February 20, 2011 starting at 7:30 am from Fishtown the second personal marathon took place. DNA maps the route ahead of time. You can join in along the way for as little or as long as you like.
Mike P. and I ran from Old City and joined DNA at Broad and Walnut at 8:15 am. Kristin H. rode her bike to meet us and join in on the run. DNA arrived ahead of schedule and we ran Broad Street to Oregon then turned around.
Since these are not formal races and all about fun aid stations are not typical. We were fortunate yesterday to have a wonderful aid station near Broad and Castle Streets. DNA’s girlfriend Lori and daughter were waiting for us with water and a trick treat type bag of food goodies.
We continued running on Broad Street and were joined by John E. With John leading us our pace clearly picked up. John is a fast paced runner who does not seem to mind motivating those of us who are slower paced. We parted ways with John and continued on to Lloyd Hall.
At Lloyd Hall we took a water and bathroom break. Mike had mentioned earlier he signed up for Broad Street. He had never run more than 7 miles. Mike is relatively new to the South Philly Striders. At Lloyd Hall Mike was at approximately 8 miles. We encouraged Mike to continue 2 more miles to make it to 10 miles.
The temperature still remained at about 26 degrees with a brisk wind. Heading out Kelly Drive a stop at the pull up stone was in order. DNA looked strong doing his pull ups. If there is ever a pull up contest Mike is who you will want on your team. I hung on the stone because I am a lazy girl! Kristin likely dealing with frostbite by now was not taking her hands out of her pockets.
Mike made it to mile 10! He can feel confident now for the Broad Street run. Mike and I then realize we had to run back to Old City. It was cold our brains must have froze up. The excuse as to why we did not think earlier we had to run back to Old City. A brilliant idea occurs to Mike, Kristin and I. We will continue to Manayunk with DNA then get my husband Mike S to pick us up out there.
Chilly smiles on our faces we confirm our ride home from Manayunk. A good reason to carry a cell phone while running is to call for a ride home. We continue along Kelly Drive and Amy P joins us. Amy may not have realized how much her motivation was appreciated. At one point she slowed back with Mike to keep pushing him along. Yes, Mike who had never run more than 7 miles. Amy left us at the Falls Bridge and we continued on to Manayunk.
DNA and Kristin were running strong. I’m not sure what Mike was feeling at this point. Maybe he was not even feeling his legs anymore. He did not give me a hard time to get running again when I started walking in Manayunk. We were not walking long before we saw our ride. The heated seat in the front of the car felt really good!
We felt guilty leaving DNA to finish the run on his own. Not guilty enough to stick with him for more miles in the cold! The last we saw DNA he was running with confidence and we knew he would finish.
My husband Mike suggested National Mechanics for brunch and that is were we headed. Ordered our food, drink and reflected on the morning. Justin (JB Magic) joined us with card tricks. Len D provided humor. We called DNA to check on him. DNA said with excitement Janine out for a bike ride found him and gave him encouragement. He finished up with encouragement from Mike X. in Fishtown.
The two mileage stars of the day DNA miles for the day = 27 and Mike P miles for the day = 15. Congratulations to both of you and thanks for including us in the fun! I encourage others to join at the start, along the way, for a mile or more and don’t worry about your pace. The important thing is you come out and have fun and that is what we did for the DNA February personal long run.
~Donna