Race Recap - Philly Rock & Roll Half Marathon

For our first "better late than never" race recap, Sara's looking back at the 2013 Rock & Roll Philadelphia half...

After we registered for the Dopey Challenge, Rachel and I knew we needed to find an early fall half marathon to run for a new PR so we could boost our corral WDW Marathon weekend. Starting at the back of the pack, though it had worked for the Princess, was not going to cut it for back to back to back to back races in January. After a little research on the available races, we settled on the Rock & Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon on September 15, 2013. Our choice proved a wise one, as we (spoiler alert) came out of it with over a 45-minute PR!

We left the DC area early on Saturday morning, leaving plenty of time to pick up our packets and wander around the expo before an early dinner and relaxing evening in the hotel. Packet pick up went very smoothly - longer lines for us runners toward the back of the pack, since this seemed to be a first race for many people, but the lines moved quickly and we were soon in the expo itself. Inside the expo, Brooks had a great island themed section dedicated to their "Run Happy" branding - we poked around a bit before heading into the main area in search of a couple items to boost the next morning's run.

I was disappointed not to find a KT Tape booth anywhere to get my knee taped up, but had tape back at the hotel room so I could do it myself later that night. We spent awhile digging through the Bondi Band suitcases, and came away successful - Rachel got a very fitting "No one ever drowned in sweat" band, and I got myself a new princess crown. Geico had a course preview video running at their booth, so we stood to watch that and see what we were in for the next morning, before heading off to find dinner.

Swag from the expo - highlights were definitely an awesome race t-shirt from Brooks, and the "Run Strong" bracelet for the Boston Marathon.

As we walked back to our hotel we got a chance to explore a bit of Philly - we spotted the "LOVE" sign from afar, took some fun photos with the game pieces, and grabbed bagel sandwiches for dinner in a cute cafe we found in a small park. As we were turning toward our hotel, we realized we were on the corner of Race Street, so naturally we had to document with some photo jumping fun. Then it was back to the hotel to check out the expo swag, prep our gear for race morning, and watch some "Sister Act" (we were delighted to find these back to back on tv that night)!

Having your race-cation hotel just off Race St has to be a good omen :)

The next morning we woke up, packed our bags to leave with the concierge (the one downside to this trip was that our hotel was not allowing late check out due to the race, so we had to check out before heading to the start line), and started out on the mile or so walk to the start of the race.

It was a little chilly as the sun was still working its way up that morning, so we were glad for our jackets and bondi bands to keep us warm. We hung around near our corral (22 out of 25, so pretty far back in the pack), which was hanging out just in front of the finish line at the base of the Rocky stairs. One of the most fun moments that morning had to be listening to "Eye of the Tiger" with that view - very fitting!

Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet, just two gals with the will to survive!

At last, it we worked our way to the start line, and it was our turn to go! We felt good starting out, and wove our way easily through the downtown area. Before we knew it, we came across Rachel's parents, who were waving and holding up the signs they had made us! They had refused to tell us what was on each of our signs until we were running, so it we got a little surprise and a chuckle as we passed them. Rachel's had her nickname from her hometown improv troop, and mine was a throwback to my Cinderella outfit at Disney.

As we kept going through downtown, my phone GPS kept ticking off some really speedy miles. We knew we were making good time, but we didn't think we were going as fast as it was saying. The phone was also way off from the on-course mile markers. Eventually, we realized the tall buildings were throwing off the signal, so it thought we were jumping around all over the place, when really we were following straight lines. All in all, the app wound up adding almost 1.5 miles onto our distance! Oops!

Once we got out of the city, we hit the up and back portion of the race, along the Schuylkill River. Beautiful to start off, but as the miles ticked off, we started getting anxious for the turnaround - it felt like it was never coming! Finally, it did, and we made our way back, starting to fight the mental battle. By the time we hit Mile Marker 12, we started having some fun to get through the final mile - our photo jumps came back, as we tried to time our jumps with the course photographers.

Success! Look at that air!

Finally, we turned the final corner off the water, and pushed ourselves up the final .1 across the finish line. Grins abounded, and our sub-3 hour half was in the books. By the time we crossed toward the back of the pack, they were out of chocolate milk, but we grabbed a banana and Gatorade, met up with Rachel's parents, stopped off at our hotel to pick up our bags before hitting up her parents' hotel (which had, thankfully, allowed for late check out) for a shower, and devoured a pair of (of course) Philly Cheesesteaks for a very rewarding lunch.

Do you track your pace through your own GPS device during races? What are your favorite motivators to push through the mental walls on long runs?