Who's Up 2017 Holiday Party

My dad specifically requested I write about the party the other night, so here goes:

My running group - Who's Up? - meets every Wednesday night at the Haddonfield Running Company.  We run 6.6 miles together, then drink beer in the store afterwards, courtesy of a different club member every week (big thanks to the employees of the HRC for letting us do this).  Every December, we adjourn to a local bar for a holiday get together.  I thought it might be fun to change things up and have a house party this year instead, and since I recently moved into a place .7 miles from the store, I offered up my house for the venue.

I also offered to be "up" and provided all of the beer; I went with mostly Christmas beers and naturally wrote out a menu for everyone.

I live right next door to my dad and step mom now, so my dad stopped by.  My dad is an avid runner and has run seven marathons in his day, and loves beer and talking shop with other runners, so he was in his element.

In addition to the beer, we had pizza from down the street, and a whole table of food that people brought.  I also got to use my fire place for the first time.  Between the Christmas tree, the fire, the candles, and the Christmas music playing, it was pretty damn cozy, if I do say so myself.

Two guys brought bottles of bourbon, and pretty soon we were breaking into that.  Because chasing an 11% beer with three fingers of whiskey is always a good idea...

All together we had about 30 or 40 people in my house.  Before too many people left it finally occured to us to get a picture.

By 11:30 the last people had left, and I was finally in bed by midnight.  At 6am the next day, I was up getting ready for work.

This was one of the best nights I've had in a long time, and hopefully this will become a new Who's Up tradition.

Emi's Road to Recovery

When you belong to a running group, it's not always about the running.  More often than not, it's about the people in that group; how we bond and support each other in running as well as life.

Last summer, one of our own was involved in a life-altering accident, injuring her spinal cord and vertebra, and has been in a wheelchair ever since.  Before her accident, she was an incredibly  talented runner, having run cross country and track in college, and a 3:11 debut marathon shortly after graduating.  Just last April, she ran the Boston Marathon with me.

Since her accident, she spent time in the hospital and later at a rehab facility in Philadelphia, and is currently undergoing intensive outpatient physical therapy to regain mobility of her legs.  Her medical bills have become substantial, and we wanted to help offset those costs in any way we could.  A few in our group took the reigns, booking a venue, contacting local businesses to donate prizes for raffles, and selling tickets, and together we all raised over $7,500 for her.

This past Sunday afternoon, we all gathered at the Taproom in Haddon Township, NJ for an incredible night of friendship and fellowship, and one our club won't soon forget.

Emi with the organizers of the event.

DJ Ron hard at work.

Hanging on the wall above the bar at the Taproom.

29 gift baskets for the raffle, all donated from various businesses.

Grace uses her elementary P.E. teacher skills to call out the winners.

Just a few of the many Who's Up members to attend the fundraiser.

Summer 2017 Update

There were so many things I had planned to blog about in their own separate entries over the past few months that I just never got around to, so let's put up a few pictures and move on. Here are a few life updates in chronological order:

In May I had my year-end evaluation with my principal.  This is based on Student Growth Objectives (a series of graded assessments given to two of my six classes), a Reflective Practice Portfolio (digital documents uploaded to seven different categories with accompanying written reflections) and two formal in-class observations.  This year I scored a 3.65 out of 4, my highest score yet, placing me firmly in the highly effective range.  I was pretty proud of this given all of the problems I've faced in my personal life this year.

At the end of May it was my turn to bring the beer for Who's Up?, and I once again went with the South Jersey beer theme like I did two years ago.  It's amazing how many new breweries have opened in that short time.  Pictured above:

• Lower Forge from Medford
• Forgotten Boardwalk from Cherry Hill
• Devils Creek from Collingswood
• Eclipse from Merchantville
• Double Nickel from Pennsauken
• Tonewood from Oaklyn

The variety and quality went over very well with the beer nerds I run with.  South Jersey really has an amazing variety of breweries and it truly is an incredible time to be a beer enthusiast.

Global Running Day, as always, was on the first Wednesday of June, and as always, Dave Welsh of the Haddonfield Running Company outdid himself.  He put on a mini expo right on the sidewalk outside of his store, and raffled off 12 pairs of running shoes (runners were eligible for the pair they wore to the run).  Because I wore my Nikes to the run, I put a ticket in the Nike box and won myself a free pair.  I can't tell you how many times I've entered a raffle for a free pair of shoes over the years, and this is the first time I've ever won.  I was ecstatic.

Just a few days after school ended, I left for Germany with 14 students and one other chaperone.  As usual, we spent ten days in both Berlin and Munich, staying in hostels while visiting museums, churches, parks and plenty of beer gardens and beer halls.  Unlike many high school language teachers that plan trips abroad, I don't travel with a tour company, but instead plan the entire thing myself.  Planning the trip this year was like having a part time job, and the trip itself was no less exhausting.  But I'm proud to say we hit every single thing on the itinerary I built with no major snafus of any kind.  I'm pretty sure my kids had a blast while learning a little about German history, culture and language along the way, and for that I would do the trip again in a heartbeat.

While in Berlin, I got to meet up with Christina, an old high school friend whom I haven't seen in ten years.  She now lives in Berlin with her husband and dachshund, and we spent a night at a beer garden catching up.  Also my t-shirt says "it's lit" which was a present that day from my students, because teenagers are hilarious.

While in Munich I got to meet Henrik, who first started reading and commenting on this blog many years ago.  We spent a few hours drinking beer in downtown Munich while talking in German about running, politics, and life in general.  It's the first time I've ever met a blog reader in person, and he was an absolute pleasure to spend time with.  Henrik, if you're ever in Philly, let me know!

Just one day after returning from Germany, I joined some friends for the annual July beer mile.  Because this year's beer mile fell on Canada Day, I decided to go with Molson Canadian beer.  Last year I drank luke warm Budweiser because I had read it was easier to chug, which ended up being a terrible decision because it was so disgusting and was so hard to stomach, and I ended up finishing DFL in well over twenty minutes.  Ice cold Canadian beer was the perfect choice this year, and I finished just 22 seconds off my PR in 11:07.

Last week I took advantage of free passes for teachers and weekdays off in the summer and took my son to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden.  We had the place almost to ourselves for the first twenty minutes until the day camps took over, and it resulted in one of my new favorite pictures of Neale, trying to give a two ton hippopotamus a kiss on the nose.

Erik told me that the website Athlinks now lists your friends on the site as your "rivals," and lists any races together as wins and losses.  The one "loss" I have against him is the 2007 Distance Run which I ran in 1:49.

And there you have some updates from the last few months.  I hope to write more regularly in the future, but who knows if that will happen.  Until the next time, run hard, friends.

2017 Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k: Race Report

Ran the 12th annual Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k last weekend.  I love this race for so many reasons (flat and fast course, competitive field, great after party...) and try to do it every year. It's usually the first race of the year for me and a great time to shake off the winter cobwebs and assess where I'm at in terms of racing fitness.

The race happened to fall the day after St. Patty's Day this year, so rather than go out and drink my face off Friday night, I abstained from alcohol completely and went to bed around 10pm.  Because Stevie works on Saturday mornings, my dad met me at Haddonfield Memorial High School, the site for the start and finish of the race, so he could watch Neale while I ran.

Close to 9am we all gathered on Kings Highway, and I caught up with some people from Who's Up? towards the front of the pack of hundreds of runners.

The race was unremarkable, to be honest.  I ran hard, but without any specific preparation for the 5k distance this winter,  I finished in roughly the same time I do every year.

The winner finished in 14:42, by the way.  Like I said, it's a competitive race.

The after party was held at the gym of a nearby church with wine and kegs of Yards Pale Ale and Yards Brawler.

I love these guys.

Another great year in the books, and already looking forward to next year...

2016 Haddon Township Turkey Trot Race Report

Ran the 10th annual Haddon Township Turkey Trot this morning.

Here are some race recaps from previous years:

2012
2013
2014
2015

I love this race because it's local so it doesn't take long for me to get there, and it's also in the town where I teach so I get to race against a lot of my students (the swim coach makes all of her swimmers run this race for conditioning, so that helps).  Spoiler alert: one of them beat me this year.  Sigh...  Also it finishes at a bar and there is a whole breakfast buffet afterwards.

Racing, followed by drinking beer.  All in all, my idea of a quality Saturday morning.

I got to the Pour House at 8 o'clock and got a sweet parking space on the street right next to the bar and finish line.  Met up with my dad for a bit, then did a quick warm up jog with Erik.

The race started promptly at 9 o'clock with close to a thousand people lining up on Haddon Avenue.  At the signal, we all tore off about a half mile down the street before making the first turn.  The course for this race is great because it is almost pancake flat with very few turns.  If the weather is perfect (like it was today), then it is a great course to set a PR on.  Too bad I just wasn't in PR shape today.

The downside to this race is that despite its size, it doesn't offer a water stop (usually not a huge deal in November, though), nor does it offer race clocks at each mile marker.  I didn't have my watch on so I had no idea how fast I was going.

One of the guys in my running group was hanging off my right shoulder, and we traded places several times in the second half of the race.  I was trying my hardest to fight off the urge to give up and just let him overtake me for good, especially because I've been fighting a cough for the last two weeks.  I kept telling myself to keep pushing because this is most likely my last race of 2016 and I wanted to finish on a high note.  I ended up edging him out by just five seconds and finished in 19:45, 24th overall and 4th in my age group.  The winner finished in 15:34.  This race is nuts.

When I crossed the line I suddenly felt the urge to throw up, which almost never happens to me after races, and I spent the rest of the morning coughing my head off.

Me: I think I made my cough worse by racing this morning.
Father-in-law: Maybe you should have skipped the race.
Me: I couldn't!  It's tradition to do this race!
Father-in-law: Your cough is becoming a tradition at this point.

I tried to congratulate as many of my students at the finish line as I could before heading to my car and getting changed.  At the awards ceremony, a woman saw me wearing an old Philly Marathon shirt and asked me about it because she had just run it last weekend.  My dad and I ended up talking to her about marathons for the next twenty minutes.

Neither my dad nor I won anything in our age groups, but Erik won 2nd in his age group and got a sweet mason jar pint glass which I picked up for him because he had already left.

My dad and I got our traditional picture beneath the Pour House sign:

And I then spent the rest of the morning with the Who's Up? crew drinking beer and talking about Boston (three of us are running in 2017 and one just qualified last weekend for 2018).

If you're looking to PR in the 5k, this is a great race to target.  Flat course, usually good weather, and right at the end of the fall so you can train mostly in moderate weather.  Can't wait for next year...

Second beer mile and first DFL

The beer mile: a race like no other.  Four laps around a track, each one preceded by chugging a beer.  The beer must be at least 5% ABV and may not be opened ahead of time.  Any runner who throws up incurs a penalty lap.  And that's about it.

Born in 1980's Canada (it has been joked that Canadians are to the beer mile as East Africans are to the marathon), it has since grown in popularity in recent years, with national championships and top beer milers earning endorsements and making appearances on national tv.

I've only ever done one other beer mile in my life, which I did two years ago completely by myself with Stevie spectating.  My only two goals then were to finish under ten minutes and not throw up.  I accomplished the latter but failed in the former when I quickly discovered how bad I am at chugging beer.  Still, I came reasonably close by finishing in 10:45.

Here's the post from that experience two years ago (includes bonus comment from a disgruntled former student):

My first beer mile.

Anyway, apparently my love of running and beer is becoming more widely known, because this year I was invited to take part in an annual beer mile with several others.  Many from Who's Up? would be there as well.  I put it on my calendar and immediately started "training".

My goal for this year's beer mile was to beat 10:45 whether I puked or not.  Spoiler alert: I didn't even come close.  I don't even know my exact time.  Maybe twenty minutes?  Let's just say you could have measured my performance last night with a sundial.

My two issues last time had been my lack of chugging ability, and how full I still was when I started.  So I spent last week practicing chugging beer, sometimes going out for my daily run directly afterwards to acclimate to the sloshing effect.  I also made sure not to eat as much beforehand.

But after drinking the first beer in respectable time, the carbonation immediately caught up with me, making it incredibly hard to stomach subsequent beers.  I had also decided to go with warm Budweiser as opposed to ice cold like last time, because I'd read that warm beer is easier to chug.  The only problem is that I may as well have been drinking rotgut fermented in horsepiss.  My gassy stomach made it difficult to chug beers 2, 3 and 4, while the foul taste made it all but impossible.

There was nothing I could do but stand there and take dainty, horrid sips while others lapped me.

Fellow runner: C'mon Scott, last beer!  You can do it!
Scott: Uh, dude, this is my 3rd one.
Fellow runner: ouch.

The winner finished in 7:33.  Like I said, I have no idea what my final time was but estimate about twenty minutes.  On my final lap, I was joined by another guy out of solidarity, and everyone clapped for me as I finished.  DFL.

Who's Up? was only a small faction of the beer milers

Surprisingly we all went out to a bar afterwards where we had more beer and discovered that one of the runners had to be disqualified.  He neglected to check the ABV on his beer of choice (Modelo) which ended up only being 4.4%.

I'm tempted to say this was my last beer mile ever, but let's be honest, the competitiveness with myself is going to kick in, and I'm already trying to think of how I can do better next time.

Until then, I'll keep the running and beer separate.

Fishtown Beer Runners meets Who's Up?

If you're a runner in the Philadelphia area, you've probably heard of the Fishtown Beer Runners.  As the name would suggest, they're a group that meets in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood to run and then - you guessed it - drink beer afterwards.

Founded by Eric Fiedler and David April in 2007, the club's concept is actually aided by science.  They had heard of a study conducted at the University of Granada in Spain by Professor Manuel Castillo that told of beer's positive effects following a run.  They decided to test the theory, and the rest, as they say, is history.

After the club's reputation grew, David decided to contact the Professor in something of a fanboy moment.  To his surprise, the Professor wrote back, and the two struck up a correspondence that has since led to several trips to Spain, where David eventually met the woman who would become his wife.

Today the group's name is trademarked, it has received endorsements from such heavyweights as Christopher McDougall, and even been the subject of a feature-length documentary.  Through it all, the group's activity remains the same: dozens of runners meet at David's house in Fishtown on Thursday nights, always running 3-5 miles, always finishing at a local bar and always raising a glass to toast the professor before the end of the evening, just as they have done since the beginning.

A few weeks ago, one of the guys in Who's Up? ran with the Fishtown Beer Runners and decided to organize a viewing of the aforementioned documentary at one of our own club meetings.

So that's where I found myself last night: after seven sweaty miles, we all convened in the basement of the Haddonfield Running Company for our club's first movie night.  David himself and a few others from his club made the trek across the bridge, and after a short introduction, we all sat with beer and soft pretzels to watch the film together.

The film was incredible, by the way.  It starts on a low note as David reels from a recent divorce, and quickly picks up steam as running begins to save him, all while capturing Philadelphia's unique neighborhoods.  The action transfers to various bars in the city before going international, tagging along on one of the group's trips to Spain as they meet the professor and participate in one of his ongoing studies.

In my humble opinion, it's right up there with films like Spirit of the Marathon in terms of inspiration and should be included in any runner's movie collection.  You can rent or buy the movie to stream on any device by clicking here.  I don't think it's available on DVD, though.

After the movie, we all toasted to the Professor:

And I got a picture with the man, the myth, the legend himself:

Huge thanks to the Haddonfield Running Company for letting us hang out after hours, especially to Shawn and TJ for sticking around to supervise us delinquents.  Also thanks to Tom for putting the whole thing together, and of course David and the Fishtown Beer Runners for making the trek across the bridge to run and drink with us and share the movie.  And of course for spreading the gospel of running and beer.  The world is most definitely a better place because of them.

There is already talk in our group of crossing the bridge to join them on one of their runs in the nearby future.  Until then...

To the Professor!

When seven miles is still too much

It's the Wednesday night running and beer crew, night ops style:

Photo courtesy Tom Cunningham

Every Wednesday night I run with the fine folks at the Haddonfield Running Company for seven miles through the mean streets of Haddonfield.  A group of us formed an informal drinking club afterwards called Who's Up?, and we take turns bringing the beer each week.

But you're a passionate and savvy reader of this blog and already knew all of this.

Anyway, tonight I wasn't able to finish all seven miles.  It's gotten to the point that seven miles is now my long run and I sometimes struggle to get it done.  Tonight was one of those nights.

Altra stopped by and was kind enough to let us try on their shoes, but the cushion and extra toe box for which they are famed did nothing to push me through to the end.  In the end, I had to chalk it up to a lackadaisical winter training regimen and just tell myself that it will get better.

In the meantime, there's always a post run beer, no matter the length of the run, to make everything better.

2015 Haddon Township Turkey Trot race recap

Ran the Haddon Township Turkey Trot this morning, one of my favorite races of the year because it's in the town where I teach and I usually know about half the race field.  The fact that it finishes at a bar helps too...

Here are some recaps from previous years:

2012
2013
2014

My dad runs it, several of my students run it, people from Who's Up? run it... always lots of friendly faces and always a good time.

It's a great race for a PR because it's at the end of the fall running season, the course is completely flat, and the weather is usually always perfect.

Here we are this morning at the start:

I wasn't even sure if I was going to race this morning or not as I'm still recovering from last Sunday's marathon.  All week I've felt slight pain in my left shin, right knee and just overall fatigue, so I decided to leave the decision until this morning.  When I woke up feeling ok, I decided to race but to take it easy.

Moments before the start
Photo by Don Licorish

I tried not to worry about the pace of those around me and just run my own race, telling myself I would be ok if I came in over 20 minutes (usually my gauge for race performance in a 5k), so I was surprised to pass the first mile marker in 6:14.  Nothing was bothering me so I just tried to keep up the pace.  I was pushing it but not to the brink of exhaustion like in some 5k's.

I passed one of my eighth grade students.  I passed two guys in Who's Up?.  I entered the final stretch and took out a few more runners.  I don't care if I just ran a 3:01 marathon six days ago, I just can't kill that competitive drive I get in shorter distances.

Final stats:

19:39
24th overall (out of 742 finishers)
4th in age group (30-34)

We hadn't entered Who's Up? as a team (I don't even know if they had a team competition in this race) which is a shame because we would have cleaned up.  Huge congrats to Robin who won the overall women's race, and a slew of others who won age group awards.

The race conveniently finishes at The Pour House and offers a large complimentary breakfast (beers unfortunately not included) so we camped out upstairs for a few hours after the race.

Nothing like drinking beer at 10 in the morning (and then sitting on the bar to pose for a picture) to celebrate the holiday season.

My dad and I also got our traditional picture under the Pour House sign:

Also, check out Liz's recap of the race here.  She took third in her age group and won a sweet mason jar.  I also stole one of her photos that her dad took.

Here's to a great year of running and a great season of racing, to great running friends and to long-winded race recaps.

2015 Philadelphia Marathon race report

I'll try to keep this one to the facts and save the emotion for a separate post.

Quick stats:

13th marathon
6th Philadelphia Marathon
3rd marathon in 2015
Finishing time: 3:01:06 (PR)

Here goes the long version...

Pre-Race

The race was set to begin at 7am.  I woke up at 4am and showered, which I always do before a big race to wake up and loosen up the muscles.  I got to the train station in time for the 4:40 train into Philly and arrived at the entrance to the secure zone around 5:20 and breezed right through security.  I'm told the security line stretched a half mile long as it got closer to the race start, so thankfully I showed up early.

I made it to the starting line by 5:30 and just sat around by gear check for awhile since I didn't want to warm up for the race so early.  I would have run up and down the art museum steps to psych myself up for the race, but there were about 400 security fences in the way.

At about 6 I started getting ready.  I taped my nipples (using duct tape, natch), applied Body Glide, stuffed Gu packets into my shorts pockets, and stripped down to what I would be wearing at the start: shorts, shirt, throwaway hoodie, gloves and hat.  I handed my bag into gear check and got in line for a port-a-potty, then ran about a half mile warmup and did some dynamic stretches.

To my horror, around 6:35 I realized I still had to go to the bathroom, but the lines were outrageous at this point and I never would have started the race on time.  I walked around and found a small group of port-a-potties hidden away with only a small line, but after getting in line I found out these were only for elites.  A large and loud woman started yelling at runners to show their bibs and that only elites were allowed in this line.  I managed to hide behind two other runners as she came by and was able to use the port-a-potty here after all.

Once in my corral I had to endure the usual banter between the MC, Mayor Nutter and other people onstage.  I really wish the Philadelphia Marathon would consider just playing music before the start.  They then announced that the start would be delayed due to a car accident somewhere up on the course.  Great.  I love getting myself psyched to start a race only to have it be delayed by 15 minutes (no I don't).


The Start

They sang the French national anthem to honor those affected by last weekend's terrorist attacks in Paris, then the American national anthem, then the wheelchair division started, then the elites, then my corral - the maroon corral.

The first mile was a nightmare.  My garmin told me I was doing a 6:28 pace, which I found hard to believe, then beeped well before the first mile marker.  This completely threw me off my game, and I ended up having pacing issues for the entire race.  I just could not keep a steady pace.  I would look down at my watch and see I was going way below a 6:50 pace, so I would slow down, only to see a second later that I was doing a 7:18 pace.


Mile 5

By mile 5 I could already feel a twinge in my shin, and around the same time I started to feel the familiar pain of a side stitch under my right rib, same as the half marathon three weeks ago.  Great.  So this is how it's going to be.

I saw a few people from my running club at mile 6, and a few employees from the Haddonfield Running Company at mile 8.  Also, Bryan from Twitter snapped a picture of me around this point.

I was sticking to the plan and keeping within my time goal, but it was anything but smooth and easy, and I was already worried about how I was going to fare in the latter miles.


Mile 10

The worst hills of the course were now behind me, and I knew I would have several miles until the next hill, so I tried to settle into a comfortable pace and take advantage of the relatively flat and straight course.

Around mile 10 I saw Brandon from the South Jersey Athletic Club.  We exchanged a few words and ran together for a few minutes, but he was doing the half and ended up picking up his pace.  I was trying hard to stick to my pacing and save some for the second half of the race, so I stayed behind.


Mile 13.1

Just before the halfway point, the half marathoners veer off to the right to the finish line while the full marathoners head left, past the art museum and out onto Kelly Drive towards Manayunk.  I passed the halfway mark in 1:30:17, which was exactly where I wanted to be.  I was trying to negative split this race, so I wanted to run a slower first half and save some for the latter miles.

At mile 14 I made a tactical decision and stopped to go to the bathroom.  I was surprised that I had to go at all as I hadn't had much to drink that morning and in addition to using the port-a-potties a few hundred times, I had also watered every nearby tree before the start.  I would estimate this cost me about 15 seconds.

Normally this is one of my favorite parts of any Philadelphia race, because gone are the hairpin turns of Center City and the hills of Fairmount Park.  Runners are sufficiently warmed up at this point, but it's still before the real pain begins, so it's easy to lock into a consistent pace.  Most runners hate this section, though, for its lack of spectators, but I enjoy the solitude and the chance to zone out.

But the wind.  I have never felt wind this bad in a race before, including last year's Boston. Heading along the Schuylkill, we were repeatedly smacked in the face with wind gusts coming off the river.  It was torture and incredibly dispiriting.


Mile 17

The worst part of the entire course.  The course ends its pleasant ambling along the river and hangs a sharp left across the Falls Bridge, down an incline, hangs a complete 180 in the middle of the street, then back up the incline and back across the Falls Bridge.


Manayunk (19-21)

The sidestich and the hills took their toll in Manayunk, and I purposefully slowed down to help ease the pain and keep myself in the game, if only for a minute.

I remember loving this section of the race the first few times I ran Philly, because it's one gigantic block party with music and food and screaming spectators lining the sidewalks.  But particularly in yesterday's race, it was all a blur as I was too deep into my own world of pain. My eye was on my watch as I desperately clung to the hope that my goal was still feasible. The math worked out in my head, but just barely.  I ditched my gloves and kept pumping my arms and legs as hard as I could.


Mile 21

I must have caught another wind, because this is when I really thought I could do it.  I was still running a 6:50 pace and knew the headwind coming out to Manayunk would now be a tailwind heading back to the art museum, and the course would level and straighten out again, allowing me to cruise to the finish.  It would be close, but it was doable.

I also knew that I had my two friends meeting me at mile 24, so I began focusing on them.

Imagine my frustration, then, as gusts of wind continued to blow in my face as I headed back. It would appear the wind had changed direction.


Mile 23.5

I had put out the call on Facebook two weeks earlier looking for someone to pace me in the last two miles of the marathon.  The catch was that this person would have to be capable of running two consecutive 6:50 miles, which limited the number of people.  Lo and behold, not one but two of the women from my Wednesday night running group Who's Up? volunteered to help out.

Robin and Kim met me earlier than expected and fell into step with me.  I must have been a peach to be around at this point, muttering monosyllabic complaints and negative thoughts, but both of them continued to tell me I was doing great and that I could make it.  They were an absolute Godsend, and I just can't thank them enough for the help they offered.  While I didn't make my goal of sub 3, I have no doubt I wouldn't have run a PR without them.

I was struggling but still hovering around 7 minute miles.  The math I was doing in my head told me if I kept up a 7 minute pace, I could make it, but I knew the .2 miles at the end would take at least a minute, and that that was probably going to make the difference.


Mile 26

As the crowds thickened and the security fences started, Kim and Robin veered off the course.  I had warned them ahead of time that they wouldn't be able to finish with me, so I knew this was coming.  I had to do the final .2 on my own.

I watched as my watch passed 3 hours with the finish line just around the curve.  Somehow, amidst the hundreds of screaming spectators and the emotion of the moment, I heard my dad call my name as I kept pushing, muscles screaming and all the pain, sacrifice and hard work of the last four months spilling forth onto the course.  I high fived Mayor Nutter as I crossed the line and keeled over, gasping for breath.  It was everything I ever wanted in a marathon finish, only a minute and 7 seconds too slow.

Post Race

After finishing I drank some Gatorade and collected my medal, and wanted to get some food but the line was incredibly crowded with half marathon finishers, so I kept moving.  I did manage to grab a cup of chicken broth and a bottle of some sort of fruit infused water, but no food.

I found my dad at the family reunion area in front of the Franklin Institute where we took some pictures.

Immediately post-race
Photo by Wayne Partenheimer

With my dad at Logan Square
Photo by some guy who recognized me from YouTube

People from my running group were all meeting at nearby Tir Na Nog for drinks, so we stopped in there for a few beers before heading home.  It was a blast hanging out at the bar swapping stories over beers with everyone and celebrating everyone's successes.

At Tir Na Nog with members of Who's Up?
Photo by Wayne Partenheimer

My first beer in 2 months!
Photo by Wayne Partenheimer

With my amazing pacers, Kim and Robin
Photo by Wayne Partenheimer

I was a little disappointed that I missed my goal, and by such a close margin, but I'll get more into why in the next post.

At the end of the day, I still ran 26.2 miles faster than I ever have before in my life, and got to bond with my dad and running friends afterwards.  Four months of hard work ended not in disappointment, then, but with laughter and friends and good beer.  Success.

And with that, the 2015 Philadelphia Marathon comes to a close.  Thanks for reading.

Photo by Wayne Partenheimer