2007 Philadelphia Marathon Experience

Well, my unofficial time of 2:22 that I posted earlier was wrong. I actually finished at 2:25:24. What happened was I had my watch set to stop timing if I drop below a certain pace so when I crossed the finish line and walked to get my medal and food, it wasn't timing anyway. I do that so when I run the neighborhood the clock stops when I have to wait for traffic to cross the street. Anyway, I'm calling the experience a complete success this year. Not only did I improve my time by around 15 minutes, I did it at a heavier weight as I'm carrying about 12 more pounds then I had last year. The geeky fitness scale that I have says that my body fat is the same percentage at this weight that it was at the lighter weight so at least I know only a portion of it is flabbity flab! Overall I finished 3,157 out of 4,325 runners or better than 27% of the field. At last year's half marathon I finished better than only 9% of the field. Also, last year's run was a half only. It's extremely safe to assume that I moved up considerably due to the fact more hardcore runners were in the full marathon as opposed to the half. I don't think 15 minutes would move me up that far. I finished better than 16% of males this year and last year it was only 5%. For my gender age class, I beat 19% of the field. Last year I only finished better than 3% (Yikes!) in that category. It would be interesting to see if I went back and put this time into the 12,000 runner field of last year how it would fare instead of this field of 4,300. I might do that.

The experience on the whole was fantastic, although I could have had more sleep. I picked up my stuff at the expo around 3:00 PM and got to The Latham where I stayed around 4:00. After an hour or so of doing nothing I went to my favorite Italian place in the city, Pietra's on Walnut, and ordered something very boring that isn't even on the menu..Penne with olive oil. I had some of their kickass bread with oil and tried to hydrate with as much water as I could drink. I sat at the bar and noticed a few other party of 1's at the bar eating pasta and drinking water. I could have went to the pasta party, but since I worked in the city for 5 years and knew my way around, I figured why pay $25 and walk over a mile when my favorite place was right around the corner? Anyway, when I was half done a dude came and sat next to me who ordered pasta and water. He looked like a runner and when he checked his watch it was an Ironman so I asked him about the race. As it turned out, he was staying at The Latham as well so we split a cab in the morning to head down to the race because we were 1.6 miles away from the start. Mike from NC....thanks for paying for the cab! You left me with enough money to hail one on the long walk back after I went about 6 blocks. Mike was running the full marathon and hoped to finish around 3:30. I watched the radar until about 10 PM and then headed to bed thinking it was going to rain. 5 AM came fast. We were leaving around 6:15 and I needed time to eat and let it settle a tad before running. In the end it barely spit enough rain to feel on your face a few times. The lines for the porta-potties were crazy. We got there around 6:30 and I feel like I spent 25 minutes in line, just getting to the starting point before they played the obligatory Rocky Theme. The first 2 miles were very crazy as they merged the 15,000 marathon runners with the 4,300 half runners after the Parkway. It was crowded until we started up past the zoo - then it thinned out. The best place for crowds was South Street, it was nuts. It really pumps you up to hear the crowd cheering and making noise, especially since we were WAY behind the leaders at that point. Another good point before heading out of Center City was a row of Frat houses, I'm guessing Drexel's. Those dudes were out banging on pots and pans and playing upbeat music. Someone said they were surprised they were up - I said "are you kidding? they never went to bed!". I had a gel around mile 6-7 and only stopped for liquid twice. Still A Dad and I did a 10 miler 2 weeks ago and never took a sip. I had a little water around mile 5 and some Gatorade around mile 9 I guess. My mouth was really dry because I screwed up. I've been running with gum for about 2 years now and even though I packed all my stuff the night before and sat everything out, my gum was underneath something and I forgot it this morning. I was so into taking everything in I didn't notice I didn't have it until about 2 minutes before the race started. I felt pretty strong at the halfway point and never really had a moment when I was questioning my decision to run. I had a queasy stomach and walked for about 20 seconds at around mile 12.25. How could I stop and walk at that point? Because they looped us 3/4 of the way around Eakins over where the race started and we had to run past at least 100....maybe more...no kidding...Porta-Potties. Yes, the habit runners are most famous for before going out for their morning "runs" was now staring us in the face as an obstacle. I was feeling slightly off my game stomach-wise anyway and when that first whiff hit me.....whew..... You know how when you're sick any little smell can set you off? Well, run 12 miles in the cold damp weather and then run past 100+ johns with their vented louvers all facing you and the wind blowing. It ain't pretty and it's something they may want to think about next year.
This year I remembered to raise my arms as I crossed the finish and it was hectic there as well. Loud music, lines for pictures, lines for medals and a line for Smokin' Joe Frazier. I skipped everything but the medal. Then, in a tent that had enough food to feed a small country, I grabbed only a soft pretzel and a bottle of water and started to walk back to the hotel. What a bad idea that was. I grabbed the first cab I saw after I cleared the craziness of the area. I didn't even get my cool foil cape robe!! I wasn't that cold. I grew up near Pittsburgh for goodness sake. Standing in line for the john this morning people were bouncing up and down and wearing gear like it was the arctic. It was hovering around 39 for the start I read. I was in shorts and just taking it all in. What an experience. Things I'll remember? A guy passed me in a leisure suit, lime green. I looked at the girl next to me and I said "Did we just get passed by a guy wearing a leisure suit?" A guy with 1 leg passed me as well. He had one of those space age legs that the sprinters use. I passed him around mile 12 as he was walking, but God bless him. Another guy had a backpack on, with a t-shirt over that that had so much writing on it you couldnt read anything...and he was wearing socks...no shoes. I passed him, thank God. When my elevator opened this morning, a guy was in drag with a princess crown on. What is wrong with these people? Are they simply mocking the rest of us. Finishing is so easy for me...watch this. The only other thing I don't get is the people with these utility belts like Batman. I have a race number belt with a small wallet on it that holds something the size of a band-aid. I don't even have anything against the fuel belts of which I saw a ton of. Although I don't know why you need to carry all that water when it is provided every other mile or so unless you drink a lot when you run. What I'm talking about is these people who have belts with 37 compartments on them. I swear I passed a woman and she was ready for any situation that presented itself. She had 6 bottles of water (fuel belt style), enough gel to feed 1000 runners, compartments with what I guess were first aid type things, a car battery, 2 books, a gun (even though we weren't going into North Philly), a compass, a GPS, bear trap...you get the idea. I think it was more "Hey, look at my cool belt" than functional. But, to each his or her own I guess. Off to bed. My legs are H-E-A-V-Y. It was cool but kind of a lonely experience. When everyone else is running in pairs or groups and hugging family at the end of the race - you kind of wish you had someone there with you........Still A Dad.........you feel me? Next year! :)