Race Report: #5, Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half

Sunday morning I rolled out of bed at about 6:15.  I tried to wake myself up and get my act together quickly.  Of all things, I nearly forgot my Garmin which I left plugged in over night to be SURE it was 100% charged in the morning.

I was in my car by 6:45 for the 45 minute drive to Philly.  I brought a banana and PBJ on wheat to eat in the car and an extra water bottle in addition to the one I'd be running with.

I allowed 30 minutes for traffic and to find parking/walk to the starting line, assuming I'd find a spot within a mile.  I'm glad I gave myself some extra time because there was some serious back up on the off ramp from the highway.  I took this picture while sitting on the off ramp, waiting to turn:

As I sat in traffic, I put the D-tag timing chip on my shoe, then gradually put on my socks and shoes (I left my apartment in sandals) and stuffed my energy gels into my ifitness pouch and water bottle pocket.  (I used to be more organized the night before...I guess I have stopped freaking out so much now that I know what to expect for these things).  I pulled into a garage at about 7:41am, drove up 5 million floors, pinned on my number and got on my way.

I had a nice 1 mile walk to the starting line which was a good warm up. The temperature was in the mid 50s and it was perfect.

I knew that last year, my corral (17) didn't go until about 20 minutes after the first runners so I wasn't too worried about being in place right at 8:00.  As I got closer to the line up, I heard the announcers release the elites.  It was cool to watch them run by!

I made my way back toward my corral.  I was shocked that with 16,000-ish runners, I managed to run into my TWO coworker friends who were also running.  It was great to see them at the start!


One friend was running with her sister, and the other started off the race with me.  We stuck together for the first several miles before getting separated at a water stop a few miles in.

I found this amongst 4,000-some "lost and found" pictures.  Seriously.

I had a moment of Garmin anger around mile 2 when I realized my Garmin failed me.  And it shouldn't have been a surprise because I had a similar problem on this course last year!

My first mile was a 10:06 pace according to my Garmin which I was fine with.  I then noticed that I had been running around a 9:00 pace for my second mile.  I thought that it felt really easy despite the faster pace, and told myself I should slow down a bit so I didn't die later on.  But then my watch beeped for the 2nd mile and clearly I was no where near the 2 mile marker on the course.

Instead, when I approached the 2 mile marker, my watch read 2.24 miles.  Ack!  I hit the lap button so I could know that at least for the subsequent laps, my pace shouldn't be too far off.  I am aware of things like running the tangent because the course is measured along the shortest possible route, but this was due to satellite interference from tall buildings.

Clearly I did not run in a diagonal across part of City Hall.  

The green is where the actual route was.

Let this be a reminder to not totally rely on your Garmin during races!  From that point on, I also checked the race clock at the mile markers and knew to subtract about 19 minutes since I crossed the start line at about 8:19.  Luckily, my goal pace was around 10 minutes per mile so that makes the math pretty easy to tell if I'm close to goal or not.

Anyway, I realized I was now running slower than I wanted to, but didn't get too worried.  I was happy that my heart rate was staying lower than it had been in any race and I was pretty confident that holding back in the beginning would mean I would be able to finish strong.

After separating from my work friend, the course had moved out of the tall building area and on to Boathouse Row along the river.  I had a couple faster miles. 

I don't remember a lot from this part of the course.  I focused on the backs of people around me and occasionally looked at the river.  I remember being behind a woman in a pink tank from Target for quite some time.  I remember being behind a girl who was sweating through her cotton capris in awkward places and I felt embarrassed for her.  A completely barefoot male runner passed me.  I also remember a woman in a running skirt, just a sports, bra, and purple arm warmers.  Here's another noteworthy runner:

I saw this guy several times throughout the race.  I can't imagine running in a face mask!

I had my first gu, a Clif Shot gel in Mocha beginning at about 53 minutes (maybe 5.2ish miles) and ate it slowly over the next several minutes.   I then remember holding on to the empty packet until I approached a garbage can, which may have been approximately a half mile.  I know it's "ok" to litter during a race but it pains me to throw things on the ground.  Even though I know someone will rake it up later.  My heart rate increased a small but noticeable amount after the first gel; I'm thinking maybe I should be using ones without added caffeine?  Or I wasn't hydrating as much as I should have been.  I don't know.

Mile 7 was slower for some reason and I don't remember why.  It also was about .09 off from the mile marker, so I hit 'lap' a second time to even it up.  From that point on though, I didn't need to hit lap again.  My Garmin showed maybe a couple hundredths of a mile extra for every mile ran.  Not enough to hit the lap button. Mile 8 was sub-10:00.  Mile 9 was slower but still close to goal.  Then my paces for Miles 10 until the end were all below a 10:00 minute/mile pace.

I really don't remember much from this side of the river either.  I remember crossing the bridge.  I remember a rock band playing "Wild Thing" and the chorus included bagpipes playing with the guitar & drums.  Pretty unexpected and entertaining.

[picture from their facebook page here]  

From about 1:47 - 1:53 I took my time with my Mint Chocolate gu.  I think it was about 10.6 miles as I opened it.  I cared less about finding a garbage can with this one, and threw it on the ground near a bunch of cups on the ground from a water stop. 

I passed on all the water stations except for at mile 11.6.  I brought my own bottle and was drinking from it.  I started to get low on water toward the end though so I unscrewed my top in preparation, grabbed a cup from a volunteer and dumped it in my bottle - all while still running.  I was quite proud.

At this point I started to calculate a reasonable time goal, knowing 2:10 was not going to happen.  As I hit the 13 mile mark, I thought I might be able to finish in the 2:11s.  I ran really hard from the 13 mile marker, up the slight uphill, straight through to finish.  I remember the gun time was 2:30:41 as I went under so I thought I was in the 2:11s.

I felt pretty good about my run and did not feel like I was going to fall over at the finish line, so that's a plus! But it was so crowded at the finish line...I remember walking into a couple people.  I wish there had been more space to walk/cool down at the end before you were sent through a chute to collect your post-race food.

Here are my official splits from the race website:

I hit the 5k mark at 31:49 (10:14 avg pace)
10k mark at 1:03:59 (10:18 avg pace)
10 mile mark at 1:41:51  (10:11 avg pace)

There were more splits on the site on race day, but they seem to have disappeared.

Here are my Garmin splits:

It was not quite 65 by the time I finished at 10:30.  Perrrrfect!

While I thought I was good for something in the 2:11s, I was off on when I crossed the start line by about 15 seconds.  I thought it was pretty close to 19 minutes, turns out it was ~18 minutes and 45 seconds...so my official time was actually 2:12:01.

Still a new PR!

Here's my race photo:

That's right.  The entire 13.1 miles, this is my only one! (Besides the one earlier that I found after scouring the lost and found pictures for a couple hours). There are actually 2 still shots from the 2 seconds after this, where I am even more obscured by the man in front of me.  Clearly I should have thought this out as I hurried to the finish line and found a more open spot so my race number would have been visible to the camera.

It was a tough job searching the 4325 "lost and found" pictures to look for a teal tank top.  I managed to nod off somewhere around picture #400 the other night and finally finished my quick scanning last night.

Here are some of the post-race snacks.  The Dole frozen strawberries did not survive long enough for this picture. I also had some Dole Real Fruit bites hidden in my ifitness belt.

 Spoiler alert: the Marathon Snickers bar does not taste like a Snickers bar.

I stuck around for the post-race concert, which featured Bret Michaels.  Better than last year's attraction: a Bon Jovi tribute band (didn't stick around last year).

It was pretty short, lasting maybe 45 minutes, until a little after noon.  Then I began my mile walk back to my car.

 I passed this on my way, and thought of Alyssa.

I stopped by Starbucks for a beloved Doubleshot on Ice.  Yes, I put my Starbucks gift card in my ifitness pouch at the start of the race.  I come prepared.  The Starbucks was conveniently located across the street from my parking garage.

That is how much of my sandwich I ate in the car in the morning (I also had a whole banana). 

I can't make myself eat at 6-something AM.  Good thing PBJ is good post-run fuel too... I finished it on the drive home.

Here I am at home.  I look like a turd with my forced smile. 

But I am wearing my medal.  The yellow 64 calorie beer bracelet was a waste.  I'm not a fan of the beer and I didn't even bother seeking out the beer tent after the race.  If I'm going to have a beer at 10:30am, it better be a good one.

Once I got home I cleaned up, put on my Zensah calf compression sleeves, and hung out.  Actually, first I went grocery shopping in my new I run Philadelphia shirt (and my calf sleeves, they were hidden under jeans though).

Then I kicked up my feet.  And let the calf sleeves work their magic for something like 9 hours.

I'm happy to report that my calves were feeling 100% normal the next morning.  Not one little bit sore!  My quads, on the other hand, were really feeling it.  I don't know if I can completely attribute my pain-free calves to the sleeves, but it certainly didn't hurt.

Week leading up to the Half

I mentioned that I got in my last long run - 8 miles - on Monday.

Unfortunately from about Tuesday on, I've been congested.  Probably due to breathing dry, shared, airplane air.  Or maybe it's due to the little germ balls I work with.  Regardless, this whole week I've tried to drink extra water, have more OJ, eat extra fruits and veggies, sleep a little more, and I've even thrown in a nap or two.

I woke up early enough to do a quick pace run Thursday morning.  It was humid/foggy.

The run was ok, it was supposed to be 2 pace miles sandwiched between a warm up and cool down.  I got in a 9:48 and a 9:44 (goal was 9:55).  The pace fluctuated quite a bit though over the course of each mile and the pace wasn't as easy-feeling as I hoped, especially when I could only breathe through one nostril or only my mouth at any given time.

I had hoped to get my last other run in before my half marathon Friday morning, but I chose an extra hour and 15 minutes of sleep instead, which I think/hope was the right choice.

My only other physical activity this week was just walking around at work (a fair amount!), dog walking, grocery shopping, cleaning.  Not so impressive.  We'll just say it was an extreme taper.

Luckily as I write this Saturday night, I can breathe again! With very minimal stuffiness.

Today was the expo!

Sorry to say this, but it was a little disappointing compared to last year's.  I'm making this statement solely on the amount of samples and freebies given out.

Here's what I got this year:

• Cherry Lime Roctane gu and Perform pain relieving gel were in my "swag bag"along with a handful of cards for other races.

 From walking around to the different tables I got:

• 2 mini Lara bar samples: coconut cream pie and PBJ.
• Brooks gave out the hat.  They scanned a "ticket" you filled out; some of the possible prizes included a bandana, hat, or t-shirt.
• Hand sanitizer from Team in Training
• Nutrilite Endurance cubes (like gu chomps, clif shot bloks)
• Cascadian Farm mini granola bar
• 2 mini packs of Sports Beans
• A bunch of coupons: Snickers Marathon bar, Cytomax, PF changs, Larabar, Cascadian Farm

I did try the watermelon and peach tea gu chomps, and really liked the peach tea flavor so I bought 2 packs.  I also got this Philadelphia shirt from Brooks (this one fits, unlike the dark blue shirt they give to all race participants that only comes in unisex sizes and is still kinda loose...big pet peeve of mine!  There are many thousand runners and they can't get women's sizes??)

Here's the race shirt and swag bag plus a headband (free with my friend's purchase):

Here's what I got at last year's expo.

What kind of take-home goodies were missing this year?
Oikos Greek yogurt, Salonpas patches, Dole fruit chunks, Gu chomps, Clif bar, Sport wash, Cytomax. I can't complain about the ING stress ball...ING is no longer a sponsor of the event.

Anyway, tomorrow's weather is looking fantastic for a half marathon.

2:10 would be fabulous. 
I'd be happy with anything under 2:15 though, which would mean I've made progress since May despite doing all my running outside in the heat of summer. 

Wish me luck! And good luck to anyone else racing this weekend!

Running Ninja

Training so far...an easier way to view what I've done.  2 weeks until my half marathon.

I was able to scratch off that 12 mile run from week 11 today.

There were some extra easy runs sprinkled in along the way.  I only missed one tempo run (week 8).  At the time I was a little behind and had two of the 4 tempo mile runs on my schedule, so I thought one of them could go.

Here's another way to look at what I've done so far.
x = rest.  Far right column is weekly miles run.

20-Jun  27-Jun  4-Jul  11-Jul  18-Jul  25-Jul  1-Aug  8-Aug  15-Aug  22-Aug  29-Aug

Mon 2 easy  4 tempo  6.3 easy  5 hills  14 bike  10 long  13 long  x  6.8 easy  10 long  15mid5P

Tues 2 easy  5.4 pro  5 tempo  x  x  x  4.3 easy  7 tempo  13mid4P  8 bike  x

Wed x  x  2 easy  x  5 tempo  x  x  5k  7 bike  5 tempo  5 pro

Thur 5 fartlek  10mid2P  11 long  12mid4P  5 easy  4 fartlek  6 pro  x  5 fartlek  x  x

Fri 10 bike  x  x  2 bike  4.5 easy  5.7 bike  7.7 bike  6.5 hills  7 bike  7 hills  7 tempo

Sat 8 Long  x  x  4 hike  x  x  12mid1P  x  x  3 easy  x

Sun 5 hike  x  x  5 fartlek  7 bike  5 hike  14 bike  x  x  x  12w1P

17  20  24  22  15  14  35  17  25  22  39

I'm pretty proud of my 7 mile tempo run this week.  I started to get down on myself before I even ran.  It was supposed to be 5 miles at a 9:30-9:50 pace with an easy mile on either end, and that sounded hard from the comfort of my kitchen chair.  But I got my butt out the door, looking like a running ninja, and I got it done.  I brought my music along for a little boost.

 black headband, tank, sunglasses = ninja

Tempo mile paces were: 9:49, 9:41, 9:48, 9:45, 9:38.

Today's 12 mile run was fun- I ran 10.5 easy miles with a friend, then continued on to run another mile at half marathon pace (9:56), then did nearly another mile of running/walking with my cell phone camera to check out some of the damage to the towpath from the hurricane.

You might remember this picture from earlier this week:

I counted the number of stones down from the bridge.

Today the water was ~2.5 feet below the top of the concrete wall.

Here are a couple more.

I'm sorry, but I'm obsessed with all the flooding we had.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around 7.1 inches of rain in less than 16 hours.

The tree tunnel/passageway to the right is the only way through.
And at 5'2" I had to duck.  That NEVER happens.

Check out the muddy leaves, you can see how far the water came up.

The rocks got washed diagonally across the path into the canal.
This child also snuck into my picture.  Don't worry, he had an adult nearby.

Here is my artistic interpretation of where the edge of the "path" was (straight blue line) and where there is now gravel exploding into the canal as a result of the previous picture.

Fun stuff.  Don't think hubs will be biking to work for a while; in several parts of the only 1/2 mile section showcased above, so much of the fine gravel and dirt was washed away that it's only large jagged chunks of rocks left behind that would not treat his thinner hybrid bike tires well.  It was enough to run on them... I was hoping I did not twist and ankle or fall face down on them.

Here's what I'm planning on doing for the remaining two weeks until my half:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
9/5	bike	6 fartlek		5 hill		7 tempo	bike?
9/12	??Long Run??	??Long Run??	5 fartlek		4 pace	rest	half marathon!

Here's the deal.

I will be away this Friday through Monday morning.  I would like to at least run my 7 mile tempo run + Dan and I were planning to take advantage of our hotel's free bike rentals.

I have TWO long runs left on my schedule, but time for only one more.  Should I...

• do a 10 mile long run with 4 pace miles in the middle?
• do the 8 mile long run

Also to consider:

• My long run will have to be either Monday night after a red eye and a day of work or Tuesday
• I have already completed 
• one 15 mile run with 5 pace miles
• two 13 mile runs, one with 4 pace miles
• three 12 mile runs, one with 4 pace miles, two with 1 pace mile
• one 11 mile run
• three 10 mile runs, one with 2 pace miles

I feel like a long run with pace miles is more valuable.  But is running 10 miles on Monday or Tuesday too close to the race on Sunday? 

Pretty cool: if all goes well in the next 2 weeks I will have only missed one long run and one tempo run over the entire 13 weeks!  I think that's good.  Applying my behavior intervention plan terminology, that's pretty high treatment integrity, if I do say so myself.


Doing anything fun over Labor Day Weekend?
Last night we went to our favorite local brewery (an hour+ away) to fill our 2 growlers and have dinner; I enjoyed my long run today then we were invited to our friends' pool this afternoon, and I plan to laze about tomorrow- last time I will be able to for a couple weeks!

Please tell me what you think about my long run dilemma!