So this was my third year doing Philadelphia’s Blue Cross Broad Street 10 Miler, one of my favorite races. I’m from Buffalo, so the 7-8 hour drive is long but well worth it. I typically stay at least two nights and have stayed right in the heart of center city in the past and in Wilmington, Delaware as well. One of my friends that ran with me in the past lived near Wilmington and the cost of a hotel is just so much cheaper. Which means more money for other races!
I did price downtown Philly hotels which ran about $250.00 a night plus parking. We stayed at the Inn at Wilmington for $50.00 a night which included free breakfast. (Thanks Priceline.) Huge difference!
So after our free breakfast, Laura arrived and we headed to the city of Brotherly Love. We decided to head right away to expo before touring city, since it was Laura’s first visit. We parked near the Liberty Bell and walked to convention center.
This was an extremely easy race register. You can’t help wonder how they can do this for 40,000 and compare it to the tight ship run Disney has going on.
When we walked in, they had an information table that had volunteers giving us our bib numbers since I didn’t remember mine. They also gave me Megan’s since she wasn’t there to pick up her packet.
We went inside and signs guided us to packet pickup. Not sure if this is typical but they didn’t ask for ID, so I went over and got Megan’s packet for her to save her the trip. She’d be staying with us at hotel later that night.
One awesome things they do at this race is an old sneaker drop off. They have a huge pile of old sneakers you can donate. What a great idea. Wish I had known. Next year.
I splurged this year on the tech shirt. I’m usually super thrifty so I completely forgot I did this and was pleasantly surprised, though I like the color of shirt from previous years better. But I’m not complaining, I promise.
We all picked up our belongings and ventured into the different expo booths. Last year, I bought some sweaty bands and wanted to get a few more. Not a bad deal three for $20.00! That was my only purchase but it was still great checking out the different items and looking for fun photo ops which included this one. One of my favorites from the weekend. And we made Robert get a pic with “Captain Sperm” because how often do you meet a mascot sperm? Robert as always was a good sport.
The expo itself really was quick and painless. And now we were ready to tour the city. After lunch of course. Being the tourists we are we opted for Hard Rock Cafe.
Then we headed to one of my favorite places.
80’s Movies Rule!!
So I’m a huge fan of 80’s movies. And one of my favorites was filmed right in the heart of Philadelphia. No, not Rocky, that’s 70’s I love the movie “Mannequin” which was filmed at the then Wannamakers but is now a Macy’s. So this was a must do. We of course can’t just walk around, we need to document with a music video. What’s more joyful than that?
We continued to explore the sites. And even ran into Philly Jesus. Never thought I’d say, “Jesus, can I take a selfie with you?”
So obviously one of the highlights (to me and many others) when visiting Philly is visiting the Rocky Stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We met up with Megan here. Yay!! We were all together and got our picture with the Rocky Statue.
And then of course you need to run the stairs. Because I have done this past few years I volunteers to be camera lady to capture Laura’s few Rocky Stair Run.
And finally we needed to cap off the day with the liberty bell. That’s my tradition. Except, oh no!!! It was closed we were too late. So we improvised.
Overall a great day in Philly. I love this city! Now I hope Philly Jesus can help us control the forecast of cold rain the next day! Until then, here’s a vlog video recap that Laura put together for our YouTube channel. Enjoy!
