Race Recap: RnR Philadelphia Half Marathon

Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon
September 15, 2013

State: Repeat
Lifetime: #37

This past weekend, Abby, Pam and I took a road trip to Philly to run the Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon.  This weekend was also our friend Megan's daughters first birthday party in Philly and it worked perfectly for us to run the half.

We headed to Philly early Saturday morning (not without some stops on the way) and headed straight to the birthday party.  It was a great afternoon filled with delicious food (Megan had an awesome Hawaiian food truck cater!) and time with friends.

After the party we headed to the expo (after checking in to the hotel).  The expo was pretty small.  After getting our numbers and race shirts, we headed to the merchandise.  They had some really cute race tanks, but they were all sold out of my size.  I guess that is what happens when you show up 1 hour before the expo closes.

The Brooks area (they are the main sponsor) was themed 'Run Happy Island'.  They were doing a thing were if you got 3 stamps from their different booths you could get a nice 'Run Happy Island' insulated bag for free.  I have to give Abby credit for this one as I didn't want to do it initially but she convinced me.  I was glad I did 'cuz the bag is really cute!

Stamp #2: Abby, Pam and I getting ready (photo courtesy of Abby)

After getting our bags and checking out some of the booths (it seemed like a small expo to me) and then headed back to the hotel to get settled and have some dinner.  Even though the race wasn't until 8am, we headed to bed early for a solid night of sleep!

Sunday morning came and I had my usual oatmeal for breakfast.  I had laid out my clothing the night before so getting dressed was easy.  Our hotel was about a 20 minute walk from the start which gave us a nice warmup.  It was little chilly when we first started walking, but I warmed up quickly.

After wishing Abby and Pam good luck, I headed to my corral.  Let me tell you, the corrals were insane.  It was very packed but I managed to make it in.  They were sending the corrals off in waves, but I couldn't figure out how.  I think in sets of 3 maybe?  Who knows but fortunately I only had to wait about 10 minutes to start.

My legs had been heavy all week so I didn't think this would go well.  I figured I would run how I felt. I tried to conserve in the beginning because I didn't want to die in the end.  After the first couple of miles, I was really settling in.  The first 7 miles just flew by, I could not believe how quickly they went!

I was feeling really strong so I decided to pick it up a bit.  The miles kept going quickly and the pace was steady.  Once I hit mile 10 I upped the pace again.  This was a little more difficult but not so hard that I couldn't maintain it for ever.  Mile 11 I gave it a little more and mile 12 I decided to just leave it all on the course.  I pushed myself and got another sub 8 minute mile for the last mile.  It still amazes me how far my speed has come!

As I crossed finished line, I was spent.  I knew I had left it all out there.  It felt good.  But more importantly, I had hit the time goal I had set earlier in the summer - my final time was a 1:55:04.  So proud and so excited to have reached a goal that I had set.  Now time to focus 100% on Dopey!

Results
Official: 13.1 mi, 1:55:09, 8:47 pace
Garmin: 13.24 mi, 1:55:04, 8:40 pace

Splits