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Philadelphia Marathon - RunMarathon


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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States
Philadelphia Marathon
47F / 8C
Sunny
Total Time = 4h 24m 34s
Overall Rank = 4041/6119
Age Group = 25-29
Age Group Rank = 289/487
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 6AM and met the NJRRC and met up with OceanAnnie from BT in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel. Walked over to the start at the museum. Dropped my bag off at the side of the road next to a sign with our number race as told by race officials since there were no baggage trucks to collect our bags. They said when we got back they should be on the trucks. I took the gamble and dropped it off, since I wanted to get comfortable and relax a bit.
Event warmup:

Does running back and forth to the porta potty count?
Run
  • 4h 16m 19s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 47s  min/mile
Comments:

Started off by waiting on line to the bathroom with OceanAnnie. It was like 5 minutes to race start and we decided to run back to the start. 8AM rolls around and no gun start. I was suppose to run with OceanAnnie, but the bathroom got the best of me. We wished each other good luck and off I went. So I ran over to the port-a-potty did my business ran back to the pack.

I started off in the back of the pack and caught up to the 4:15 pace group. I saw my hunnie at mile 2. :) Then got to see my mom at mile 3. Then, I saw John at mile 7 and my mom and uncle at the final stretch.

The first 10 miles were hard. The crowd support was good. The water stops were spaced out a bit weird though. I walked through almost every water stop and forced myself to take that little break. Relaxed a bit and got into my pace up to where the half marathon split from the full marathon. It was kinda of cool though. I made my 1/2 marathon split just in time to the first place men's marathon finisher and the first place women's marathon finisher come in.

The last 12 miles were an out an back loop. The out was tough, since you wished you were on the otherside making it back to the finish line.

My stomach got the best of me at mile 22 and had to make a pit stop. Thankfully, after my pitstop I felt better and ran better making it to the finish line and avoiding the wall. Thanks to the crowd and the volunteers and the couple who had all those signs on the last major uphill. It reminded of me when you're driving down south and you see South of the Border signs, waiting to see what lies at the end of trails of signs. What a cute couple!

I saw the final stretch and gave it all I had. Seeing my mom and uncle on the last 200m gave me that final boost.


What would you do differently?:

Strengthen my knees more.
Post race
Warm down:

Just because the half marathon finished, doesn't mean the race finished. When I got to the finish line it was so sparse. I had no idea where I was going and it was just overall disorganized. I got my own blanket, had to find out where to get my medal. There weren't any signs any where telling you where to go. It just seems like the who whole finish line was looted.

But I found my way and made it to the bag check. So from where I initially left my bag at the curb, which I thought would be on a truck, it was either outside of the tent now or in the tent. I was praying I would find my bag. Lucky it was red, and I was able to find it in the heap. Got my bag and made it over to the meeting spot with my family.

Had some yummy Chinese food in Chinatown and took a Philly Cheesesteak to go. :)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

My knees were hurting but I was able to run through it.

Event comments:

I gave this race a 2 since it just lacked organization. From the race number pickup, to the way the bags were handled. The course was nice. But the organization sucked. First of all, they had the expo and the number pickup in the same tent. So, you had to go all the way to the back of the tent through the people shopping at the expo to get your number. It just was not very organized, and the whole place smelled like hot dogs. Bag check or lack thereof. Apparently the trucks got shooed away by the police so instead of dropping off the bags in trucks, they just got dropped off on the side of the road. For lack of time, I couldnt drop it in the tent which was another mess. Lucky I didn't use the Philadelphia Marathon bag, but my own bright red bookbag. So I found my bag inside the tent in a random pile. No number check or anything.

The race course was great. Volunteers and support were excellent. Everything before and after the race was mediocre at best.




Last updated: 2006-08-25 12:00 AM
Running
04:16:19 | 26.2 miles | 09m 47s  min/mile
Age Group: 289/487
Overall: 4041/6119
Performance: Good
Gender Place - 1153/2165
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? No
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 2

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2006-11-19 8:39 PM

Veteran
216
100100
Columbus, Ohio
Subject: Philadelphia Marathon


2006-11-20 6:22 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Extreme Veteran
454
1001001001002525
Denver CO
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon

Congrats on finishing!!! Glad you never hit the wall

2006-11-20 8:23 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Member
101
100
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon

congratulations! i probably saw you finish, i was out for an early morning ride with my team and then split off to watch the marathon finishers from the art museum right around your time.

while currently living in philly, i resent that comment about the whole place smelling like hot dogs! the whole freaking city stinks like hot dogs, thats why its so beautiful hahahaha

 

2006-11-20 9:35 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Master
1668
10005001002525
Cinnaminson, NJ
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon

great job!!!

i did the half yesterday...

2006-11-20 9:38 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Master
1381
1000100100100252525
Clifton, NJ
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon
great job! maybe they'll get their act together next year... i hope you're happy with your race, because you did a super job!
2006-11-20 10:21 AM
in reply to: #603727

Veteran
216
100100
Columbus, Ohio
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon

levels1069 - 2006-11-20 9:23 AM

congratulations! i probably saw you finish, i was out for an early morning ride with my team and then split off to watch the marathon finishers from the art museum right around your time.

while currently living in philly, i resent that comment about the whole place smelling like hot dogs! the whole freaking city stinks like hot dogs, thats why its so beautiful hahahaha

Oh no!!!  I didn't mean Philly smelled like hotdogs!!! I only meant the tent where the number pick up and the expo was smelled like hotdogs!! Confined tent with lots of  people+hot dogs = yucky! 

Sorry!



2006-11-20 11:13 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Expert
709
500100100
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon
Great job on the race. To bad it didn't have better organization. Sounds like you treated yourself to some good food afterward.....fun stuff! Congrats!
2006-11-20 12:47 PM
in reply to: #603560

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Master
1920
1000500100100100100
Ann Arbor, MI
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon
Great race! Glad ya had fun! Hope that take home cheesesteak treated you well!
2006-11-21 4:37 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Master
1201
1000100100
Indian Harbour Beach, Florida
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon
Great job! I can't believe there wasn't more support at the finish line, I would have felt very let down because of that!

Congratulations, you 50-Stater you!
2006-11-21 7:15 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Master
1265
10001001002525
CT
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon

Great job! That's a pretty swell time .

 

Too bad about the lack of support at the finish.

2006-11-21 10:23 AM
in reply to: #603560

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Master
2231
200010010025
Des Moines, Iowa
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon

Good job on your race! Congrats!



2006-11-21 3:25 PM
in reply to: #603560

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Expert
1166
10001002525
Northern VA
Subject: RE: Philadelphia Marathon

Great race! Sorry the finish was such a mess, but it sounds like you had good crowd support.

Nice job.

Bill

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