personal best) |
| 2/21/2014 | 6.21 miles (run) | 1:01:34 |
| 2/11/2014 | 3.11 miles (run) | 30:55 |
| 2/10/2014 | 1.02 miles (swim) – 72 laps (25-yd pool) | approx. 40 minutes |
| 2/6/2014 | 1.02 miles (swim) – 72 laps (25-yd pool) | approx. 40 minutes |
| 2/4/2014 | 0.57 miles (swim) – 40 laps (25-yd pool) | unknown |
| 1/31/2014 | 1.14 miles (swim) – 80 laps (25-yd pool) | approx. 1 hour |
| 1/29/2014 | 1.02 miles (swim) – 72 laps (25-yd pool) | approx. 50 minutes |
| 1/27/2014 | 0.71 miles (swim) – 50 laps (25-yd pool) | approx. 40 minutes |
| 1/24/2014 | 0.37 miles (swim) – 26 laps (25-yd pool) | approx. 30 minutes |
| 12/5/2013 | 13.12 miles (run) | 2:27:27 – longest distance run |
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