Philadelphia Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Ek the time is here! My first half marathon since my accident- 7 weeks, 2 weeks, and 5 days later. It almost felt like I had been in training since I could start walking. I was nervous, anxious, excited, every emotion you can imagine. 


Expo/packet pickup:
As you would imagine, the expo was huge. It was in the Philadelphia Convention Center. First stop- filling out a waiver.

You pick up your packet based on your bib number (you will receive an email with this information). Unfortunately for me there was one lady working two lines. 

Next line- getting your t-shirt. Right across from the pickup is a place to exchange your shirt for another size. 

Finally into the expo. First thing I see, porta potties as fitting rooms. Funny.

The expo had numerous stores, but I skipped them all. I was overwhelmed by the size and had a husband with a broken foot waiting for me. 

Race day:
With an 8 am start time and my hotel being within walking distance of the start, I woke up at a very nice 6 am. This might be the latest I've ever woken up for a race. It was fabulous. Of course I didn't sleep well the night before so I was still tired. The hotel didn't start serving breakfast until 6:30 so every runner tried to get room service between 6 and 6:30. Needless to say, my breakfast came late (and wasn't what I ordered). My stale English muffin would have to do because I was changed and out the door by 7:20. I followed the crowd and was at the start with plenty of time to spare. I was able to see some of the elite runners including Deena Kastor.

There were roughly 20,000 or so runners plus all of the people out supporting them. I have no idea why I wanted to rush because I was in corral 17 (I think there may have been 24 or so corrals). 

It was a crowded mess to get to my corral. I think there was someone checking the earlier corrals to make sure people were going where they were supposed to be. By my corral they didn't care at all. They had speakers at a couple of different corrals to keep the music going while you waited to start. At 8:00 am they started with elites then every so often would have another corral go. It was 8:35 (!) before I crossed the starting line.

My race:
Immediately my knees hurt. I could tell they were acting up beforehand and they did the entire race. It is the outer part of the knee so I think it might be IT band related. Around mile 5 I felt a shooting pain right up my IT band, but it didn't last and I didn't feel it again the rest of the race. I also experienced horrible blisters on both of my pinky toes. I usually put band-aids on the toes next to it because they are prone to being bothered. I either did not pain attention to the seam of the band-aid or they were rough. I tried hard to block out the pain, but it definitely affected me.

It was crazy crowded trying to run.

My husband posted up right after Logan Square which would be just after mile 1 and mile 4. This was a huge lift especially after mile 4. 

It was easy to feed off of the crowd the first few miles. I had to keep trying to hold myself back. Some of the bands were decent too. About mile 5 is when you start going into the park and away from the crowds. I was so into the crowds and seeing my husband that I forgot to fuel myself at mile 4. My standard is two Shot Bloks- one caffeine and one regular. 

The park portion of the race had some great running trails. It was really nice running through this part. I tried to not focus on my toes and knees and just enjoy it. 

There was a minor hill but it did not bother me. I started noticing more and more medical stops. I also started noticing more and more people requiring medical stops. Somewhere in the 6 to 8 mile range there were a couple of random people with boom boxes. I thoroughly enjoyed having this extra music along the quiet path. One of the guys was doing a dance show for us runners. I also saw two runners in squirrel customers. Straight up head to toe squirrel customers. Love it. I popped a couple of caffeine Shot Bloks at mile 8 and it really gave me a boost. This was also about the time where you go over Falls Bridge and turn around back towards the Finish Line. Or as I like to think of it 'the home stretch.' 

It was really motivating thinking I'm in the home stretch! I just kept repeating this phrase over and over. By mile 11 I was starting to get emotional thinking about my journey. I knew if I didn't hold it together I wouldn't be able to breathe. 

so true

I don't remember seeing a mile marker 13, but I am sure there was one. I just knew we started going up a hill and the crowds started getting deeper. To get to the finish I went just under a bridge then down a straight away.

7 weeks, 2 weeks, and 5 days after my fractured pelvis, half marathon is complete!

Sparkly medal

I expect for my Garmin/Nike Plus app to be off of the 13.1 mile mark. You don't follow the exact middle of the road and you end up weaving in and out of people, but they were off after the first mile. The 1 mile marker was .2 of a mile after both my Garmin and app said they should be. This was a downer the whole race. Every time I thought I finished a mile I'd be like just kidding, you still have a bit to go. Eventually it increased to .3 and by the end my Garmin and Nike Plus both read 13.5 miles.

The course:
I have viewed a few different Philly race courses and they all seem fairly standard. This was a fairly flat course with a couple of very minor hills. 

The start looped around Eakins Oval then up . Around mile 5 you go up through Fairmount Park where the bulk of the race is. The first three miles I think there were 4 bands, but then nothing again until mile 6. There may have been one more on the way back down the park. It was surprising to me they would not spread out the bands a bit more or put more at the end. I need more motivation at the end, not the beginning! The crowds were larger for the first 5 miles then very few the rest of the way. The only real gathering of supporters in the park was by the turnaround bridge. The positive was the park was beautiful and such a great running area.

I vaguely remember looking at the elevation chart and thinking between 4 and 6 there looks like a minor hill. It was very minor. Even the biggest looking hill (at mile 13!) wasn't so bad. Of course it didn't help that it was at the very end. It also was a little tricky because sort of close behind me I could hear a siren. There were a couple of times an ambulance of sorts would try to work its way through the crowd. This seemed really tough right at the end when the course became narrower and people were working hard to finish. I would think they should have an emergency exit for the ambulances and not use the finish line.

Final thoughts:
I am torn. I liked the course, but not necessarily the Rock n Roll series. I think the size was too big for my preference (20k or so runners). This made it feel like you were being shuffled around like cattle. This also meant I didn't cross the start until 8:35... a whopping 35 minutes after the elites started! Considering the cost I wish they provided a bit more at the end of the race. I have been to races where it feels like a feast. I think they had water, chocolate milk, thin pretzels, granola bar, and a banana. I didn't notice any bagels or other fruit. I definitely will go back for another half marathon in Philly. It was flat and included city and park parts


Next race: Wineglass Half Marathon