Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon race report

I ran the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon this morning, and had a great time as always. I've been doing this race for years and always have a great time, and today was simply business as usual.

Rode PATCO over to Philly this morning after only six hours of sleep.

With Suze on the train over to Philly.

Last year the train ran late and I ended up jumping into my corral with seconds to spare.  This year we arrived at the starting area with a leisurely half hour till GO TIME.

I went into this race not expecting to run well, considering my lack of training effort over the summer.  With a new job to prepare for and plenty of days with awful heat, my running was lackadaisical at best.  I thought I would run today with little more purpose than to enjoy the atmosphere.

If you know me at all, or have read this post, you know that's not exactly my MO.  When I started out today, I was immediately amazed at how good I felt coming off a reduced training schedule and with  less sleep than I would have liked.  I decided I might want to go for a PR after all.  I crossed the halfway point in just under 45 minutes, and I decided I had a chance at breaking 1:30.

The bane of any runner's existence is trying to mentally calculate mile splits in the latter miles of a race, which is what I started doing at the nine mile mark.  I realized I had to run the last four miles no slower than seven minutes per mile in order to break 1:30, and I decided I couldn't.  I could feel the strain in my legs and the exhaustion starting to creep in.  "I can't do that," is what I told myself. Then I decided to try anyway.

Ladies and gentlemen, pardon my French, but fuck "can't."

Stevie and me after the race

And congrats to Suze who ran her very first half marathon, which means she PR'd as well.  Any race in which a new PR is achieved is a tremendous feeling, and I leave you today in very high spirits.

Run your hearts out, friends.  Always.