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Comments: Race started out very well. My goal coming into the race was to break 3:45. The closest pace group they had was 3:40 so that's who I ran with. Pretty much from the start I was on pace for 3:40 and eventually pulled away around mile 7. The pace group finally caught me around mile 14 and I was able to stay with them until about Mile 18-19 before they got too far ahead. Up to 30K I was running at an 8:21 pace. From 30K to 40K I dropped to a 9:04 pace where I lost roughly 4 and a half minutes and fell off the 3:40 pace group. I really started to lose steam heading uphill into Manyunk and by the time I got to mile 22 I realized that I was either right on pace or just off. Problem was, I was having trouble picking up the pace as my legs were stiff in particular my lower right calf had a knot in it that started just after mile 9. However, I managed to really push myself the last 4-5 miles beyond what I thought I could do so that I didn't fall short of my goal. As much as it hurt to try and pick up the pace over the last few miles and also to sprint the last .2 miles I was extremely proud of myself that I was able to beat my goal by 3 seconds! I also set a new PR by over 23 minutes from my first marathon in March 07! What would you do differently?: Not much. Maybe I went out a little too fast but overall I felt like I ran a great race especially the last 4-5 miles where I had to really push beyond my comfort levels to achieve my goal. One thing that I was glad that I did was run with my fuel belt which contained the Infinit nutrition that I had trained with. During the race I also consumed 2 Gu gels and had 1 bag of Shot Blocks. Most impotantly though, the belt enabled me to cruise past the water stations without ever stopping the entire race which in the end probably enabled me to beat my goal.  Post race
Warm down: After sprinting through the finish I had to sit down for a second as I was exhausted. Grabbed a couple cups of water to drink and then got up and proceeded to pick up my medal and get a bag of food and drinks followed by a race photo. What limited your ability to perform faster: I'm really excited that I broke my goal as this is probably the last Marathon I will do other than in the Vineman Full in Aug. I have degenerative disk disease and 2 bulging disks in my lower back that just aren't conducive to running long distances. After the Full I will focus on Sprint and Olympic distance Tri's only as well as the occasional half marathon. As far as this race the only thing I could have done better was probably stretch before the race since it was so cold and maybe not start out as fast as I did but not certain about that. Event comments: This was a great race that was well organized with lots of volunteers and enthusiasm. I really enjoyed it! Last updated: 2008-06-23 12:00 AM
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United States
Philadelphia Marathon
26F / -3C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 2049/7231
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 240/615
Had a pretty good 6 hours of sleep and woke up at 4:45 but didn't get out of bed until 5 of 5:00. Got a quick shower, got dresed and then gathered all of my things together. Ate an English muffin with PB and had a glass of gatorade. Also, brought with me and drank a bottle of water. My friend was at my house at 5:30 to pick me up so I didn't have time to stretch.
We got to the race around 5:45 and managed to get a really good parking spot near the start/finish. We then sat in the car to stay warm until around 6:30 as it was dark and very cold out. Around 25 degrees! Hit the porta potty one last time and then made our way into the corrals. Unfortunately, I again did not find time to stretch which would come back to hurt me later. I generally don't stretch much before runs but should have today because of the very low temperatures.