Week Twelve: Philly Half (Pint)

I was in corral 16, slowly moving up with my group to the start line, a little nervous, but excited for my first race. The man next to me reassured me that this was going to be a walk in the park, an odd choice of words, but calming none the less. Discarded clothes lined the sides of the road as people shed their warm-ups and I could only figure that this would be a great day to be homeless. And I was off.

I was running in the Philadelphia Half Marathon, the only race I am participationg in before the NYC Marathon. I had to be up around 6:30 to make it to city hall for a 7:45 start. I got off the couch I was sleeping on and walked blindly to the kitchen of my friend's apartment to figure out what the fridge had to offer in hangover remedies. Yup, rule #8 Don't drink alcohol before a long run, was virtually ignored the saturday before the race when I met with Pat and Greg, my Philadelphia boozom-buddies. We embarked on an afternoon of beer flights and buffalo wings, exploring bars and restaurants, telling myself that I would need to stop around 10pm and turn to water for the rest of the night. It was rounded to 10:30, then 11:00 as I stumbled to the couch to sleep, Pat on the floor next to me, Greg walking to another bar.

Miles 1-3 proved to be cleansing as I gulped down water at my first official water station and along with the cool air and company of other runners moved passed the slight hangover and into committed running mode. We ran through the city proper until about mile 5 when we branched out and followed a beautiful river in a more rural area. Placed throughout the race were raised stages where local bands played cover songs and original music to fuel our run. After consuming a great deal of water before and during the race I did find myself in need to go to the bathroom (#1) around mile 8. "No problem," I said as I veered off into some woods along the side of the road only to trip on a raised root and nose dive into the dirt below. Luckily I was wearing like most people, the orange ING marathon shirt that was given during the fitness expo the day before, and therefore could not be singled out after the race as the guy who 'face planted it' while trying to take a pee. (Karma perhaps?) There were just enough supporters scattered throughout the race to keep a positive momentum in my head. I rounded the last bend back around city hall with a slight stiffness in my left leg, unrelated to the fall, but pushed it through the last 100 meters. Pat and Greg showed up to support and I crossed the finish line at 2:14:44.

Yay!

I will definitely do a few things differently come the Full marathon like revoke friend privileges from Pat and Greg and get a decent nights sleep, but I'm successfully one step closer to the big show with little over a month to go.