2008 Philly Distance Run

While I attempted to give the photographer a peace sign while passing him, little did I know it would make me look like I was carrying a torch that resembled a stop light! See how there are no runners around me in this photo? It's a strategy of mine. Fall waaaaay to the back of the pack so that it's so thinned out you can get a really good professional picture taken. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Rats

Well, for the second year in a row, I have a very "MySpace Like" photo in a bathroom mirror from a cell phone camera following my half marathon. I am actually quite disgusted with myself over my time. It's 15 minutes over what it was just last November. That's more than a minute per mile, but most of that has to do with me slowing down to a crawl after mile 8. For one thing, it's much hotter today than normal for this time of year and that equates to about 25 degrees warmer than when I ran last November. It's crazy that weather can affect you that much, but it does. Second....I had more stomach issues today after taking gel. I slowed down to walk at a water stop and took the gel and water while walking then started to run again immediately. All of a sudden I felt like I ate 12 tacos at Taco Bell and wasked it down with 10 Iron Cities! My stomach felt loose and queasy for the remainder of the race. I'm really disappointed, but it will help me train for my next one. I think I need to take the advice of what I read about not trying to do anything special about food the day before. Just do what you do. In retrospect, I don't do anything special the nigth before a training run of 10 miles so why do anything different for this race? Phooey. Oh well, even though I finish at the back of the pack for my age group....I have to keep telling myself that: A. not too many casual runners even run half marathons, and B. over 16,000 people entered the race and only a little over 13,100 even finished. The far left of the road had golf carts with runners going back to the start all day. I really wish they would include the people that didnt finish in the age placements......but I don't know why I care.

Mother Nature Hates Fan

When I ran my first half marathon at the Philadelphia Distance Run two years ago, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we suffered like crazy out there as it neared 80 with some heavy humidity. My second half last fall was a dreary day in November where we fought rain clouds most of the day. I debated which race to run this year, the September version or the November one - and I chose the September one after rereading the average start and finish temperatures for the PDR. Well, the forecast for Sunday is a balmy 78 and sunny in the city. SHUCK! I've been doing all my long training runs at 6:00 in temperatures between 57-64 starting out. This race starts at 7:45 which is around the time I'm normally finishing. I'm screwed. Goodbye 2:10, Hello 2:20.

My Jeff Reed Moment

Well, I never thought I'd be taking a picture of myself on the cell phone in a hotel bathroom, but I thought I needed to capture the moment for posterity's sake. I was too tired to stand in the line to get my photo in front of the flag after the race this morning. I'll post a recap later in the day as I'm trying to get out of the city in time to watch the Stillers.....just the facts:

No rain. Superb Low 40's temps. Unofficial time of 2:22. I'll have to wait and see what my chip time was. I forgot to turn off my watch when I hit the finish line because I was too busy doing my best Rocky impersonation with my hands above my head. If that time holds up, it will be about 18 minutes faster than last year. Not too shabby for an old guy I guess. I'm off to get my car........enjoy the game!

A Die Hard Steeler Fan, She Is

This girl was in the same corral as my Dad and I. She ran all 13.1 miles wearing the colors! How cool is that? I'm telling you, the finish line temperature that day was easily above 80 and there were a ton of guys shirtless and a lot of women wearing nothing but the sports bra thingies that they wear. For this girl to wear a football jersey throughout the race is crazy! I had a Nike Dri-Fit running singlet on and it was SOAKED mid-race. I don't know what she did when she ran past the Mummer band playing the Eagles fight song - but I let out a "Here We Go" chant that got a little chuckle. My Dad wanted me to do it again when the band finished the song and we were right by them, but I didn't want to get tripped so I kept my mouth shut (for once). Anway, I looked up her bib number and her name is Elizabeth Rossi from Sewickley, PA. I added her name here just incase she or someone she knows ever Googles her and sees this. I thought that would be cool. Anyway - how can you not like a 'Burgh girl running the entire half in the Fast Willie Parker jersey?

Half Marathon Results

Well, it didn't end like my Dad and I wanted it to, but we both finished the race and we're both proud of that. WHen it's your first distance race, just finishing is a good goal. We set what we thought was a modest goal time of around 2:20. At 2:23 our pace would have been 11:00/miles. I've run several training runs for this race with my dad all at right around 11:00/miles. My last long run was last Sunday and I did 10 miles at 1:48 which is slightly under 11:00. My best 10K time is 55:25 so I thought I was in no danger of not getting in at 2:20. Well, that's why they play the game. Average race day temperature for the Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon is 63 at the starting line and 70 at the finish line. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 80 or more at the finish line today. The sun was out before the gun went off and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Runners were hugging the edges of the road looking for shade. All of my training for this race was done around 6:30 - 7:00 AM and it seems like in this area it has been overcast at that time of day for the past month. If you run at all, you know the difference between running when it's 55-65 degrees is vastly different than running when it's 75-80. Dad training in the mountains of western PA is much more accustomed to cooler temperatures. Also, my dad fought off calf cramps almost the entire race and I actually had to leave him (after promising not to) around the halfway point. We were right on pace and averaging 11:00 through mile 4 even though he stopped running to take 2 short walk breaks. Between miles 5-6 he was having more trouble with it and I slowed down while he tried to walk off his problem. I kept running but very slowly because once I stop, I have a really tough time starting back up. We talked about it and decided I should just go ahead and meet up at the finish line. For a while I tried to speed up to make up for lost time but with the sun bearing down I went back into race pace and decided just finishing was a good goal for my first half. At this point I took a porta-potty break which cost me at least 2 minutes, maybe more. I also fought off a nasty stomach issue I was having which was caused by 1 of 3 things (TGI Fridays the night before, eating 4 Cliff Bars within 10 hours or drinking more water than I'm used to). Hey, you live and learn. I came in at 2:40 and pops finished at 2:58. I'm really proud of both of us. We were talking about it last night and before he started training for this race 12 weeks ago - I think he had only been farther than 5 miles once. Until I started training 9 weeks ago, I had only gone 7 miles before. For both of us to get to 13.1 is a major accomplishment in my eyes. I want to run a full marathon before I turn 40. However, my short term goal within the next calendar year is to run a FALL (see COLD WEATHER) half marathon much much much closer to the 2 hour limit most runners view the half for. I'll post some pictures when I get them. On a funny side note....I got passed by a guy juggling 4 balls around the 12 mile mark. I turned around to see if I could see my dad and I saw the juggler coming. He was in our corral starting out but we passed him very early. When he passed me I made everyone around us laugh by exclaiming "Shit, I just got passed by a juggler."