Haverford grad looks forward to Broad Street crowd

Eric Chesterton said he hasn't raced a ton competitively since graduating from Haverford College in 2011, but he'll be at the start line with thousands of others Sunday at the Broad Street Run. He's a rookie in this race.

"I talked to a bunch of people who are running Broad Street," Chesterton said Friday. "The one thing they talk about is how great the crowds are. People who are running for fun, having crowds and that kind of support certainly helps. A lot of people have never run 10 miles in their life. Having that support helps a lot of people."

Chesterton doesn't put himself in that group.

"Things like crowds don't hype me up that much," Chesterton said. "Because it's a bigger race, there are going to be people racing around the [same] time as you. Smaller races, you don't always get that."

He wasn't being arrogant about it, though: "I'm by no means a great runner. I run competitively. I'm not going to be anywhere near winning Broad Street."

This is the largest 10-mile race in the country, with more than 40,000 in the field, being run for the 35th time, starting up by Central High and finishing at the Navy Yard.

The unusual distance and massive field adds to the mystique.

"I don't entirely know what the time is," Chesterton said, referring to proffered splits. "Somewhere between a 10K pace and a half-marathon, I'm not exactly sure. You take a little bit of emphasis off the time and more on kind of competing with whose around you."