Sooo good news and bad news here…. The good news is I PR’ed and had one of my best races ever… the bad news is the official tracking got messed up so my actual time is not recorded. I remember the times I crossed over the checkpoints plus I was wearing my GPS watch which recorded my time and mileage correctly. Also I wasn’t the only one this happened too… looks like there was a random group of runners that start time was recorded as way ahead of their real start time and it was corrected overnight but runners are stating it’s still a little off…. Which is frustrating…. Some runners think the Broad Street people still make the corrections so hopefully the official results page will be updated.

My first set of official results had me finishing at 1:46:15. Waaaay wrong. It had me starting at 8am with the elites which definitely didn’t happen. The correction says I started at 8:24:36, which is also wrong… I always pay attention to my start time for a bigger race… When I crossed the start line it was just about 8:23 (don’t remember the seconds). So my GPS watch has my finish time at 1:23:15, which makes sense with my start time and mile marker times. I know when I finished the official finish line clock said 1:46:something… and now my official results posted online have me finishing at 1:50:22. Not sure why it got so messed up, but it’s upsetting that a race I actually work really hard during to get a certain time, my recorded finish time gets messed up. UGH. Anyways at least I know the truth, haha.

*Side note: I borrowed the race course pics (except for the ones of myself- which my husband took) from a Run 215 friend Eric! Thank you Eric, I’m still so impressed with your running and phone camera picture taking skills <span “font-family:wingdings;mso-ascii-font-family:calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:=”” minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;=”” mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:wingdings”=””><span “mso-char-type:=”” symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:wingdings”=””>:)

Okay onto the race… the first 3 miles are pretty casual… scattered spectators and some music playing… Temple Hospital is after the 1st mile so there were some doctors and medical staff outside watching which was cool. My goal for the race was to maintain close to 8:15 minute miles… I’ll be honest… I was pretty hot immediately… the high Sunday was 80 and while it wasn’t that hot yet, it was warming up quickly and I knew it was warmer than any morning runs I had done so far this year. Boo. I did really well pacing myself and not starting out too fast… (I should really have my husband proof these miles times, since I suck at math and doing time math gets confusing because of the whole 60 seconds, 60 minutes thing, but I think I did it right.)

Mile 1: 8:15

Mile 2: 8:18

Mile 3: 8:15

After mile 3 is Temple University so there is a big crowd there and music playing. I took a Clif Shot Gu around mile 4-5. I usually eat it slowly but I saw a water station ahead and wanted to wash it down well. City Hall is in between miles 5 and 6 so there is a big crowd leading up to and around it… it’s the only real curve of a very straightaway course and I guess maybe mile 5 was a little slower because it becomes super congested around the corners and its harder to avoid clumps of people. I dunno if I was energized or making up for lost time but I ran a lot faster for mile 6…. Followed by a slower mile 7, haha… I guess it all evens out.

Mile 4: 8:17

Mile 5: 8:17

Mile 6: 8:38

Mile 7: 7:49

After mile 7 there continued to be awesome crowds heading into South Philly… including a group of girls holding up really funny signs… my favorite was “LeBron would’ve cramped by now” haha. Heading into the last few miles I was dumping water on my head at every water station in addition to taking a water or two to drink. I ALWAYS stop t every water station provided… I dehydrate easily so I know I need it. I think I lost GPS somewhere around mile 9… no way I ran a 14 minute mile or a 2 minute mile. I definitely ran the last quarter mile into the Navy Yard under 8 minutes but my mile 9 was probably a little slower… that’s where Pat was and I try to slow down for a good action shot and to make sure I see him (lots of spectators at this point). I felt good powering through that last mile.

Mile 8: 8:35

Mile 9: 14:22

Mile 10: 2:29

Final time: 1:23:15.

The volunteers and spectators honestly make this race so awesome… plus most Philly races take place along the river as an out and back which is boring, this race you run through the whole city for 10 miles with 40,000 running friends, it doesn’t get any cooler than that! I learned a couple things during this race: 1) always make note of start and finish times, even better, wear a GPS watch! 2) If you are spectating you really should be standing unless you are elderly, handicapped, or a small child. It’s just kinda obnoxious to be sitting watching people run… the idea of being there is to pump runners up, how excited and enthusiastic can you be from a chair?! 3) If I actually push myself to run harder, I can do it! I don’t care about time or PRs but its nice to know that I tell myself to race instead run leisurely I can do well! After running this I know I probably could’ve pushed myself harder since I didn’t feel too winded after the race and I’m not very sore today. But there’s always next year! And hopefully the timing and tracking system will be correct then too!