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!
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