The city of brotherly love or the Rocky steps

 

When I asked Camden about going to run in Philadelphia, he gave a definite YES as he wanted to run the Rocky steps.  So we left in the middle of the day on November 21, Thursday, and drove up to Philly.  Our hotel was on the middle of downtown and we had to park across the street and wheel our luggage back to the hotel.  It was crowded on the streets even on a Thursday night.  Our hotel was the Club Quarters near Rittenhouse Square.  It was kind of fancy, but old and had very small rooms.  Just two twin beds.  

The door to the room was down a tiny hallway right beside another room's door.

Friday was our history touring day!  But after the Rocky steps.  We walked about a mile from our hotel with a quick stop for pastries at Paris Baguette to get to the Philadelphia Museaum of Art.  

Not the famous Love sign, but my name comes from Amor

When we made it to the steps, we both ran up them, but since the first video didn't turn out well, Camden had to run it twice.

Camden at the top

Camden jumping around like Rocky

Then we started our 3 mile walk to Independence Hall, with lots of sights to see along the way.

A monument to Washington

Rodin's The Thinker

The Free Library of Philadelphia

Rittenhouse Square...lots of birds

Washington Square

We got pizza at Maya's on Jeweler's Row

We had a good time walking through Philly, but did I mention that it was cold and drizzly rain all day!

We finally made it to Independence Hall area.  The first thing we did was see the Liberty Bell. 

Then we made it to Old City Hall-the first Supreme Court...

the Signer Statue...

The Quaker House...

Actually, the Quaker House was not open to visitors, but the door was open, and we walked in.

And finally, Independence Hall!

It was raining harder and we were talking to the ranger about what to do while we waited for our time to go on the tour.  She told us to tour the first Congress building while waiting for our time.  She pointed down to a building.  So, we walked toward what we thought was the correct place and went in the building where we saw a group walk in.  The ranger there asked us if we had talked to the ranger outside, and we had.  So, she let us stay.  After we finished the tour, kind of confused that Washington's chair was in the Congress building, we went back and waited outside for our tour of Independence Hall.  And we were led right back into the building we had just left!  Never toured the Congress, but got to see Independence Hall twice (we didn't stay the second time though)

George Washington sat in this chair!

Almost done with history, we walked past Benjamin Franklin's grave.  There is a break in the brick wall surrounding the cemetery and you can see the grave from the sidewalk.

Last thing before heading to bib pickup was touring the National Mint.  We saw quarters, nickels and pennies being made.  Kind of cool!

We walked through China Town and wished it was time to eat as it smelled really good!

After bib pickup, we went to Reading Market and got our first Philadelphia Philly cheesesteak!  We were nervous about getting it with whiz, so we opted for American and Provolone cheese.  It was really good!

Nathan's favorite sandwich is a cheesesteak.

Lights and decorations on our walk back to the hotel

We finished our night out by playing putt-putt at Puttshack.  It was a cool restaurant with three 9-hole courses that were very different from plain putt-putt.  You got points based on where you hit the ball.  It was a lot of fun and we played two rounds.

We were back in our room at 8 and had a restful evening of watching Cobra Kai.  The next day would come early!

Pennsylvania makes state 24!

The Philadelphia Half Marathon was the race for my state #24, and it was a great choice!  Camden and I had a PA vacation with a 13.1 mile in the middle of it.  This is a big race and was sold out this year.  The race weekend had a half on Saturday and the full on Sunday.

Friday evening, after touring Philadelphia, we went to the expo.  It had a lot of booths, but the only thing I really got were the free pickles from Dietz and Watson.  But the race shirts were really nice!  

Lots of photo spot opportunities!

The morning of the race we woke up at 4:40 and left our room by 5:20. It was a cold morning, but we were able to take a shuttle from near our hotel.  We were both dressed for the cold but were also very glad that there was a warming tent.  It was not heated but was a way to get out of the wind and much warmer than waiting outside.  We waited in there until 6:20.  

The race was supposed to start at 7:00 in the morning, but there were a lot of people that had not made it through security, so the race was delayed about 10 minutes.  And then they let the runners onto the course in waves, so I did not start until 7:33.  Camden started about 15-20 minutes before me.    

The first half of the race was fairly flat and by about mile 4, I donated my face buff to the side of the road.  By the end of the race, my headband was wrapped around my arm.

Around mile 8 for me was when Camden finished in 1:41. He had done very good...especially with no half training!  My time was not bad for me and except for 3 miles, my splits were all under 12 minutes.  Five of them under 11 minutes.  I did stop to potty, three times, well the first two stops I didn't end up going because the line was too long.  But all of those stops add time.  Oh well, I'm really not in it for time!  But I would like to beat 2:30 and I was 2:33.  

Camden ran up the steps again!

Now to finish my race story.  I'm not sure when the uphill started, but it was after mile 8.  Not a bad uphill, but a decent amount of it.  And it was on the outskirts of the city, so mostly nature to look at at this point.  And then the last mile or so was all downhill until flat at the very end.  So that was a relief after the hills!

The finish line was facing the Museum of Art.  If I had the energy like Camden, I could have run up the steps again.  Apparently, he had enough time to run the steps, take the shuttle back, take a shower and lay down!  So that is how I found him when I arrived.  Nice and comfy in bed!  

That was the beginning of race day!  We had more touring to do and cheesesteaks to try!  So much fun exploring PA after running my state #24!