Reflections on the Broad Street Run

There are certain dates that are part of one’s muscle memory.  August 18 never passes without me thinking of the date when football camp would start when I was in high school. Likewise, I always remember when the Broad Street Run occurs as it always follows EA’s Alumni Weekend.

There is always the question of why so many thousands of runners choose to run in this 10 miles run from North Philly down Broad Street to the areas where all the stadiums are located at the end of Broad Street in South Philly.

I ran with Mark Luff, a teacher at EA, which made the race even more fun. Doing most things in life with other people with various kinds of teams in sports and in the management team at EA always enhanced the experience no matter what the challenge. The Broad Street run was no exception.

When Mark and I ran it, you began with the thousands getting on the subways at the of the race, packed in like sardines as we made the journey north.

You are thinking all the time, “And I must run this to the get to the end as it seems like it takes forever to get to our destination in North Philly. There are some of life’s truisms that even when you are doing something difficult. it is easier to handle it, if you know when and how it will end. This is the key dynamic why everyone is asking Trump and members of Congress the end point of our War in Iran. It is easier to do anything in life when you know when it will finish.

When you get to the area where the run will start, thousands of runners must fine their appropriate place to get in the group with the fastest runners up front and the slower runners like me far back. But we are all starting technically from the same point with different skills and times. It is what should be done in our society. It is where you begin that counts and regardless of skill or ability it is  not a level playing field with everyone having different talents.

But what we have in our society now is that some people can start the race from the five miles mark which gives them a great advantage. Most of those people who start at the five miles mark will usually finish ahead of the rest of us but claim it was their skill not there positioning in the race that caused them to win. Those of us in the back of the starting point will, at times, finish ahead of those who started far ahead. Bud Wilkerson, Coach of the Nebraska football team, spoke to the issue that “there are titans of industry who are born on third base, and think that they hit a triple.”  It’s a great metaphor.

A few day s ago the Supreme Court made a significant decision to remove part of the Civil Rights Bill that was written in the 60(s) so that race would not matter in redistricting political maps. In essence, they gutted that bill. John Yoo, a former ethics student of mine and presently teaching at Berkeley California, thought that the bill got back to its original intent. He said on Fox News that it is a good thing for we are removing race as a consideration. I couldn’t disagree more. He is assuming that we are a race blind society where black people and (I would add the working class and the underserved) don’t have the advantages of other people that he was championing. Former President had a lot to say about this. Trump was thrilled. My decision making is that if there is something that Trump is thrilled about, someone else is paying a price. Somehow the haves have gained an advantage.

As we ran through North Philly, I listened to the people hanging out of their windows shouting with great laughter, “You’ll never make it to the end. You people are crazy.” I found myself laughing with them.” They were having a great time.

When I was at mile 8, an elderly woman pulled up next to be and started a conversation asking if I was enjoying the experience. She was breathing easily. I was trying to get my next breath. She told me that she had run in the first Broad Street Run. She concluded, “I will see you at the finish line, Sonny.” I couldn’t help it, but I thought she was hilarious. Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you are as competitive as I am, you will always meet someone who is faster than you are in any issue in life. Obviously don’t judge a book (or person) by its cover.

When Mark and I finished the race in South Philly by the various stadiums, I thought the race was over. I didn’t know that we had to double back and to go a nearby park which was the most difficult part of the race. When I have found myself in a situation where there is nothing to do to move it forward regarding a problem, I will say to myself that it is like finishing a marathon. Then someone says to me when I thought that I finished,  says at the finish line that I must run it again.

When I would run, I always talk to myself. I don’t remember what I said that day, but it was probably “I think I can! I think I can!” from The Little Engine That Could.  or “Lord help me to never give up.” I always manage to finish. That’s muscle memory.

The word, Israel, translates from the Hebrew as “He who runs with God.”

I know that I will never run the Broad Street Run again. But I will not forget the lessons that it taught me.