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| FREE blanket! |
I had never been to Philadelphia, in fact I never even considered it, except for the desire to run the marathon someday. I'm so glad I finally got around to it, because I discovered that Philadelphia is a wonderful city with tons of things to see and do! Of course the marathon was great, as expected. It really showcases most of the sights of the city and surrounding neighborhoods. Not only that, but the people of the city come out in mass to celebrate the event, or should I say events because the half marathon and other races are ran on Saturday, with the full marathon on Sunday.
The half marathoners had warned us of their long lines going through security at the starting area, so Toby and I walked over to the area to scope it out, since the map showed an additional entrance north of where they had entered. It was right next to the bag drop off and porta potties. That's what we would do in the morning for sure.
On Sunday morning the four of us (me, Toby, Laura aka LSP, and Mark) made our way to the start. When we got off the bus they were directing everybody to enter the already way too long security lines, and we said nope! They were yelling at us to come get in line and we ignored them and headed north. We entered the checkpoint with NO LINE! Hilarious! We huddled in the warming tent until it was time to get it together for the race. Toby left us before too long, then the 3 of us headed to the drop off. As with these larger races I always forget the cluster and long lines associated with them and sure enough the lines were long at bag check. After that we had 15 minutes to somehow pee and get into the starting corrals, oops. We split and didn't see each other again!
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| Pre race..yet again the 4 of us getting after it! |
I entered the corral without a pit stop and was already regretting it. When I realized the corral starts were going off about 5 minutes apart I made a mad dash across the street to a porta potty then got back in the corral with 15 seconds to spare. What a way to start a race!
The first half of the marathon circled through the city via Chinatown, near the Ben Franklin Bridge, a long lively stretch along Chestnut street, Farmount Park, Drexel University, and near the "Rocky steps" as we ran by the finish line to head out for the second half. I normally hate running past the finish line during a race, but I was able to see the first female finisher!
I was running a pretty steady pace through the entire first half, even through the hillier section in the park, roughly miles 7-11. It was hillier than I thought, but nothing like the last marathon, and of course, this would be all the hills we would encounter, except for a few inclines here and there. I really enjoyed the first half of the race and felt really really good, which is something I haven't felt in any of the marathons I've ran this year! Of course there was no gravel, roots, rocks, spiral staircases, excessive humidity or even heat! Not even a kidney stone! We had perfect weather conditions, and other than dealing with my cold hands and thick gloves everything was pretty effortless.
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| Boat house row |
The entire second half of the race was an out and back along Kelly Drive, where the boat houses are along the river. The race turns around at mile 20 in the community of Manayuk. I love out and backs, especially when other friends are running the race too. I knew I'd see Toby (and I did and we both said we were doing good), but would have trouble seeing Mark or LSP, because the road narrowed and got really crazy with spectators as we entered Manayuk. You had to watch your footing and not look over for very long and too, there were a lot of us! Mark had passed me early on after his porta potty stop so I knew for sure he was in front, but I never saw LSP. After a while I just had to tell myself that she's out in front of me and she's crushing it (and she was!)
I hit the 20 mile mark at the same steady pace but mentally thought ok this last 10K is gonna suck, but every time I hit a mile marker I was still on pace! I started slowing at mile 24, so I walked the water stop and took in one last gel to make sure I didn't crash on the way in. That would be my only walk break during the entire race, and I finished strong. Wow, I sure wish they could all end like that!
It didn't take long to regroup and share what seemed to be a very similar experience to mine. (Yes we all had ran the Freedom's run 6 weeks ago so maybe that's why).
Our times:
Toby: 3:23
Mark: 4:03
LSP: 4:06
Me: 4:13
The course records were broken for both the men and women's race, in what was most likely the most perfect race conditions ever.
Our finishers medals have Liberty bells that jingle--one of my favorite medals so far.
I highly recommend this marathon and I highly recommend traveling to Philadelphia! We have to come back since there's so much we didn't get a chance to see or do. Fun town!
Oh and yes you have to run up the rocky steps post marathon. We did that, but it wasn't pretty, wasn't pretty at all! And going down the steps was pure torture! It was great traveling with the best buds in the world, including the entire Patterson family--priceless!
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| LOVE |
