Notes
Philadelphia Marathon
Race Report
11/18/2012
Thanks to Lance and Diane for letting me stay on the pullout sofa in their suite the night before the race. Up at 5am, but I was awake on and off throughout the night.
The group showed up at about 5:30am and we hung out in Mr. and Mrs. Train’s suite until it was time to head to the corrals.
What better way is there to start a marathon than walking a couple of blocks over to the start corrals with a group of Circle North friends? The weather was just right. I was a little groggy from lack of sleep but fairly relaxed and ready to go. I lined up in the corral with LTrain, we knew the plan and there was really no need to go over it again. Brian spotted Lance and lined up with us. Almost exactly 3 minutes after the stating gun, we crossed the mat and we were off and running. I eased into the first mile trying not to waste energy weaving through the crowd. By mile 2 Brian had pulled ahead a bit and I lost him. Finally settled in and locked on to a steady pace by mile 3. We were now on target and feeling good. Lance was right there within a few steps. Close enough to check in every now and then, but not a lot of conversation happening beyond that. Passed Gadman early on and caught up with Eric around mile 3-4 on Columbus Blvd. along the Delaware river. The first part of this course is a trek right through the heart of the city. It passes Independence Hall before mile 2 and then back around it again at mile 5. The streets were lined with spectators and they were very supportive. These are things I’m remembering now. But at the time I was not really thinking about any of this stuff. I was just trying to stay focused and locked into the task at hand. Through the water stop on Columbus, Lance lost me for a bit but was able to find me again fairly quickly. More running through city streets miles 4-7. Somewhere in that section of the course we caught up to Pete and he joined us for awhile (a long while as it turned out). The first hill on the course comes up around mile 7. Kept the effort level there and it was a pretty uneventful climb. Caught back up with Brian in that section said hello, but lost him again shortly after that. Lance spotted Michelle ahead of us just before the hill at mile 9. We caught up and said hello. She looked like she was cruising along with no trouble at all. The climb up mile 9-10 is a real hill. It was a bit of a grind to keep pace there but I think we all managed it well. Michelle started pulling ahead again after cresting the hill. We watched but stuck with the plan and as it flattened out at the bottom, Michelle, Pete, Lance and I were running side by side for a bit and stayed together more or less for the next 2-3 miles. This was fun and a real mental boost as everyone seemed to be doing very well as we were coming up on the half. There was much more room on the course now too. The course winds back toward the city at this point giving you a great view of the Philly skyline before turning back north to head out for the second half. Saw Pam and the boys at the halfway point too. Another big mental boost as I gave them a wave. I was still trying to stay focused and not get too excited. I knew things were going well, the first half was over and we were right on target. Lance gave Pam a thumbs up to let her know we were ok and on Pace. The next 5 miles along the Schuylkill River came pretty easy. Lance, Pete and I were side by side and rolling. We saw the leaders heading in the opposite direction back into the city at some point in there. They were freakin’ flying. The course crosses a bridge at 17-18 miles and my Garmin starts flipping out on the bridge. 8:30 pace, that can’t be right, 9, 10, I think even up to 11 pace at one point. We hit a turn around after the bridge and I try to lock back into the pace we were holding and hope the Garmin issue takes care of itself. It did, when that mile was completed it was back to normal. Back on track but just a tad faster than before. Feeling good I decided to keep it there. What I didn’t realize at the time is that I had pulled ahead of Lance and Pete. I guess it was just a little ahead but Lance says eventually in mile 19 I had lost him. The streets get a little narrower in this section and you have runners going in both directions so you could easily lose someone in there even if they are only seconds ahead. I guess that is what happened. Turned at mile 20 to head back toward the finish and I was on my own. I still didn’t realize it at that point though. Around mile 21, I get my first troubling sign as my left calf started barking just a little. Don’t worry, keep the pace it will pass. In the next couple of miles it started happening more often, but still not painful enough to throw the pace off. Coming up on mile 23, my breathing was still strong and the only concern was both calves were really starting to scream at me. But 2:54 something at mile 23… I’ve never been here before. I just might be able to do this. I think that excitement is what got me through mile 24 holding pace. Miles 25-26 I just tried to hold it together as best I could. My pace was slowing though and I was feeling it. I thought about that quote Cremer posted regarding the pain. As I got closer I knew I had the BQ even if I had to walk in. But there was no way I was ending the race with a friggin’ walk in. The crowd support in the last couple of miles is awesome. The view of skyline coming back into the city towards the finish line is awesome. I can see the clock, I know I have it. Crossing the finish mat with a 3:20 BQ and a 24(something) minute PR was elation and relief wrapped into one.
I got wrapped into a marathon blanket, received my finishers medal and chugged a cup of Gatorade or two. Then I turned around to find Lance or Pete. I saw them walking together towards the area where they hand out the medals. They each get their medal and Lance tells me he missed his BQ by around 10 seconds. I tried to think of a way he could possibly be wrong. But he was fairly certain about it as we did leave the start mat with exactly 3 minutes on the clock. He ran a great race. If his watch is not broken he makes up those seconds in the last mile or 2 and hits the BQ 100 out of 100 tries. This is the only part of the experience that stings a bit for me. Without his help through training and during the race there is probably no way I even get my BQ. So thanks for that LTrain. I know you are log stalking and reading this dumbass race report. Plus I still could not overtake your PR. I missed it by 14 seconds, so you win there too.
Caught up with the rest of Circle North later and it was nice to hear about all of the PRs and great racing. It was also nice to meet some of the RA runners whose logs and posts I occasionaly stalk for useful training information and entertainment. Nader (probably still waiting for water at TGIF’s) , Stadjak (Interval Junkie) and EGH3.
Can’t thank Pam and the boys enough for supporting me in this and putting up with all of the training time.