Broad Street Run

On Sunday May 4th, I participated in the Broad Street Run. It is now my 5th year, and I'm proud to say I got my personal best!

But enough about me, for those of you who don't know, SEPTA provides free service on the broad street and L throughout the day. Very convenient for those that cannot access the middle of the city for the entire morning.

One of my favorite and least favorite parts about the run is getting there. Because I live about half a block from the subway, I usually take advantage of the free service up to the start at Olney. The problem is I'm not the only one who does this. In fact 22,000 people participated this year, and most of them park somewhere around the subway and take it up to the start. It therefore becomes the ultimate battle to find a centimeter of space within the train, as the door opens at each of the stops. So many people are on the trains that it is actually hard to breathe. The train I was on actually skipped making stops because it was to maximum capacity. I would say probably 1,000 people were on my train alone. I did feel bad for the poor family that was dressed for church at the Race/Vine stop who could only shake their heads and hope that soon an empty train will come along. All and all, a great day!