Rock 'n' Roll Philly Half Marathon

E-mail from Suze regarding the Rock 'n' Roll Philly Half Marathon: "Did you sign up yet?  Stop slacking!"  Good news, Suze: I'm officially in.  I couldn't in my right mind miss Brett Michaels headlining the post race concert.  Duh, winning!

Suze had given me extra incentive by taking the reigns on organizing a meet up with other Philly/South Jersey bloggers.  There's talk of a pre-race Olive Garden invasion and/or tailgating somewhere after the race.  Always nice to connect with other runners/bloggers.

As for the race, I've run it several years now.  It was founded over thirty years ago as the Philadelphia Distance Run, and just last year it was taken over by the Rock 'n' Roll series, consequently earning it the scorn of more serious runners.  An old high school acquaintance recently wrote on Facebook,  "I think they ruined a great race.  It's more about the razzle dazzle of a race, and not about actual running... it replaced the PDR with something the PDR was not. That's my beef."

I believe I fit into the category of "serious runner" myself, but I'm not terribly bothered by the changes.  The Philadelphia Distance Run had bands and cheerleaders just like the current Rock 'n' Roll incarnation.  All that's changed is perhaps more bands, more runners, and of course a steeper entry fee (*sigh*... entry fees are going to keep climbing for a long time, it seems).  As far as the perceived loss of competitive racing with the change in stewardship, I believe you can be competitive in anything.  I can race my heart out regardless of an increased party atmosphere or not.  Afterall, I ran my current half marathon PR last year at this very race.  All you have to do is start far enough ahead in the corrals.

In a little over a month, we'll see if I can race my heart out again.