Run Ros Run by drakethecat

HEY! I've been away from this site for a few days and it's been completely redesigned! WTF? Where's my photo??

Adapted from another running site:

Today was the Philadelphia Marathon, my “after-thon” after my run at Mohawk-Hudson 6 weeks ago. Basically a way to get a second event for the “price” of one 18-week build-up. I chose Philly because several of my Chg training friends said they were signing up -- but none did. Oh well.

I had pretty modest expectations relative to my 4:24:xx pr at MH. I've been battling a cold for the past week, did not run at all this past week and felt kind of lousy on Saturday when I came into town. Since MH I've had some good races but another 26.2m trek is a different animal. I'm also up 4-5 lbs from my MH weight (partly water weight I fear). So, my preparation has been a combination of improvised and compromised.

The weather looked so promising earlier in the week, forecast at 36-53F or something. Instead, it was closer to 26-33F. Bit of a wardrobe dilemma. I really didn’t want to wear my running pants and in the end, didn't. I wore shorts, a long-sleeved thermal top with a tank top over it, a throwaway t-shirt until mile 10, gloves that I finally tossed about mile 21, and a beanie.

I knew early I didn't have the leg speed to go after a PR and struggled to stay near 4:30 pace. I also started way back after getting caught in a long bathroom line so had a lot of runners to work through, including the 5:30 ad 5:00 pace groups -- the latter at about mile five. I never found the course terribly congested, though, especially after the half marathoners turned off.

Despite the cold temps it wasn’t a bad day. Crucially, not a whole lot of wind. I enjoyed running thru south Philly, downtown, Drexel University with some exuberant frat boys banging on pots and pans, and the long stretch by the river where the outgoing and incoming runners were on either side of the road. The turnaround neighbourhood at 20 was very welcoming – people handing out brownies, etc.

I don’t know my half split. Maybe around 2:16. I dropped off the pace a bit but in miles 15-20 but not too terribly. As always I tried to focus on counting down the final ten miles and was more on an up than a down at mile 20. BTW, my friends and I often joke about how long runs make you math-impaired after a certain point, and that was definitely the case when I hit 18 and thought happily, "only six miles to go!”



Along the way I passed two people dressed as Thing One and Thing Two, but was passed by a speedy solo Thing, who I later saw taking a pit-stop by a tree. Do animated characters really need to "go"??

The final 3 miles seemed to be all more or less uphill, or at least when I ran them in the other direction they seemed slightly down hill. I managed a 10:33 and 10:19 for miles 25 and 26. Final watch time, 4:37:33, or a 10:36 pace: thirteen minutes above my recent PR but my second fastest of nine marathons.


I enjoyed Philly although I’ve definitely got a taste now for smaller races, especially when there's a time goal on the line. I lost some time at water stops today. Not a lot, but luckily seconds didn’t count for me. Philly scored high on most criteria though. A bit better crowd control might have been good near the finish, where a large black Newfoundland got loose from its owner and briefly started jogging down the final stretch. More porta-johns would have been nice.
I'm happy it's now the off-season.

Thanks for reading!