Race Report: Philadelphia Half Marathon

I have run a few half marathons in Philadelphia:

• The Rock n’ Roll half marathon (2010 and 2011)
• The ODDyssey half marathon (2011)

And now the half marathon that is part of THE Philadelphia Marathon weekend.

Beware: this is wordy.  Perhaps excessively so.

My alarm went off at 5am and I realized that I actually slept a solid 6 hours of sleep.  My typical race-eve sleep is not so good…it takes me forever to fall asleep and then I wake up several times, worried that I have overslept.  But it’s dark outside, so there’s no way to tell.  This time I didn’t remember waking up once.  I would not normally be proud of a whopping 6 hours of sleep, but I slept for about 9 the night before so I was feeling good.

In my barely awake state,  I recalled how I had just run the half marathon and finished in the upper 2:07s, and I was ok with that.  Then I realized that I had in fact NOT run this half marathon yet and needed to get out of bed to go do that.

My clothes were all picked out from the night before.



Also, since I’m aware that I won’t run all the tangents in a race and therefore my Garmin isn’t going to match up with the race clock, I had considered wearing a pace bracelet.  Kristy gave me some good advice about printing up a tiny little pace chart to put on my race bib.  So I did!



This came from the pace calculator at coolrunning.  There’s an option to ‘calculate splits’ then I printed it smaller, covered it in Scotch tape so I couldn’t sweat away the ink, then I taped it onto my bib for easy reading.

Back to the morning of: I had some peanut butter on a slice of cinnamon bread at 5:30.  I got out the door by 5:45, and ate my banana in the car at 6.  It was dark outside.



I was tipped off to some good (free) parking in Fairmount Park if I arrived early, but I’m pretty sure my 6:30 arrival for the 7am start was not so early, so I decided to park in my usual Philly race garage at 19th & Market St., and did my 1 mile warm up walk to the start.

Walking up Ben Franklin Parkway toward the Art Museum/starting line, 6:48am:



Past the starting line, continuing back to my corral.



View from my corral’s starting area at 6:58am:



There was an announcement that there was a situation and it might delay the start.  Minutes later the “situation” had been taken care of.  The first runners started only a couple minutes after 7am.  It was a comfortable ~50F.

After 20 minutes or so of standing around, my corral was ready to start.  I crossed the line at 7:23am or just over 18:07ish after the gun went off.  The 18:07 is important only because that was a number I had to subtract from the race clock at every mile.

I heard on the loud speaker that Mayor Nutter and Bart Yasso would be available for high fives at the starting line.  I stayed to the left to high five Bart Yasso! 

The course was pretty crowded for most of the first mile.  My goal was to keep it slower, i.e. over a 10:00/mi pace.  Done.  Since I was somehow already slightly off by mile 1, I hit the lap button on my watch when I ran next to the 1st mile marker (that’s why there’s a .02).

• Mile 1- 10:04
• .02- :14
• Mile 2- 9:28
• Mile 3- 9:36
• Mile 4- 9:40
• Mile 5- 9:40

Mile 2 was down Christopher Columbus Boulevard.  The Eagles drumline was playing as we rounded the corner.  It thinned out a bit here since the road is wider.  I remember seeing lots of guys off to the right peeing behind trees and converter boxes and I felt annoyed that as a female I could not pee so easily in public, in broad daylight.  Seeing them pee made me think that maybe I had to pee, but when I saw a 10 person line for a port-a-potty, I changed my mind, because there’s no way I could PR if I waited in line.

There was a water stop under an overpass and our next turn was South Front Street, which was a narrower road, so things got crowded again.  A few 20-somethings had set up a small table on the sidewalk with some small Gatorade bottles and a couple red cups, which appeared to be a personalized aid station for their favorite runner. I was amused.

Around mile 4.25, I realized I was getting warm and didn’t need my arm warmers anymore.  In fact, I was sweating through them.  After fussing around with them, I ended up folding them up nicely and sticking them in my ifitness pouch.

At 50 minutes, I took a gu.

• Mile 6- 9:40
• Mile 7- 9:00

A little after mile 5 we turned on to Chestnut Street… it was nearly 2 miles of amazingness.  Fan support was unbelievable and I felt SO excited to be running.  I had some kind of crazy runner’s high here.  I felt cool since taking off my arm warmers, I remember thinking how perfect the weather was, my legs felt fresh, and running felt so effortless.  I can’t wait to see official race photos, because I’m pretty sure there may have been a rainbow shooting out of my butt.
And I’m pretty sure that’s how I ended up running approximately mile 6-7 at a 9:00 pace.  Holy crap.  I looked down in the middle of that lap and saw something in the 8:00s and tried so hard to back off…only bringing it down to 9:00.

Also in this part, I crossed the 10k mat at 1:00:30, which was an average pace of 9:44 and a predicted finish time of 2:07:35 (I signed myself up for free tracking via email).
In this stretch I high-fived an IHOP chocolate chip pancake,  and saw some memorable signs including:

• woman with a sign promising cupcakes at the end (lies!)
• “Hurry up Kristen (or other common girl’s name, I can’t remember), It’s your turn in Words with Friends!” 
• “On a scale of 1 to 10, you’re a 13.1”
• “You trained longer than Kim Kardashian’s marriage”

…and many spectators cheered my name- which was weird at first, but pretty cool.  This was my first race where they put your name on your race bib.

• Mile 8- 9:52
• .10- :56
• Mile 9- 9:48
• Mile 10- 9:42

After the insanely fast lap, I made myself slow down a little and pulled off to the water tables just after mile 7 to dump a couple cups of water into my handheld bottle.

I hit ‘lap’ as I crossed the 8th mile marker to even things up again as I had managed to run an extra .1 miles by that point, according to my Garmin.

Basically mile 7 to 8.2 was one continuous uphill, followed by a downhill where I got a big whiff of the zoo.  I don’t remember thinking much here.  My legs definitely felt the hill, and I tried to rein in my speed on the downhill, knowing another steeper hill was coming at mile 9.  I looked to the right at the river below and saw some speedier runners down on that part of the course (mile 12ish).

Soon it was mile 9 and I was running up the hill from the ODDyssey half marathon…(except in that race, it was at mile 12.5).  The steep part was about a quarter mile long.  I was running next to a couple people running together for a charity, and one of the women kept yelling, “I love hills!”  I love hills!!” also barking this at people who were walking up the left shoulder of the road.  After the really steep part, the incline continued, but more gradually, for another half a mile.

This part is kind of a blur.  I was just happy to get to the top of the steep part.  I’m pretty sure brain activity was minimal here.  They were giving out Clif Shot gels in mocha and raspberry based on the packets all over the road.  I know I grabbed another cup of water to dump in my water bottle just before the 10th mile, but I have absolutely NO recollection of this.

• Mile 11- 9:33
• Mile 12- 9:11

Just after mile 10 there was a glorious down hill.  I realized I had been running for around 1:40 so I took my second gu while coasting down hill.  I don’t remember much until turning around along the river at about mile 11.  There was a DJ set up between the road and the river with people dancing in costumes including a bright orange full furry hippo costume with a sign that said “Stay Hungry.”  This was very amusing to me.

Math became more difficult at this point (you try subtracting 18:07 from the race clock/adding 18:07 to your pace strip times).  At the 11th mile marker, my total time was about 40 seconds slower than it should have been according to my little pace strip.  I was a little bummed but thought I could make up the difference if I picked up the pace for the last couple miles.

There started to be signs for the marathoners to stay to the left, and half marathoners to stay to the right.  The end was within reach!  Part of MLK Jr Drive is severely sloped.  I could see it being a problem for people with IT Band issues.  There were sidewalks off to both sides though.

By mile 12, the race clock (-18.07) matched up with my pace strip almost exactly.
Blur, blur, blur, try to run faster, blur, blur.   Notice people cheering on overpass.  Blur, blur, blur.

• Mile 13- 9:08

I could hear the announcers reminding people to stay to the left for marathon, stay to the right for half marathon.  There’s a slight uphill approaching the art museum and mile 13 and a lot of spectators.  I don’t remember looking at or paying attention to any of the spectators in this area.  I knew I was supposed to stay to the right, but people were slowing down on the uphill, and I couldn’t get through.  I remember passing along the the middle and hoping the announcer didn’t scold me.

• .19- 1:27 (7:30 pace!!!)

I started sprinting as I came in front of the art museum and that may have been a little soon, but I knew if I could see 2:24:xx on the race clock that it would mean sub-2:07, and I kept telling myself I’d be able to see the race clock at the finish line any second now.

Longest curve of my life.

The announcer was calling in some of the runners, I heard him reference a guy running to my right who ran the entire half with a huge American flag.  I don’t think I was really in control of my legs at this point and I was worried I was going to plow him over.  I know I saw 2:24 on the clock as I ran under, and I remembered to stop my Garmin pretty quickly but I didn’t know what my time was until I checked my phone a little later:

2:06:48, 9:40 average pace! Negative splits!

Guy that I may have run into had he crossed my path, after finishing:



Somehow, 7 minutes after finishing, I checked the results that were emailed/texted to me and managed to tweet this:



Text tracking seems to be received faster than email alerts.  My reading comprehension skills were clearly suffering after running since I was unable to read that the 2:07:35 was only my predicted finish based on the 10k split, not my final results.

2:06:48 is a new half-marathon PR for me… by 5:13 over my last half marathon in September.  Despite those little hills.



After crossing finish, I immediately got a bottle of water, a heat blanket, and medal.  It was only in the mid-50s when I finished.  PERFECT!  I would have even taken a couple degrees cooler.



I downed the water while waiting in line to have my picture taken with my medal, then I waited in line for food, and then I waited in line for a free massage—which was totally worth it.  I talked with a speedy 2:57 marathoner while waiting for the massage.

I’m hoping to talk Dan into swapping out our comforter for my cool new heat sheet:

Philadelphia (Half) Marathon Expo

Yesterday after work I drove into Philly for packet pick up.  I love seeing the city sky line, it was especially pretty at sunset.

Kudos to the Philadelphia Marathon folks for having a giant banner outside the convention center which made it very clear where to enter for the expo.  The convention center is pretty big and I remember walking around inside the convention center for a while to get to the Rock n' Roll half expo, both this year and last. 

This banner is inside; I didn't take a picture of the outside one.

I have never run THIS Philadelphia half marathon before, but coming to the expo Friday night was much better than going during the rush on Saturday like I have done previously for the RnR half marathons.  There was no line at all to pick up my race number.  It was broken down by bib number into 1,000s.  Shirt pick up was by marathon or half marathon, and then by size and there were only a few people in my line for the shirts.

Long sleeve shirt: the front

The back

I like the design and style of the shirt, but thumbs down for unisex sizing.  I have previously whined enough about this, so I won't go on.  This size small doesn't seem too ridiculously big, but it's still a looser fit than I would choose for myself to wear while running.  

The bags/backpacks are pretty sweet.  Seriously.  I don't actually do gear check.  I hear it works seamlessly at these things but I still fear losing good running clothing or my car keys, so I only wear what I plan to keep with me for the whole run and I run with my car keys.  But I will use the bag for other things.

Not only do I like the red, but the side that would be worn against your back is mesh. AND it has a little zipper pocket.  My husband and I have used similar bags on bike rides before, so I appreciate the mesh for a cooler back and the pocket to keep tiny things separate.

All of these goodies were in the red bag, along with cards for some races and some coupons for restaurants in the area.  I like the mini clif bar size, hopefully I like that flavor.  I've never used Arctic Ease or tried the Dark Chocolate Acai with Blueberries.  I have had Naked coconut water before and it was just ok compared to some other brands.  I'll try it again though.  The blue things with the VW logo are wrist sweat bands.

What was most exciting is that Kristy and I happened to be going to the expo at  the same time, so we were able to meet and chat for a little bit!  She is the first blogger friend I have ever met in person.

We saw THE Hal Higdon talking with runners and signing some books at the Runner's World table.  Maybe I should have told him that his half marathon plans were very helpful to me this past spring, but I wouldn't really describe myself as outgoing.

After Kristy and I parted ways, I also came across Bart Yasso giving a talk:

After exchanging some emails with Kristen at ifitness, I also swung by the ifitness booth regarding their newer hydration add-ons. More on that later.

source

That's all I did at the expo.  I realize as I type this that I should have kept my eyes peeled for the new Peanut Butter flavored Gu, but I completely forgot.  I saw an email about it this week, and I want to try it.

Because I like to obsess over weather, here's the current forecast for the crack of dawn Sunday.  I'm leaning toward wearing shorts.  I've never raced in capris and haven't had enough colder running days this fall where I've worn capris, so I'm sticking with what I know, and that's shorts.

Good luck to Kara and Alyssa running their 50 mile races today!

And good luck to anyone else running the Philadelphia half or full on Sunday.

PS: Have you entered my Road ID giveaway?  

You've got until tonight at 11:59 PST (I'm giving west coasters equal opportunity).

Race Report: First Trail Half!

The somewhat sloppy Sloppy Cuckoo Trail Half Marathon

Sunday was my first trail half marathon.  I posted a little about it the night before here.

With a 9am start and number pickup running until 8:30 I got to sleep in until a little after 7, which was fantastic. It's still hard to drag your butt out of bed when you're going to a race by yourself.  Running races and carpooling with friends, you know someone is counting on you to be ready.

The race was 40 minutes away, so my plan was to leave by 7:35 so I could get there for number pickup with a little time to spare. I had a typical pre-race breakfast of a banana and peanut butter on a slice of wheat bread in the car on the way, as well as a bottle of water.

Once I arrived I was able to find a parking spot in no time.  I changed into my running shoes (I drive to races in flip flops, and change back into them for the drive home) and picked up my number, some pins, and a ridiculously over-sized tech tee (size small?). 

 Logo, pre-race

 Super flattering photo of modeled shirt, post-race

This event had a very different, more relaxed vibe compared to any of my other races.  Walking through the parking lot there were several costumed runners (German-themed, just like the race: lots of lederhosen and dirndl-type outfits, someone with a plush bird hat, and a guy in a full banana suit immediately come to mind), but lots of people were also just sitting around in lawn chairs, hanging out by their cars, waiting for race time to roll around.

I brought my stuff back to my car, pinned on my number, stuck 2 gu in my water bottle pocket, debated whether or not to wear my sunglasses for probably 5 minutes, and sprayed bug spray on my legs then headed over to the start area.

Luckily after a couple days of rain, the rain had stopped Saturday morning (despite the forecast predicting rain all day Saturday and Sunday), and I was happy to not have to run 13 miles in the woods in the rain.  It was 67F/91% humidity at the start...and 79F/65% humidity by the end.  Hooray for a mostly shaded course!  That made it feel much cooler, I think.

After some explanation of the course, from a lederhosen-clad race director, we were off at only a couple minutes past 9am.

Less than .2 mile in, there was a backup and people were walking/standing on the sidewalk here to enter the trail.

 Clearly these pics were not taken DURING the race.  

This was very close to my car, so I went back to snap a picture at the end.

I guess despite having "the widest starting line in PA" there's a little bit of a bottleneck when you unleash 200 runners onto a narrow trail head.  While this was my first real trail race, I knew it was much different than road races (particularly the one I ran the previous weekend).  I didn't freak out about stopping 3 minutes in.  However, I heard several comments around me such as, "can I pause my Garmin?"  and "Are they going to subtract this from our time?"  Clearly they were also new to trail running.

Soon after entering the trail there was plenty of mud, which I was expecting.  Everyone near me was trying to stick to the outside edges...I'm sure the fast runners went straight through though.

It also didn't take long to get to our first fallen tree.  Or our first hill.

Does the right side look familiar?  Course was a 6.55 mi double loop.

I ran up the first couple hills and after that, I decided to save some of my energy by walking up hills from that point on.

The course description was pretty accurate.  The "terrain" varied from mud to packed wet dirt to sand to mud with standing water.  Also lots of horse poop: smushed and un-smushed.  I actually ran past 2 horses at one point too.  We had to climb over fallen trees (not just step over... I mean pull myself up, sit on the log, and slide off on the other side), duck under fall trees, descend wet rocky steps, and there was a creek crossing.  There were flat stretches and windy sections and some hills.

Mud. Not even bad mud, but this was the closest to the trail entrance by my car and I wasn't going to re-run the course to take photos.  And I didn't want to run the race with a camera on me.

The scenery was varied.  At times you could see the creek to the side.  Other times you were just surrounded by woods.  At one point we ran through an open field, then along some railroad tracks.  We also ran under an overpass (very wet/muddy underneath!)

There were aid stations just before mile 3 (and you passed it a second time at mile ~9.5), after mile 5 (and again around 11.8), and at the end of the first 6.55 mile loop (a.k.a. the finish line, second time around).  These aid stations were way better than regular aid stations though... there were cups of water and lemon lime Gatorade; cookies, pretzel sticks, Twizzlers, and an all-natural "Carb Boom" energy gel that I have not seen before.  I took one home so I could try it at my leisure. 

Boom.

~mile 2.85: Gatorade + a pretzel stick (~34m)
~mile 5: Water from the aid station right before having my a mint chocolate gu at about 1:07 (5.4 mi). I bumped back the gu since I had gatorade earlier.
~mile 6.55: Gatorade (I saw 1:25 as I ran past the clock) ... 4 minutes later the first place runner passed the finish line!
~mile 9.5: Gatorade + a pretzel stick (~1:58)


After this aid station I ran with the same woman for about half an hour and we chatted.  We talked about other races we've run (she had also run the Rock 'n' Roll Philly half last weekend), upcoming races, our husbands' thoughts on half marathons, and our goals for this trail half. This was her first trail half too.  We said our goals were to: a) finish, b) finish within the 3:30 time limit, and c) not finish last.

This was a great distraction! But as I was preoccupied, I missed when I meant to take my second gu by about 15 minutes and I ended up having it around 2 hours and 24 minutes instead.

~mile 11.8: Gatorade (2:30?)

Throughout the run I drank my entire 20ish ounces of water in my handheld as well.

The last mile and change wasn't pretty.  There was lots of walking, basically from the last aid station til the end.  I ran for little stretches, then walked little stretches.  I felt like one of my legs was cramping up, and I blame it on the last forgotten gu.  Though, you'd think the Gatorade I drank at aid stations would have been enough to get me through.  Who knows.

Also in the last mile, when climbing over 3 trees down all next to each other, I slipped on the third tree and hit my lower right back bone (pelvis?) as my feet slid over the edge.  Then with about .3 miles to go, I mis-stepped while crossing the creek (which I was able to cross without getting wet the first time) leaving one foot totally soaked.

When I finished the loop the first time at about 1:25, I arbitrarily decided I wanted to run the second half in the same time or less.  This was not based on anything and may not have been a reasonable goal.  I came close though, and ran the loop the second time in 1:27.  Total time of 2:52.  120 out of 166 runners.

I was far less muddy at the finish than I expected.  But how do I get so much mud on the inside of my legs?

Finisher's prize was a pint glass...

...but a few minutes later I remembered that we were supposed to get whistles!  I guess they ran out.  I emailed the race director who nicely explained how they don't want to order too much food, prizes, etc. in a small race like this as to not take away from the money to be donated. He said he had ordered more and for me to send him my address in a couple weeks for him to send me one.  I forget that some races are held to actually raise money, not for profit!

Funny thing about that little pick up truck/camper above...

I took this picture of it at my half marathon back in April!  How can you forget a little truck/camper like this with CT plates when you're running in PA.  I checked the license plates from my 2 pictures and it is in fact the same vehicle.

Oh so back to the finish line: They served sausages, potato salad, watermelon, cookies, and various baked goods.  Also, water, and soda.



I should have stretched a lot before grabbing food.  My legs tightened up while I ate and during the awards, I felt kinda stiff already walking back to my car.

Here's a picture of the creek we ran along (from the road).

This is apparently a magical tube that shoots out ducks into the creek.

I found a Dunkin' Donuts on my way back home and picked up an iced coffee.  When I got home I washed all the dirt off my legs then made my first cold water bath because adding ice sounded too scary.  I am proud of submerging my legs for just under 25 minutes!  I tried to distract myself from the cold with reading twitter on my phone, looking a magazine, and thoughts of the hot shower to follow.  Then I put on my calf compression sleeves for the remainder of the day since they may or may not have contributed to my lack of calf soreness after last weekend's half marathon.

If you made it this far and feet are not your thing, you may want to end your reading here.  Otherwise: Monday morning I felt pretty good.  Unfortunately a little puffy blister on my big toe appeared to morph into a blood blister, which I have never had before.  I distinctly remember tripping over a root or rock with my right foot toward the end of my first loop and maybe that's where it came from?  Anyway...the blood blister never popped and now I just have a big dark bruise on my toe.  <Last chance to exit if you are a feet-hater, but I did make the picture small>

When I told my husband that it was my blood blister he responded with, "oh, that's in you?" He had assumed I dripped something dark on myself like grease or chocolate or something.

I'm actually amazed I've lasted through over 3 years of running regularly and over 1 1/2 years of training for half marathons without any blisters or lost toenails.  I'm fascinated yet grossed out by this little development.  It doesn't hurt, but it does make me want to hide my toe in public.

Ok so the Good:
-enjoyed my first real trail race! 
-bug spray was a good idea! field for start/finish was buggy from recent rain
-successful prevention of next day soreness w/ cold water bath + calf compression sleeves
-sweet aid stations
-HR stayed consistent through entire run, no drift at end like last week...was it due to caffeine-free gels? or use of walking up hills? both?
-My stomach was fine with a new gu flavor that I did not try before the race (I know, bad idea!)


The not as Good:
-the blister/bruise
-waiting too long to take 2nd gu
-not stretching immediately after
-leaving ifitness belt at home (why did I really care if it got muddy? I would have preferred to have my gu and car key securely in the belt instead of obsessively checking my water bottle pocket to make sure my car key didn't fall into mud)
-another over-sized race t-shirt!



1. Have you ever run a trail race?
2. Blood blisters?  Black toe nails?  What's your worst race casualty?

Sloppy Cuckoo Eve

So I can't remember if I posed this question on blogger or on twitter a while back, but you may or may not recall that I was interested in a nearby trail half marathon this fall...bad news was, it came a week after the Rock n Roll half marathon.

The Rock n Roll half was to be run with the goal of improving my time; the trail half was something I wanted to do just for fun.  Since my goals for the two were very different, I signed up for them both, and that trail half is tomorrow!

It's considered "easy" by trail runner standards so it seemed like a good one to try.  I've heard good things about races put on by this organizer and read a favorable review of last year's race here.

[source]

The organizer seems to have a good sense of humor, which you can see from any of their race descriptions.  "There will be rocks, roots, trees to climb over, creek crossings, horse poop, sand & if it rains the week before the race, certainly some mud. So leave your pink Nikes at home, don’t be a girlieman. "

Here are some fun race features (quoted directly from race application):

• You will be supported by at 5 aid stations (carry a bottle) , including the Oktoberfest aid station (unusual carbs and snacks served by the St. Pauli girls).
• Post race refreshments will be provided by 2 professional chefs (Thekla Grund, former owner of the Old Brauhaus & Linda Weiss, reason #67 why Oprah’s weight is yo-yoing, I did not make this up). 
• "Uberhans” might be there also to entertain you with his accordion. 

•  Not only do you get a tech shirt: "To stay with the cuckoo theme, every finisher will receive a original Black Forest cuckoo whistle as a finisher award."

 [source]

Definitely the most unique run I've signed up for.

Friday the race director sent out an email that the course had to be changed as there was a lot of erosion on the trail along the creek from Irene and the subsequent heavy rainstorms we have had (including the rain we got this week, straight through this morning).

"The trails were in decent condition yesterday, there are still a bunch of trees down, which you should be able to jump over or go under. It's currently raining here so you should be prepared for some muddy and slippery sections on Sunday... If this is your first trail 1/2 on Sunday, you certainly get your moneys worth. It certainly will be a good challenge.

We have some great german awards on sunday. We will also award best outfit/most muddy runner/ and most blood. We have some great food ready for you on Sunday, you might want to bring a folding chair to hang out a little after the race."

Luckily while rain was in the forecast all weekend, it stopped raining this morning and was dry for the rest of the day.  There's a chance of rain for tomorrow...I'm hoping it holds off a little longer.

Tonight we made a veggie pizza on wheat crust.  That, along with some red wine, and an ice cream sundae that we split should have me well-fueled for tomorrow's run.

I am just treating this as a FUN long run.  I have not run a full 13 miles on all (muddy) trail before, and I have no idea how bad the trail will be from the rain, so I have no time goal - just to finish.
 

I am prepared to get very dirty so I will not be wearing my newest or nicest running stuff (actually, the Smart Wool socks are nice...but I don't run in not-nice socks).  I'll be wearing my running shoes from this spring/summer which, while high in mileage, are still comfortable - but I may need to toss them after.


Hoping to not win an award for the most blood.  And hopefully I will return tomorrow with a snazzy finisher's whistle!

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.