Larry and I enjoyed a leisurely pace, while Chris, Tom, and Walt sped on ahead. We all took note of how windy and cold it was, and hoped Sunday would be a bit more comfortable.The whole group gathered at Ralph’s for dinner, and had a great evening of stories, pasta, and yummy desserts. We said our goodnights and planned on our morning meeting spot.
Sunday morning arrived early and I forced a bagel and cup of applesauce and part of a banana down and finally decided what to wear in the low-20* weather for the race. I picked up my sister and headed to Philly. After finding a parking spot close to the start/finish, we made a pit stop and headed to the pre-race meet-up with my friends. We all huddled together, shook off some pre-race nerves, and wished each other good luck. 
Soon enough, the race started and the marathoners were off. We were in wave one, but on the HM side, and there seemed to be a little confusion about delaying our side’s start. People started moving just a short time later, and as we crossed the starting mat, we heard the announcers fumbling through their own confusion. “I guess those half-marathoners are ready to get their own race started!” was one thing we heard, and I commented to my sister that I hoped they had started our side’s timing mat! (This may play into things later.)
As we made our way through the early miles, the crowd was thick and it was tough to set a pace. I knew we were running comfortably, but I couldn’t tell our pace since the mile 1 marker seemed off. We started peeling off some throwaway layers and settling in. As we ran up Columbus Blvd, I spotted the fire truck supporting Larry’s 4 in 4 fundraising challenge and yelled his name and waved. The firemen cheered and waved as we went by.
We wound our way through the streets of Philly and took note of the cold, the slippery water stops, the crowds, the pace, and the incline. I had run this route last year in the full marathon, and didn’t remember feeling the incline and the hills in this first half like I was feeling as we ran our way through the first 8 miles today. I checked in periodically with my sister, reminded her that our plan was for either of us to move on ahead whenever we felt ready, and agreed with her that we were holding a challenging, but good, pace for that day.
I could go on and on about my fingers, as always, really feeling the cold (despite 3 layers of gloves), the guy in the full-on spiderman costume running near us much of the way, the shouts of, “Look! They’re twins!” as my sister and I passed by people (we are twins, but we had also unintentionally dressed similarly), and the countless times we mentioned how glad we were that we were only running 13.1 instead of 26.2 in the cold today. Instead, I’ll say that as we approached mile marker 9, I knew we were working hard, but I also knew we were looking at a PR pace (both of us have a HM PR of 1:58:14) and if we could just hold on through the climb into Fairmount Park, we’d be ok.
That climb into the park was tough, but we kept on going. As we hit mile 10, I knew we were almost home. Less than a 5k left! We rode down the hill out of the park and onto West River Drive and headed to the Art Museum. I’ve run this loop a ton of times, so I reminded my sister that except for the little climb up to the circle, the rest of our run was going to be flat. We stayed steady until about mile 11ish, picked things up just a little, then made our way up to the circle. Once we were up there, we turned it on. We cruised around the circle, glanced to the bleachers to try to locate my friends, and crossed the line side by side.
By our watches, we finished somewhere in the 1:52:02 area. I stopped my watch after crossing the timing mat. A 6+ minute PR! We got our medals, some food, a pic, and changed out of our sweaty clothes. My sister got a ride home with friends, and I made my way to our cheering section with Lori, Heather, Maria, and Maya -- my running friends sidelined by injuries or other reasons -- by the finish.
The race itself was great, but I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to cheer on my fellow racers the rest of the morning. I got to see Matt and Moe finish their HM’s, Chris bring in his group on time (as always! Machine!), and Missy, Dan, Walt, and Larry finish their 26.2 waving and looking great. Alexis was right near me at the HM finish, so I didn't see her until we were both in the stands. My friend TJ was also running the full, and while he didn't run the BQ time he wanted, he did finish with a huge PR and a fantastic 3:19:xx.
One of the best moments of the day was watching Tom hammer in with his 2:49:something marathon debut. I had tears in my eyes, I was so happy for him and proud of him!
After much cheering and catching up in the stands, we scattered to shower and meet up at the bar. That was just as much fun! 
It is interesting to note that my chip time was listed Sunday as 1:51:59, but today is showing 1:52:8 . I’m not sure what’s up with that, but other people in wave 1 are seeing somewhere around 9 seconds added to their time as well… That’s definitely a handful of seconds slower than my watch time, but it’s still a solid PR, so… I also finished in the top 1000 of the 5000+ HM runners! (I'd post the place, but that keeps changing each time I look...)
This was a fun, unexpectedly good race for me. I didn't expect my tired legs to run as strongly as they did. My sister and I both agree we couldn’t have run any better, so that’s a great feeling – capping off a wonderful weekend with friends!
3 comments:
Great PR! It looks cold though.
AWESOME!
That is a huge PR. It sounded like a really fun time, too!
Great job!
Nice job! I can't handle anything that is too cold. And I've been worse lately about too hot too. I guess I'm just finding whatever excuse I can to not run these days. LOL. Congrats on the new PR!
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