Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon – Race Report 2012

Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Pre-Race:

With the race just a short 20 minute drive over the Ben Franklin Bridge, not much race prep was needed. The expo was in the Philadelphia Convention Center which is common and convenient for the big Philly races. I drove in on Saturday and walked a few blocks to the expo. I got into the registration area, picked up my bib and headed in to the expo to check out the vendors. As soon as I left the registration area I found myself in what had to be one of the largest race-related apparel shops I have ever seen, it was huge! Competitor, which took over the race a couple of years ago, is a for-profit organization so I wasn’t terribly surprised but the amount of apparel was quite impressive.

It was great to be able to meet up for a bit at the expo with a Daily Mile friend (don’t worry Marcie, I won’t put our picture on the blog ). We had a great conversation about marathon training, race day strategy, and the overall chaotic state of our lives. It’s funny how you tend to be more conservative in your advice to others than you give to yourself, and Marcie caught me on this when she asked me, “OK, now how are YOU going to run the race?”. We had a good laugh because she’s seen my training and past race reports and knows I tend to have one speed on race day. I did have in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to put myself in a position to jeopardize NYC in November and if I had any warning signs during the race I’d shut it down. That being said there was no reason given good weather that a PR wasn’t possible, in fact I was expecting it.

Race day morning was uneventful. Got up, got out the door and found a good parking garage about a mile from the start. I wanted to get in about a 2 mile warmup and 2 mile cool down so I figured if I parked far enough away it would force me to get the mileage in for the day to count as a long run. It worked out perfectly as the garage was right next to a Holiday Inn which allowed me to use a proper restroom before heading to the start.

Pre-race tip for Big Philly races: Don’t line up at the first porta-potties you see on the Ben Franklin Parkway, walk further down toward the art museum. I saw the lines at least 20 or 30 deep at the first set while the potties by the art museum had no line at all. This was true last year at the Philly Marathon as well. This is because 90% of the runners are heading west on the Ben Franklin Parkway and usually line up at the first row they see.

Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Race Start:

It was nice to be in corral 1. While it wasn’t a seeded placement and only based on the estimated finish time I submitted, it was cool to be upfront. The elites were just in front of us and it seemed that most of corral 1 was filled with running teams from NYC. I counted a good 5 or 6 teams from Brooklyn, Central Park and the like. The weather was really nice, there was a cool breeze and the temperature was comfortable. If I was greedy I would say I would have taken another 10 degrees cooler but after the summer we had I wasn’t complaining. The gun went off right on time and we took off headed into the heart of Philadelphia.

Miles 1 thru 4

Only the first four miles take you through the city and the rest of the course takes you up and down the Schuylkill. As long as you can get out in front of your corral as you head into the city you’re OK. If you get caught in a large pack of runners (or the dreaded pace groups) you can get stuck and spend some time and energy navigating around runners and avoiding getting bumped or tripped up. I had planned going out at about a 6:30 pace but I felt good and let my legs dictate the pace a bit. First four splits were 6:20, 6:23, 6:29 and 6:21.

Miles 5 thru 9

At the mile 5 marker you pass the Art Museum where the Rocky statue stands arms raised to cheer you on. The course is very flat and the only flatter course you’d find in the area are probably down by the shore where the only elevation you get is when you pass over bridges. Heading north on Kelly Drive is very scenic, there weren’t a lot of spectators on this part of the course but I was pretty ambivalent about it. I was just enjoying the shade, cooler temps and locking in my pace. The only split that wasn’t in the 6:20′s was mile 9 as we hit the only elevation on the course as we crossed over Falls Bridge to head south on MLK drive.

Miles 10 to Finish

Had less shade, warming temps and splits in the mid 6:20′s as I came around the corner of the Art Museum toward the finish. Knowing I had a PR in hand I just maintained my pace rather than fight off any runners who had spent the last 12.9 miles saving themselves for their finish line photos. I crossed the finish at 1:24:30, 44 secs off my previous best. I knew in my heart that had this been my ‘A’ race I probably could have dialed it up and got in under 1:24 but it wasn’t worth the injury risk or the risk to my training schedule for extra recovery time (see Marcie! I was conservative!). I’ll save a sub-1:24 for next year…

Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon Post Race:

Got a solid PR, some good confirmation of my training and a chance to push myself hard in the heart of my NYC training schedule. As of 9/23 I’ve got six weeks of training left with two of those being recovery weeks. Still a lot of wild cards are out there but a day doesn’t go by where that sub-three isn’t on my mind so the next six weeks will be very focused.

Gatorade EndurAlliance: Philly Tri Expo

It was a great weekend. A couple of long days and a lot of hard work but very rewarding. Got a chance to meet some great athletes, both experienced and beginners, and educate them on some great products. Throw in some oppressive heat, torrential downpours, hail warnings and a flooded expo and you have the recipe for an epic weekend.

Gatorade Philly Tri Expo Crew

The reason for us being there was to educate athletes and provide them with an opportunity to try Gatorade products. The products we had to sample were the Carb Energy Chews and Gatorade Endurance Formula. I’ve started using the Carb Energy Chews myself during my runs. I’ve had a really good response to them in my training so I’m at the point now where I’m thinking of reducing my gels or ditching them all together. This isn’t a small thing since I’ve been a gel guy since I got back into marathons in 2009 and I’ve used a number of brands including PowerBar, GU and Accelerade.

The Carb Energy Chews were a big hit. Most athletes weren't even aware of them.

Gels have worked well for me but the chews just work better. There are a couple of downsides to the gels, one is when you open them you need to take the whole packet or lose the rest. You can’t just stick a half empty packet back in your pocket. Gels can also be an issue if your fighting stomach problems or are still a few miles from the water station since each full gel needs to be diluted with a good amount of water. With the chews I can just take what I need, even half a chew if need be. I don’t need to worry about water either with the chews and they digest really well. With the gels on race day I would always have to time it so that I was near a water stop just after taking one. Also a lot of gels leave that pasty bitter taste in your mouth. Our other product Gatorade Endurance Formula is the same G Series Pro product athletes get on the race course. My personal experience with both products made it very easy and natural to talk about them.

There was a lot of coordination leading up to the expo. I had committed to being there before my training in Chicago so as the date got closer the emails flew back and forth at an increased rate as all the details got worked out. Having logistics experience on active duty was a big help for me that weekend. There was a lot of details to keep track of with shipments coming from different directions and all of them eventually converging on Smith Memorial Field in Philadelphia under the big white expo tent. The important items needed for the expo were the signage (back wall, table covers) and the products to distribute to the athletes. The back wall and tables covers arrived on Thursday and the products were being shipped directly to the expo so no problems there.

Early Departure

I got my two guys together early Friday morning, packed the car with our cooler and Gatorade signage, made a quick stop at Wawa to pickup hoagies for lunch and then headed out to the expo. We arrived around 8:30AM to set up for a noon start. Since this was my first Gatorade activation I wanted to get there early enough to work out any issues, make sure we got everything we needed and have enough time to cool the Endurance Formula before the athletes got there. We got the back wall up and tables all set up and then worked on moving the product boxes off the pallet behind the booth and into our area. By 10 o’clock we were all set just waiting on the ice to arrive. Turns out the ice didn’t arrive until about 11:30AM which concerned me a bit since by that time the temps had reached 90 degrees. The first few samples we gave out were a tad on the warm side but once the bottles had a chance to chill in the coolers we were good.

As I mentioned it was a bit warm on Friday so we had to keep ourselves hydrated. Not being sure how much of the Endurance Formula we would have I brought along enough beverages for the three of us (Gatorade of course). We brought two 8-packs of Thirst Quencher and we just about polished those off by the end of the day. On Friday the crowds got a bit heavy around 1PM and then again after 5PM.

Embrace the Epicness

Trapped!!!

Then the rains came. The skies darkened and literally opened up around 5:30PM and for the next hour and a half all the athletes were trapped in the expo tent as sheets of rain came down. It was around 6:30PM that the expo tent flooded, I could tell because I was wearing my Vibrams and I could feel the water seeping into them. The cold water felt good as the earlier part of the day was sweltering and cold hitting any part of my body at that point was welcome. The rains subsided enough by expo closing at 8PM that we were able to get to the car relatively dry and head home.

Saturday!

The weather was much more cooperative on Saturday. Since the Sprint Tri was taking place that morning as well as the Olympic Tri participants coming in to pick up their race packets, the expo was hopping! The three of us stayed busy for most of the day. The expo only ran until 4PM so the time seemed to fly by as a steady stream of athletes came by by the booth.

Got a chance to meet some great people and I really enjoyed passing on my enthusiasm for some great products. I’m really looking forward to doing more events this year, it’s been an eye-opening experience being on the other side of the expo table. It made me appreciate all the time, effort and energy the volunteers, vendors, expo staff and support crews put into pulling off a successful event. As participants we take a lot for granted and tend to nitpick when things go wrong. Next time things go wrong on race day I plan on cutting them a lot more slack.

Broad Street Run – Race Report 2012

Broad Street Run Pre-Race:

In the interest of full disclosure, I had no idea what was going to happen at this race. I’ve scheduled my races this year around my two marathons along with the Mid-Atlantic USATF Grand Prix races since my running team competes in those events. The Philadelphia Broad Street Run is one of those USATF events and when I saw that it was three weeks after Boston I winced as I pressed ‘send’ on the email telling my team captain I was running in it. I normally like to have at least a good month after a marathon to fully recover and even though I have bounced back quicker after each marathon over the past year, three weeks was cutting it tight.

Broad Street Run

I looked through the race guide a few days before race day and I saw a reference to the “over 37,000 runners” that were registered for the race. The last time I ran Broad Street back in 2005 there were 12,000 runners and the past few years there were about 25,000 each year. Increasing the field size 50% in one year seemed like a recipe for a logistical disaster so I planned my weekend with that in mind.

The pretzel street venders must have made a killing!

Packet pickup options allowed for a Friday or Saturday pickup. Trying to avoid having to drive into Philly on Saturday I decided to take a long lunch to see if I could run over and grab it on Friday since I figured most runners would come on Saturday…big mistake. I wound up standing in line for over 30 minutes before I had to leave for a meeting. Never even got indoors. Saturday morning I got there right around the time the expo opened and was in line for only 25 minutes since the line was moving well. I feel sorry for the folks that got there later.

If it takes longer to pick up your bib than to run the actual race, that might be a bad sign.

If Philly is intent on making this a big race nationally then they should plan the expo accordingly. Having it at Lincoln Financial Field (Home of the Philadelphia Eagles) is a good start but they didn’t utilize the available space well. Once you got into the stadium the section that housed the expo was fairly narrow and only allowed enough space for the vendors and about one lane of traffic going in each direction. It made for a lot of congestion. Also they staged bib pickup and t-shirt pickup at opposite ends of the expo to force you to walk past the vendors twice. I’ve seen this done at a few races and I think it’s bush league. If you give the runners a good experience they will be more likely to purchase from vendors. Make it difficult for them and all they’ll want to do is get their stuff and get out.

Broad Street Run Race Day:

Enough about the expo. I went into race day hoping for the best but planning for the worst. Since Broad Street is a point-to-point race there is some transportation logistics involved. If you were driving your best option was to drive to the stadium parking lots (about a mile from the finish) and take the subway up to the start area. SEPTA allowed all runners to ride for free which was a nice touch. For a 8:30AM gun time my plan was to get to the start area a little after 6:30AM since I expected a mob scene and wanted to make sure I could take care of any pre-race “issues” with minimal stress. Factoring in the drive and the subway ride, that meant a 4:30AM wake up.

It's beautiful man...sniff...

The early wake up paid off. That morning everything went off without a hitch and I found myself at the start area staring at a field filled with porta-potties and no lines. I well up a little just thinking about it.

Our gear bags needed to be on the buses by 8AM so I headed over there to remove my warm ups and get race ready at about 7:30. For me the weather was perfect, temps in the 50′s, overcast and a bit of a breeze. A little chilly for shorts and a singlet but wonderful for running. I did some warm ups and then headed to my corral about 8:10. Corrals were assigned based on time but there’s no verification process so you know how that goes. Some folks took advantage of the honor system. Also there wasn’t any corral enforcement in place so the honor system was getting abused a bit there too. Nothing egregious but noticeable.

Race Start

There was just one corral between me and the elites so when the gun when off at 8:30 we started about 2 minutes later. This worked out well because over the race there was just the right number of runners on any section without it being over crowded.

If you don’t know Broad Street it’s a fast course, downhill most of the way:

Broad Street Run Elevation

Miles 1 thru 3

I went out too fast but I realized it and went with it anyway. I didn’t have a really thought out plan since I wasn’t fully confident where I was recovery wise. I figured I would start to fade at some point so I went out hard and had the goal of holding on as long as possible. The first few miles didn’t have any spectators and weren’t very scenic so I just focused on finding a workable pace. My first three splits were 6:10, 6:13 and 6:17.

Miles 4 thru 8

These miles were fun while we went through the heart of Philly. We passed Temple University, City Hall as well as the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. Great crowds, marching bands and mascots all around. One sore point was I could tell the folks working the water stops weren’t pros since at a few water stops it seemed we were getting funneled into a narrow lane from the crowd on one side and the water stop volunteers on the other. I’m sure it widened as bigger crowds of runners came through but it was a brief concern.

Broad Street was in pretty good shape, a few pieces of pavement missing here and there but I’ve seen worse. One section though actually felt a little slick as I was making ground contact. It must have been from motor oil residue on the surface so I moved over near the double yellow and that felt firmer. Still loving racing in the Inov-8 150′s, it’s a great shoe. I don’t think I would have felt the pavement surface change if I was wearing my old Hyper Speeds.

Splits were 6:26, 6:16, 6:11, 6:18, 6:20

Past Mile 8 to the Finish

The course was flat for the last two miles and I thought I was in trouble as my perceived effort went up a notch or two between mile 8 and 9. Being so close to the finish though gave me the mental energy to keep the pedal down along with knowing I was looking at coming in under 1:04. My last two splits were 6:22 and 6:19 giving me a 1:03:06 and a new PR.

Epilogue

Right after I crossed the finish I noticed to the side of the finishers chute Cecily Tynan was standing there talking to someone. She had a post race glow that most runners recognize immediately. Cecily must have a had a good race. I thought back to the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k where she beat me by one second. She was probably in the corral in front of me so I wasn’t sure how she did. When I got home I saw she ran a 1:02:12. AHHHHHH!!!!!

TYNAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!

I think we are officially in nemesis territory here. Her Doc Ock to my Spiderman, her Dr. Doom to my Mr. Fantastic…you know Sheldon was right, it’s amazing how many super villains have advanced degrees. Grad schools should really do a better job weeding them out.

Philadelphia Marathon Race Report 2011

Philadelphia Marathon Pre-Race:

When the number of years you have left before getting your first AARP card are measured in single digits, you always have some issue you’re dealing with leading into a marathon. From twinges in your glutes to phantom cramps behind the knees it’s always something. I used to stress about it, now I just expect it. Once the race starts it’s usually something totally different that you wind up having to contend with (i.e. why the heck are my shoulders so tight?). So when I started getting some nasal congestion and a bit of a dry throat leading up to Philly, I just chalked it up to seasonal allergies. I took some Claritin in the days leading up to the race and that seemed to help.

Race morning I woke up, feeling about the same. Now I’m not a Doctor. and I’m not going to give out medical advice. There are plenty of excellent resources out there you can research to determine whether you’re in a good enough condition to run. My rule of thumb is if I have a fever or congestion in my chest then it’s a no-go, it’s just too risky to punish yourself when your dealing with either of those. Do some Googling and you’ll see what I mean. I had neither, just what appeared to be some allergies or a minor head cold so I decided to press. I also have a fairly strict rule on NSAIDs. Unless I have a migraine, I avoid them entirely on race day. Just not worth the risk (i.e. renal failure). So no meds that morning.

Got into Philly about 6AM for a 7AM gun time which worked out perfect. Plenty of time for parking, a port-a-potty stop, warm-up and getting into my corral. Looked around for Fellow DMers but couldn’t find anyone (in the future if you guys see a short Italian guy wandering around a corral, it’s probably me). Going in I was shooting for a 7:15 pace until the halfway mark and then make the call about how much to dial it up or back.

Philadelphia Marathon Start:

The race started just about on time. I learned my lesson from last year and moved as much as I could to the front of the corral (Black). Last year I got caught in a lot of traffic with a pace group so I wanted to have some room to maneuver at the start.

Rob in the corral at the 2011 Philadelphia Marathon

Obviously the caffeinated gels hadn't kicked in yet.

Miles 1 thru 4: You’re basically running toward the Delaware river through Philly. You then make a right onto Columbus to parallel the river for about a mile and then you start working your way back through the city. First eight miles you’ve got to treat almost like a trail run because some of the roads are in such bad shape it’s really easy to turn an ankle if you’re not watching the road. The crowds were great and out in force which is one reason I love this race.

Miles 5 thru 8: The course gets really narrow as you head west through the city. Starting at the front of the corral paid off this year because it wasn’t anywhere near the elbow to elbow runner traffic I experienced in 2010. The Cheering crowds in the city were fantastic. Spotted the 76ers Cheerleaders and other groups out there. Great show of support! Ran for a bit with a Tri-athlete named Drew running his first full marathon prepping for an Ironman. The guy had a really smooth gait. We chatted for a bit and then went back to focusing on the task at hand.

Miles 9 thru 13. The two lengthy inclines of the course are in this stretch. Way to early to take them hard so I just ran on perceived effort. At the half way mark according to Mr. Garmin I was averaging 7:16 pace, right on plan.

Miles 13.1 thru 18: As Kevin of the TV show ‘The Office’ would say “I’m a classic over thinker” and with 12 years on active duty I tend to over plan so bear with me here.

I'm a classic over thinker...

I have two primary decision points for the marathon. Halfway and 20 miles. Prior to the halfway mark all my decisions are strategic because what I do then will affect my performance for the rest of the race (Am I on pace?, Am I getting enough water?, Stomach OK with the gels?). Between 13 and 20 is when my thinking starts to transition to tactical (How much can I pick up the pace?, that guy up there, is he in my age group?). At mile 20 it’s all tactical (Max the pace, don’t over-stride, go get that guy!, time to empty the tank). I was feeling good at 13 so I started edging my pace up to between 7:05 and 7:15. I could have gone harder but I thought that was too risky. A sub-3 wasn’t a possibility so I took it one mile at a time. Kelly drive is very scenic and there was plenty of fan support.

Miles 18 through 22: Manayunk is awesome, great crowds! I was able to maintain my pace and once I rounded the turn near mile twenty I started pushing and hit about 7:00 on my splits for the next few miles.

Mile 22 to Finish: Although it shouldn’t surprise me, I always think I’m running faster than I am in the last few miles of a marathon. Perceived effort is through the roof and then I hear the beep and I look down at my watch and have a mental ‘C’mon Man!’ moment when I see my actual splits. I started doing the math and realized I was just under a projected 3:10 finish so I couldn’t let up. Literally a tenth of a mile from the finish I saw a group huddled together in the middle of the course. As I went by a paramedic was frantically giving a runner CPR. I could only assume it was one of the two runners that past away during the race. I have a much stronger reaction now to that event then I did at the time. It’s important to get your annual physicals and see a Doctor regularly but even then it may just be your time. I’m now thinking about his family and how they are dealing with this, I pray they get through it OK. At the time I said a quick prayer mid-stride and bolted to the finish. After crossing I looked down and saw 3:09 on my watch (my eyes couldn’t make out the seconds but I knew I had a little bit to spare). Official time was 3:09:20.

Philadelphia Marathon Post Race:

Found my wife and headed home. Now you know what they say, how after a distance race your body’s immune system is weakened?…it’s true! My little head cold on Sunday morning turned into a cough and low-grade fever by Sunday night. So I was physically miserable but had a new PR and a finishers medal on my wall. Totally worth it.

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