Race Report: Philly Rock 'N' Roll Half

First of all, I never understand why people knock on the Rock 'N' Roll races.  This was my 2nd Philly RNR Half, and I've really enjoyed it both times.  I guess I understand that for several cities, RNR took over another, smaller race and commercialized it, so I can see the complaints there.  But otherwise, I think they're a great time.

I also have to comment on the expo.  I know some people don't like the crowds at race expos, but I don't mind it, especially at Philly RNR, because there was so much free stuff!  I know, I'm a dork, but I came home with lots of LARAbars, energy supplements, and other stuff I picked up at the expo.  Once again, RNR is easily the best expo I've been to.

Now for the race.  I was back and forth the entire week leading up to the race as to what sort of pace I wanted to run.  Steamtown Marathon was only 3 weeks from race day, so I was nervous about going all out at HM pace (and I should note that HM pace, in my mind, was about an 8:30 mile), which I thought would put me around a 1:53 HM.  Part of me thought I should do the race at marathon pace to gauge where I stand, which would mean a time of about 1:57.  Even as late as walking to the starting line, I told my husband we should probably start at marathon pace, and if we were feeling good at the halfway point, maybe kick it up a notch.  We also had Nick to worry about--it was his first half (first race, actually), and we didn't think he'd be able to keep up with our pace throughout, so we had to decide whether to stick with him or not.  However, he told us that if he had to drop back, just go.  Little did I know, we wouldn't have to worry about that anyway.  Bastard.  So that was (sort of) the plan.

Our group before the race in Love Park

The corral start went pretty smoothly.  However, I will voice my one complaint about this race: it was way too packed!  On top of that, people from corrals much further back hopped up into our corral, and (without sounding like too much of a jerk) they were slowing us down.  It's understandable to corral hop if you're going to do better than the time set for your corral, but this was just a pain.  Doug, my brother-in-law Nick, and myself, were all weaving like crazy trying to get around people for the first mile and a half, and our 5K split time definitely shows that.  I think this problem could be partially fixed by blocking off all 4 lanes of JFK Boulevard, but what do I know?  Nonetheless, we were off and running.  Our first mile was a 9:10, and my goal marathon pace is 9:05, so considering all the weaving, I felt pretty good about it.  We were gradually picking up speed as the crowd thinned out, too.  We made it to the 5K point in just a little over 27 minutes, so we were around an 8:45 mile.  I felt pretty good, and the guys did as well--we were still holding a conversation at that point, so we didn't even concern ourselves with slowing down.

We worked our way through Chinatown and back up JFK toward the art museum and hit mile 5.  I thought it would be around 45 minutes, but Doug was keeping time and we were at 43.  I was still feeling good and, again, still talking.  Nick was feeling a bit tight but he didn't think it was much of a problem.  So we kept pushing.  We worked our way down along the river, which was one of the things I love most about this course.  Running along the Schuylkill is beautiful, and we were there for about 3 miles.  There were a lot of quiet areas, but since it was an RNR race, there were cheerleading squads (which Nick got a kick out of) and bands every so often to offer crowd support.  I may be wrong, but I think we made it as far as almost getting to Manayunk before crossing a bridge and heading back down the river toward the art museum.  There was some really great crowd support there, and I was still feeling good.  There was Gu a little after mile 8 before we crossed the bridge, and I took one, but never ate it (so now it's in my stash).  The alternating Gatorade and water plan seemed to be doing well for me.

It wasn't until about mile 10 that I was a little less easy talking, but I was still doing it occassionally.  I could see Nick starting to show signs of wear, but he was doing pretty well over all.  I'm pretty certain that from Mile 11-on, each one of us refused to slow down because they others weren't, and we all just kept going.  I stopped asking Doug what our time was, because I just didn't care at that point.  I didn't want to force myself to push any harder.  Doug and I evidently really kicked it up at mile 12, from what Nick said.  I think I just wanted to be done at that point.  So we pushed on and got to the base of the hill leading up to the art museum (which killed me last year, but after all the hill training I've been doing this year, was nothing) and I pushed as hard as I could until we got to the finish line. That's when I finally asked to see Doug's watch, for the first time since mile 8, I think.  1:48:09!!!

My time splits!



Holy crap!! I didn't think I could possibly run that fast, for that long.  What made it really awesome was realizing that I can easily shave a minute off that, given the crowds at the beginning, then keep that pace up for a full marathon and I'll have my BQ!  It seems totally doable now, and that's what makes me really happy.

After the race at Love Park



What's even more impressive, though, is that Nick kept up with us for the entire race.  Again, bastard.  Doug even said around mile 11, "don't you hate him just a little?"  ABSOLUTELY.  :)  In all reality-I'm very proud of Nick.  Those Park boys seem to pick things up athletically pretty easy, and even though I'm jealous, it makes me very happy.

 



With Nick after the race... typical.

 



Overall, I'm super happy with this race, with how I did, and with how everything went.  Everyone in my group had PR's.  On a side note, I really like the distance of the half, and training doesn't take up as much of my life.  I was also able to enjoy the rest of the day after the race.  It definitely solidified my decision that after Steamtown, I'm going to take time off from marathons for a while and run as far as I want to, not as far as Pfitz tells me to. 



Race Report: Broad Street Run

I really wanted to do the Broad Street Run before I could even run a mile without dying... several friends of mine have been doing it for years, so I've heard about how much fun it is and have been dying to do it.  Last year, I had a final the day before and another two days after, so it didn't happen.  I was so excited to finally do it this year.
First things first: Registering for the race when it opened back in March was a nightmare.  The server couldn't handle the sheer volume of people who wanted to sign up, and the site was either taking forever to load or not loading at all.  I finally got it to work and managed to register about an hour before all 30,000 spots sold out.  Thankfully, my friend Christie managed to get in, as well.

Christie and I met in Philly around lunch time on Saturday and headed to Lincoln Financial Field for the expo.  When we got there, the line seemed forever long and wrapped around the ramps of the stadium for several levels.  However, the line went pretty fast--we waited maybe 20 minutes before we got in.  Number and t-shirt pickups were quick and easy.  The expo itself was so-so, with just the typical vendors there (I loved RNR Philly and all the free stuff that the expo had, and that was my first big expo, so I was spoiled).  We didn't spend long in Link, which was just as well, considering we'd be on our feet for a good part of the day and running early Sunday morning.

After tossing and turning all night and ultimately getting about 2 1/2 hours of sleep, Christie and I woke up at 6 a.m. and were out the door by 6:30.  We picked up the subway at the Walnut-Locust station, and the train was empty--clearly sent just for our stop.  It was a pretty easy train ride up to the Olney station, where the run started.  We were there in plenty of time to grab a bagel at Dunkin' Donuts, down some water and Gatorade, and wait in line for the porta potties twice (there definitely weren't nearly enough, even with about 100 of them).  We were in the gray corral because we pegged our expected finish time as 1:30.  I wasn't feeling too sure of myself with that goal, since my longest run since the marathon had been 6 1/2 miles and I was sick most of last week, so I didn't get out much.  Luckily, the gray corral was for the 1:30-1:40 finishers, and I figured I could easily pull off a 10-minute mile.

Excitement on 2.5 hours of sleep!

Before the race... aren't those compression socks sexy?



I have to say, for as packed as the starting area was, and for having 40,000 runners, it was pretty easy to figure out where we were supposed to go, and it was pretty well organized.  It was a wave start, so we got to work our way up to the start line, pause, and take off to the horn.  We started about 20 minutes after the elites, which always throws me off with the clock timing.  Anyway, around 8:50 a.m., we were off!

I stayed with Christie for about the first mile and decided I should drop back, because she's been running a lot longer than me and has always been a good bit faster.  I had no idea exactly where I stood when we got to the first mile marker and the clock said 28 minutes and some seconds (I think 48).  I did figure out pretty quickly that this meant I wanted to be at the second mile marker somewhere in the 37 range, and when I got there in the 36 minute range, I was a little nervous that I might have taken off too fast, but I didn't try very hard to make myself slow down.  The crowd support as we ran through North Philly was decent--there was a few members of a church congregation out cheering us along; part of the Temple marching band, cheerleaders, and football players were supporting us, as well.  My favorite group in North Philly had to be the group of guys playing traditional African drums and instruments, though.  Pretty awesome.

I had my MapMyRun app going, and I'm not sure if it was interference from all the tall buildings or all the other people using the same app, but the mapper-lady came on at about Mile 4.75 and said I had made it 5 miles in a 7:34 pace... I knew that definitely wasn't right, so I wasn't going to be able to rely on that.  However, based on the clock, I was going faster than I thought I should, and I kept telling myself to slow down, but never did.  Mile 5 came right before City Hall, and once we went around City Hall, the entire street was lined with people cheering for us for the rest of the route.  I noticed a girl with a really well-behaved golden retriever-looking dog and thought how nice that must be, because Alby would try to catch/beat everyone (he always has to be the leader of the pack).  I passed our family friends, the Dandreas and their assistant Allan, outside the Residences at the Ritz, and even though we didn't make eye contact, knowing they were out there cheering for me meant a lot.  The area around City Hall was also the only place where I really had to do much weaving to get past people; otherwise, the road was pretty wide open and passing wasn't too hard.

I was still keeping a fast pace and wasn't winded, but thought I should be slowing down.  I kept going though, and kept picking points in the distance to make it to--a pizza billboard on a tall building, the sports complex, and finally, the naval yard.  MapMyRun told me I had made it 10 miles when we had just passed the sign that said "1/2 mile to go," so that was useless.  When we came into the naval yard, I knew there was still 1/4 mile to go, and I told myself not to, but I took off and ran as hard as I thought I could/should. I was SO proud of myself when I crossed the finish line, even though I didn't know my exact time, because I knew I beat a goal that I thought was going to be a stretch.  About a minute and a half after crossing, I finally thought to look at my phone, because the app would at least have the right time!  It said 1:27:03, and I was ecstatic.  After you cross the finish line, the race volunteers instruct you to keep moving until you get to one of two areas where you're given your medal, water, gatorade, and your food.  All the food was already in a bag, which I thought was brilliant--why don't more races do this?  The food was reflective of Philly, too, which I loved: a soft pretzel, Tastykake snack bars... no cheesesteak, though.  Bummer.  It was a bit of a mess trying to find Christie, especially because our cell phone signals were on the fritz with 20,000+people trying to find their friends and families, too.  Side note: I met a lady with a bright green, zebra-printed flag that she said she always uses to find her family at races when they finish--what a great idea! I'm making my mom one for my races.

Christie (left) and I after the race



All in all, I was super happy with my time, when I finally got it (race results were posted around 1 p.m. that day).  For a race of 40,000 people, I thought things went pretty smoothly.  And more than anything, it's clear that Broad Street is one of those races that you do for the sake of saying you've done it.  I mean, there's a buzz in the city for the week leading up to this race.  If you don't like large crowds, you'll hate it.  However, I give a lot of credit to the RD's and the City itself for how organized this event was.  Even with the size of the race growing, I'll probably do it again next year just because the even was truly so much fun.

Screen shot of results from my phone