Local Runner is One-To-Watch in Sunday's Blue Cross Broad Street Run

April 29, 2015 – More than 22,000 women (40,000 runners overall) will take part in Philadelphia’s Blue Cross Broad Street Run on Sunday, but only one can win. And Collegeville’s Crystal Burnick plans to give it her all.

In college, she ran for Slippery Rock University, where she graduated in 2011. She says the transition from running with a team to running as an individual has been a challenge.

“After I graduated, my boyfriend Bob and I decided to run our first half marathon, the Philadelphia Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon. I ended up running a 1:18:37 which was a time that qualified me to run at the 2012 USA Half Marathon Championships in Duluth, Minnesota,” Burnick said.

While the result of that race was not what she had hoped, it did prove to be a great learning experience on traveling and competing at a higher level.

Last year, Burnick ran a mile road race and a mile on the track – bettering her mile PR (personal record) time to a 4:56. Burnick also matched her 5K track PR on the road by running a 16:50 at the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5K in March, 2014 – a race she ended up winning. But later that year, in the fall, Burnick suffered an injury that made running (especially running fast) much too painful.

“I finally gave in and went to the Physical Therapy & Wellness Institute in West Norriton and saw Jim Fagnani, DPT. Within six weeks of starting PT, I was pain free and running,” Burnick said. “Once I found myself to be injury free again, I decided to start my training through System Based Training and ran for ‘GO! Athletics’. They have taken my training from running nine miles a week back in January to running a 16:55 5K this past week. Now my main focus is on Broad Street and I am hoping for the best!”

“Although, I have stuck with mostly shorter races recently, I have made sure to run the Broad Street Run for the last three years, this year will be my fourth year in a row,” Burnick said. “The atmosphere is just so energizing! This is my absolute favorite race and very close to my heart with it being in Philadelphia!”

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Photo: Crystal Burnick competing in the 2014 Broad Street Run

Photo Credit: Clay Shaw