Race Report: Philly Distance Run

This is one race I won't be forgetting anytime soon. And it's not because I got a PR or really ran all that fast. It's because I was lucky enough to meet Ryan Hall!

Let's start from the beginning...

Friday my friend R and I drove down to my mom's house just outside Philly. We got in around midnight and went right to bed. R wasn't feeling all that hot and she wanted as much sleep as possible.

Saturday morning we woke up early to go to my Mom's group run. She is just starting to run and is training for a 5K with the Fleet Feet near her. It is actually the same program (No Boundaries) that I am coaching up in Buffalo but a little different.

We went out for 7 intervals of 3 min run/1 min walk. It added up to about 1.6 miles. It was fun. This is the first time I got to run with my mom and it was really cool. She is doing great! I can't wait for her 5K in November.

After we got back and showered we took the train into Philly to get our race packets. The expo was great. I got a couple new, non-smelly tech shirts. I love expos. Free samples, cheap clothes, new products.

We got back from the city and relaxed for a bit before we headed to dinner. We went to an Italian place my mom's coworkers had suggested. We all got gnocchi done different ways. It was fabulous.

We got home from dinner and went to bed.

We woke up at 5am Sunday morning. We had to leave a little before 6am to stop at Wawa for coffee and head downtown to the start. R still wasn't feeling great but was going to give it a go. She figured if she had to walk during the race that would be OK. This was just a practice run anyway. We weren't looking for PRs.

We got downtown, parked, and made our way to the start line. I love big races because of all the excitement in the air but it definitely makes logistics harder. We immediately got in line for the porta potty. The line was long but it moved fast. We then headed to the bag drop off and parted with our nice warm clothes.

Here's R and I before the start:

We said goodbye to my Mom. She was going to head to the start and get as many pictures of Ryan Hall as possible.

R and I got into our corral and waited. This year, instead of letting everyone go at once, they let one corral go at a time. It took longer (20+ minutes to get to the start line) but when we got to the start line we were going at the pace we wanted to. No weaving through people or walking because everyone was jammed together.


Our plan for the race was to run comfortably and enjoy the scenery. R was still feeling pretty crappy but felt better as the race went on. We kept just under a 10 min/mile pace for most of the race and it felt good. I know I could have gone a lot faster which is good, but I'm saving that for Toronto.

I took GU at mile 4.5 and mile 9. That worked well for me. I drank only water because R had picked up a Cytomax cup by accident and said it was awful. I've never had it before but figured I didn't need it with 2 GUs. I also grabbed some free GUs at mile 8.5.


The route was really nice also. We start in front of the Art Museum and head into downtown Philly. We come out of downtown around mile 4, passing the start/finish, and run along the river. Just before mile 9 we cross the river and head back on the other side. It's such a nice area with great scenery. When we came out of downtown it was a little jarring because we could hear the announcer at the finish and 14 people had already finished! Boy are we slow!

We finished in 2:11:39 (gun time 2:33:51). We were both really happy with the time. We weren't looking for any records but we were looking for a respectable time. I had a lot left at the end so I was happy with that.

We got our medals and some food and finally got out of the chute. They had been announcing awards but it was hard to tell where they were and what they had already announced. R and I decided to go get our grab bag before we met up with my mom. We had just gotten over to that area when they announce Ryan Hall's name. A group of people we clapping and cheering next to us and I asked them if he had won. They said yes. Yay! I saw where the stage was and tried to get pictures from where we were but it was too far away (I had run with my camera). R told me to go up there so I booked it toward the stage. I got a couple pics while he was talking and I was happy with that.


Then the announcer said thanks for coming out. Everyone started to leave and Ryan Hall and Catherine Ndereba were still posing for photographs so I moved up even more and got a good shot.


My Mom saw me taking pictures and came over. She was happy I was there because the pictures she got weren't great. We stood and chatted for a bit and saw that Ryan was signing autographs next to the stage. There were quite a bit of people there but my Mom kept telling me to go over because I wouldn't get this chance again. So R and I stood in "line" and got him to autograph our bibs and take a picture. It was very cool. He was super nice and seemed so down to earth. I congratulated him and he looked right at me and said thank you. After the picture I thanked him and he said no problem.




I've never gotten an autograph from anyone before (aside from Disney characters when I was 10). I felt kinda stupid but R made the point that he is someone we admire in our sport, not some random actor. He does the same things we do, just much much better. :)

All in all it was a great weekend! I could have had the worse race ever and meeting Ryan Hall still would have made it all worth it.