[DISCLAIMER- it’s a long one! SORRY!]
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends! I’ve been procrastinating with posting about the Philadelphia Marathon, in part because it turned out differently than I had hoped, and in part because every time I went to post I realized I was taking time away from the four short days that I had with my family.
I’ll start off by saying Philadelphia is a gorgeous and amazing city. The race was extremely organized and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a marathon or half marathon in mid-November. Especially because next year is the 20th annual Philadelphia Marathon, so I hear that big things are in store. The Marathon Corral began at 22ndStreet and Benjamin Franklin Parkway right near the Philadelphia Museum of Art (aka the inspiring steps from Rocky). The energy was high with thousands of excited runners waiting to cross the starting line. It took about a half hour to get to the start but the announcer kept everyone upbeat and I think we all turned to each other for last minute support. The course took us through the streets of downtown Philadelphia, through Center City, University City, West Philly, around the Schuylkill River, through Manayunk, and back to the Philadelphia Art Museum for the finish. The course was relatively flat and seeing new scenery helped to keep me distracted.
The Philadelphia Marathon organization put forth extensive effort to keep runners motivated, hydrated and energized. One of my favorite features was the Runto It music that they set up throughout the course. The Philadelphia Marathon website had a section for runners to submit their favorite running playlists before the race. At each of the Run to It spots along the course, the Philadelphia Marathon organization played music from the submitted playlists. Even if it had not come from one that I submitted it was still fun hearing songs that I had seen on other peoples playlists and knowing that the requested song could potentially play as the requestor ran by. Further, to keep runners motivated their were concentrated cheering sections that included bands, cheerleaders, and fans of all sorts. No matter what part of the course you were at there was someone or something to keep you going.
Although this is one of the things that contributed to me not meeting the time I had been hoping for, I couldn’t help but take a picture of the costumed cheering section.
The Philadelphia Marathon organization kept runners hydrated at nearly every mile. They set up tables with Gatorade and water and had more than enough space and volunteers to ensure each runner was accommodated. In addition, Clif Shots energy gels were distributed at the 9.8 mile mark, 16.9 mile mark and 22.3 mile mark. Although I did not take any of the gels because I am extremely partial to GU energy gels, I made sure to thank the volunteers handing the gels out because it is unbelievable how necessary energy gels become when your body had been consistently moving for that many miles.
The only two things that I didn’t love about the course were the porter potty lines and the layout of the second half of the marathon. The porter potty lines were a little bit overwhelming and inefficient. This is something that seems to be a reoccurring issue with races and I do not blame Philadelphia at all. There were enough porter potties for the masses, but when you thousands of runners there are bound to be lines. To get an idea of how long the lines were I paused my Nike+ app while I waited for the two stops I made and my calculated time was a little over 20 minutes behind the officially recorded time at the end of the course. In hindsight I think I need to not drink so much water/Gatorade along the course of the race considering that this is WAY too much time to waste during a race. As far as the layout of the second half of the marathon, miles 13.5 through mile 25 passed each other in a way that I was able to watch runners who were on their final mile while I was going into my second half marathon. Initially this was motivating, however, as it continued, and as my muscles became more sore and I became more tired it was overwhelming to realize how far ahead of my the runners on the other side of the line were in their own race. Reminder: RUN YOUR OWN RACE
All in all, I am extremely impressed with the Philadelphia Marathon and the organization that puts this marathon together every year.
On a personal level, however, I’m going to have to be shamefully honest, and say this was my worst race to date. I can’t help but feel extremely disappointed, but over the past week I have tried to focus on the fact that I completed it and I plan to do so many more marathons that I will use this one as a great learning experience. When I woke up on race morning I ate my race day breakfast of a light multigrain English muffin with peanut butter, oatmeal, and a banana. It may sound like a lot but I had to leave enough time to get to the race so I had a solid two and a half hours in between eating and actually crossing the starting line.
After eating and getting ready I went downstairs to catch the cab that I had called to make it to the start. Cabs were coming and going, not according to reservations, so I ended up sharing a cab with an extremely sweet group from Ottawa, Canada. The girl who was running mentioned that it was her first marathon and asked for any tips that I had from running previous marathons. I said my best advice was to pace yourself, because when you start a marathon the first couple of miles are spent dodging and weaving to escape from the pack and find your groove, and then adrenaline takes over and it’s easy to get excited and go out too fast, but this will only make the second half extremely difficult. I really hope my advice helped her because, apparently the saying “those who cannot do, teach” is 100% true.
For the first two miles I ran with, around, through, by, etc. the hundreds of people in the Orange Corral. Once things started to spread out a bit, I heard my ipod say, “you have completed three miles, and your average pace is 9:07.” I was ecstatic! At this rate I would definitely be finishing the marathon under 5 hours. I paid no mind to the fact that I was planning to run the marathon at an 11:00 minute per mile pace and I was starting the marathon going almost two whole minutes too fast. I felt absolutely fantastic. My breathing was good; my legs felt good; my mentality on the race was positive; every song that came on my playlist was the exact song that I wanted to hear at that exact moment; and overall I just felt like everything was going a million times better than I could have ever imagined. Despite the extended lag in training during the two weeks leading to the marathon, I thought the way my body was feeling was a direct result of the hard work I had put in for the months leading up to this point. And this mentality continued until about two minutes after the half marathon mark. I could see my mom and sister at the 13.1, and my adrenaline spiked even more, bringing my pace lower, for a brief dip to 8:49, and then it all changed. Every part of my body started to cramp; every muscle hated me; my pace slowed drastically; and worst of all, my positive mentality and sub 5-hour goal started to seem impossible. I tried to reiterate all of the positive mantras that I had practiced through training, but it just started to seem harder than anything I had anticipated. I kept reminding myself that I had done this before and I would get through it, but it wasn’t making my legs move any faster. I recovered as I passed peppy fan sections, and was able to push through to the 17th mile with at about a 10:30 pace, but after passing the 17th mile, it seemed as though I was watching a DVRed show in slow motion. Watching each foot go forward was something that I do not remember feeling in past marathons. But somehow I could not seem to regain control of my legs.
I re-evaluated my mindset and my “you can do it” attitude shifted to a “you can finish it” attitude. I felt proud of myself for knowing that I was maintaining enough mental toughness to complete the marathon rather than calling it quits at this point, but the toughest part was forcing the negative thoughts of knowing that I was getting further and further away from my goal time of under five hours. By the time I reached the 26thmile, my run had slowed from a jog to a form of hop/walking that I do not want to repeat at any point of my life. And I’m ashamed to admit that my breathing became difficult because I began to stifle crying knowing that I had completely thrown off what I had worked for by beginning the race too quickly. I held it together through the finish line but once I saw my mom and sister I fell apart. 5 hours 55 minutes and 56 seconds. About 9 minutes slower than my last marathon and about 55 minutes and 57 seconds slower than my desired marathon time.
Overall, I realize that I did not train as well as I should/could have. What’s more is that I disregarded my one piece of marathon advice. But exactly a week after the fact I am confident that this recent marathon experience will shape my training program for the next marathon. This recent marathon will shape my mindset for my next marathon. And regardless of results, I will continue to love every second of the process.
Have you run a race in which the outcome was much different than what you had hoped for? How did you react if this happened? How did this affect your mentality for future races?
KEEP RUNNING and NEVER SETTLE
P.S.- Check out my new What I’m Running to Page with recent playlists!
What I’m Running to: You’re Gonna Go Far Kid- The Offspring
Fueled by Endorphins 
6 responses to “Close, but no cigar: Philadelphia Marathon Recap”
That's such a great idea that runners could submit their favourite music to be played along the course!
I'm sorry you were disappointed with how it went. Of course, I've never ran a full marathon, so to *me*, I look at your accomplishment in AWE and I'm just so massively impressed. The great thing about running though is that it's so individual and personal and we all have our own goals.
I can't even imagine the mental STRENGTH it took for you to finish and push forward when you were in pain and defeated. Honestly, I hope you really look back at that and realize how big of an achievement that is!
CONGRATS on your marathon!!
You are so sweet! Thank you very much! I really appreciate your kind words. I think the most amazing part about running is how personal it is. On good runs and bad runs of any length I think it can teach you a lot about yourself. With this race I am happy I finished and I am looking forward to taking little things I learned and putting it to use for the next one.
Love your blog! I like your description so people can prep for what they will be running. I know your time wasn't what you wanted, but we all have off days, and you finished! That in itself makes me jealous of your bravery and courage! Keep it up GURLLLL!
With the Brooklyn Marathon, same day as the Philly Marathon, I too had my worst marathon time in recent years. Not just not under 5 hours, but a minute longer than my slowest marathon so far. Oh well, there is always some other marathon. I am seriously considering the Central Park Marathon tentatively scheduled for February 2013…
Thanks so much, Kristen! I'm trying to recruit people for Tennessee if you wanna run! So far I think Molly and Anna are in. I miss you! Hope to see you this weekend!
I'm sorry that you didn't run the time that you were hoping for in the Brooklyn Marathon! It's such a discouraging feeling, but it can be one more thing to motivate you for the next marathon! I ran the Brooklyn Marathon last November and found it to be very challenging. Running that many loops around Prospect Park makes it difficult to stay motivated, especially when you reach the big hill each lap. That would be awesome if you run the Central Park Marathon! Good luck if you decide to run it!
I'm going to run the Rock'n'Roll Nashville Marathon at the end of April. Tomorrow is my first day of “pre-training.”
I think that's the silver lining… there will always be more marathons! 🙂