The Big Three of Philadelphia distance running is actually more like The Big 2 and a Half.
You have the Broad Street 10-Mile Run in May which draws upwards of 40,000 competitors.
And November’s Philadelphia Marathon Weekend boasts of about 37,000 runners if you include the marathon (17,000) the half marathon (15,000) and the 8K (5,000).
Which brings us to next month’s Philadelphia Distance Run, a flat, fast, scenic 13.1-mile jaunt along the Schuylkill River which manages to pull in only about 3,500 hearty souls.
Boy, what a lot of folks are missing.
Well, for starters, there’s none of that overcrowded sardine-can feeling one gets at the starting lines of Broad Street and the Marathon package.
And entrants can actually find a parking space at the PDR.
Chances are the weather in the third week of September (Sept. 21) will be better, too. The first week of May could have a chilly downpour and it actually snowed one year at November’s marathon.
But don’t take our word for it. Just listen to Warrington’s Bob Boland, who last year at age 68 clocked in at a brisk 1:37 to take second place in the 65-69 age group at the Distance Run.
Boland, one of the top distance runners for his age in the Delaware Valley – and beyond – has nothing but good things to say about this event.
“Less security than the marathon, it (the PDR) is a much more friendly environment,” Boland said in a telephone interview. “It’s a great race, a great course.
“September is a beautiful time of the year for the race. If you get one of those 52-degree mornings, that’s perfect.”
The PDR began way back in 1978 and was one of the most respected races in the northeast U.S. It drew some remarkable fields. Example: In the fall of 1984, just months after capturing the gold medal in the first women’s Olympic marathon at Los Angeles, Joan Benoit Samuelsson showed up in the City of Brotherly Love to show off her stuff.
“That was the first year I ran it, in 1984,” Boland recalled. “Joan Benoit was in the field that year. She was just coming off that Olympic marathon victory in L.A.
“She ran 1:08 I remember.”
Then Boland added with a laugh: “I was way behind her!”
Those were the golden days of distance running, still feeding off the energy of the first American running boom of the ‘70s led by Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers and Marty Liquori.
“It was neat to be in a race like that,” said Boland, who began his running as a track and cross country star at Archbishop Wood High School in Warminster.
Eventually, the days of the Philadelphia YMCA sponsorship came to an end and the PDR was scooped up by a national chain which dubbed the race the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon.
Things stayed that way until COVID came along in 2020. The Rock ‘n Roll folks bailed out, but a bunch of local sponsors jumped in to save the tradition.
“Now, at this point in my life, it’s just fun to race,” said Boland, who will turn 70 in January. “It doesn’t matter that the elite of the world are in or out of the race.
“Back in the early years there was no chip timing so you wanted to be as close to the starting line as possible. Now you don’t have to worry about that.”
After a long break from running, Boland got back into running around 2009 after learning he had developed a form of diabetes. Doctors told him he had to lose weight, which basically required an exercise plan and a healthier diet.
At the encouragement of his daughter, Kelly, Bob trained his way up to races such as the Broad Street Run. The twosome ran the 2016 Philadelphia Distance Run together and will do again next month.
They still marvel at all PDR has to offer.
“It’s great the way the race starts,” Boland said. “You run around Logan Square, which is beautiful. And then you come back past the Art Museum, go up East River Drive, past Boathouse Row. . .I mean, it’s just beautiful.”
Boland has run at least a dozen Philadelphia Distance Runs so he knows of what he speaks. He gets a lot of support from his wife, Diane, plus Kelly and his son, Rob. There are three grandchildren — Emma, Abby and Robbie.
Training with the Bucks County Roadrunners and the Winter Series has always kept Boland’s running at high caliber.
What’s the secret to his Fountain of Youth?
“I try to be consistent with running,” Boland said. “That includes a long run every week. And don’t kill it all the time. When you have to run slow, you have to run slow. If you do feel an injury coming up, take some time off.”
It paid off last year at Broad Street when he ran 1:08 and change to break his age (68 and a couple months). That’s a pretty big deal among veteran runners.
At end of the day, it has taken discipline and structure to come all the way back from those dark days of 2009. And races such as the Philadelphia Distance Run have helped.
There’s a history of diabetes in Boland’s family and he doesn’t want to be part of any repeats.
“You can’t fight the numbers, you’re going to get older,” he said. “But you can stay younger by staying active.”
>Race calendar
Saturday, Sept. 6
56th annual Mill Street 5K, 8 a.m., Bristol. Contact www.runsignup.com
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