2009 Philadelphia Marathon

Today broke the streak of crappy weather marathons for me. The weather couldn't have been better for this year's Philadelphia Marathon. Last year the weather was 22 degrees at the start. This year it was a balmy 44 degrees and would rise to at least 50+ by the end of the race.

This is a great race. I was signed up for the marathon last year but had to run the half marathon due to an injury, so I was already familiar with the center city portion of the race. The second half runs along the Schuylkill River and up to the town of Manayunk before it turns around to return to the art museum. I loved the second half - the crowds in Manayunk lived up to their reputation. Also being able to see the lead runners on their return leg was very cool.

The gorilla in the room for me right now is a sub-4 hour marathon. I didn't feel 100% confident going in to this race that I had it me but I planned my race around it anway. I purposely took the first half of the race very easy and crossed the half at 2:03:17, hoping that would leave me enough gas in the tank to negative split the second half of the race. Today wasn't the day however; the hills in Manayunk took their toll and I had a hard time once I hit 21 miles. All things considered, I am still happy with the race I ran and will take the 2 minute PR. My chip time was 4:09:16.

Mrs. Progman came out with me for this race and was awesome in the role of crowd support. An added bonus to this race was being able to hang out with Mr & Mrs Flyers26 on race eve. Flyers ran a solid race and shaved close to 10 minutes off his PR. Some pics from Mrs. P:

Finish Line

Art Museum

Coming into the finish

The most awesome spectator on the course

Post race under the shade of the ugly yellow hat

With Flyers post race

NYC Marathon Lottery

I entered the 2010 NYC Marathon Lottery this morning. This will be my third year in a row entering the lottery so if I get turned down I am guaranteed entry into the race for 2011. This year the NYRRC is drawing the lottery in March which is very cool. They used to do it in June which left everyone scrambling for a Fall marathon once they got turned down in the lottery. It will be interesting to see how fast Fall marathons like Philadelphia and Chicago fill up now that NYC will draw it's lottery in March. I always have mixed feelings about this lottery - I want to run the race, but I dread the fact that the logistics will be a nightmare. Oh well - I'm sure I won't have to worry about it until Nov. 2011.

Philadelphia Taper Time

The Philadelphia Marathon is a mere 12 days away. I have been more or less indifferent to this marathon. Life has been really crazy for the last couple of months so I have not spent a lot of time obsessing about the usual marathon related things. HOWEVER, I have still been running like a crazed idiot, and that familiar excitement of an upcoming marathon is starting to creep up on me. It is time to catch up on some obsessive marathon related blah blah:

Tapering
I have always done the 3 week taper thing. Three weeks seems like such a long freaking time, and I am relatively injury free. I capped off my training with 18.5 miles on Sunday and am going for the 2 week taper.

Weather
This will be my 4th marathon and the first 3 all involved rain. I'm not obsessing too much about the weather this time, I am just assuming it will be raining.

Clothing
It was like 22 degrees at the start last year when I ran the half marathon at Philly - that was cold. I would really like to run this thing in shorts. As long as the temperature is above 30 degrees I am thinking shorts and running jacket. New Balance on both counts.

Weight
It's Tuesday, I just ran 18 miles on Sunday, and I still feel like I've gained 20 pounds in the last 15 minutes. That's the taper for you, it sucks. I am really going to try to focus on my diet during the taper. Enough about weight.

Hydration Strategy
I have resigned myself to running with a 12oz handheld and carrying some pretzels. That's it. No gels, no electrolyte pills, no shot blocks. Way too much to think about. I will refill the handheld at the occasional water station and go with the flow. Philly is too crowded to rely soley on the stations early on so the handheld should work fine.

Goal Setting
This is the tough one. I signed up for this race a week before starting a new job, so I originally figured I would be happy just to run across the finish line and pick up another medal. However, I have been feeling pretty good and logging a bunch of miles, including knocking off the Asbury Park Marathon three weeks ago, so logic would dictate I've got a PR in me. I'm not very logical though - I'll probably decide on a goal somewhere around the 5 mile mark.

Thats about it. I will probably end up posting a list of changes next week, but I think I am good to go. Go Philly!

Neon Brooks Boy

So a couple of weeks ago I snagged a Brooks Nightlife hat on eBay to replace my ugly yellow RoadRunnerSports hat. In an instant twist of Karma, right after that I saw the Brooks Nightlife half zip on sale at RunningWarehouse.com so I pounced on it. In my elation I ended up bragging to BrooksRunning on Twitter who was kind enough to send me a complimentary pair of Nightlife gloves. So my early morning outfit is now pretty complete - if BrooksRunning is reading, I seriously think you guys should be making Nightlife themed shoes. The Adrenalines would rock in neon.

As it stands now, I think my shoe of choice for the Philadelphia Marathon will be the Brooks Ravenna. I have been sporting the Adrenalines pretty religiously but I think the Ravennas have a little more fore foot cushioning in them than the latest breed of the Adrenalines (although I have been trolling eBay hard for a pair of the older Adrenaline 8's). This is the pair I ran the Asbury Park Marathon in - I think they have another marathon in them.

Congrats to Meb Keflezighi, first American man to win the NYC Marathon since 1982. I got home from a 16 mile run on Sunday just in time to turn on the TV and watch him blow by Robert Cheruiyot coming into Central Park. Awesome race!