Yesterday, I competed in the 2014 Philadelphia marathon. It was my first marathon, though I am no stranger distance running. My running career started when I joined the cross country team as a sophomore in high school. After high school, I continued running, albeit intermittently. Training in spurts, racing in random 5k’s, etc. I found it difficult to push myself unless I had a specific goal to go after. Four years ago, I ran the Broad Street 10 miler which was my first foray into longer distance runs. After doing Broad Street a few times, I started toying with the idea of doing a full marathon but never too seriously until earlier this year.

I started 2014 with a mindset to get things done in all aspects of my life, so halfway through Broad Street training in early Spring, I decided to take the dive and sign up for the Philly marathon. I was already going to be in training mode, so why not ride that through into the summer and go for the full marathon? Thumbs up, let’s do this. Leeerooyyyyyy Jenkkkkkinnnnnns!!

I developed a knee issue right before Broad Street, but I toughed it out and ran anyways. In retrospect, this was probably a poor decision. I ran a 1:21 which was decent but well off my goal of 1:10, and I set my injury recovery further back. I ended up taking 8 weeks off to heal up. I started easing back into training in July, but I didn’t ramp up into full marathon mode until mid-August. My training was 5 runs a week, one of which was a long run. The total mileage increased every week through the end of October culminating at about 60 miles per week, 20 of which came on the long run.

Resources for running your first marathon differ widely on what your longest training run should be, anywhere from 18 to 26. I have always thought that when you are doing a long distance for the first time that you only need to get to 70-80% of the distance in training. The rest you will find on race day. This is why I decided to stop at 20. Overall, my training went extremely well. My runs felt good and my body felt good. I became confident about my ability to complete the marathon, so much so that finishing seemed trivial almost. I started to become more concerned with my time.

When I signed up in April, my only intention was to finish the race. I didn’t want to put expectations on my finishing time. For registration purposes, I put down an anticipated finish of 4:26 (a 10 min pace). By the time November rolled around, I was feeling so good about my training that I started seeing sub-4:00 (9.05 pace) as a realistic possibility.

I spent the four weeks leading up to the marathon tapering down and focusing on my overall health. I cut out alcohol, sweets, and junk food. I mostly avoided eating out as well, since it’s nearly impossible to eat out without your dish being fried or covered in butter and/or salt. I think this diet was extremely beneficial. I slept better, had increased focus, and overall didn’t feel like crap.

Everything came together for race day. After nearly a week of terribly cold November weather, the front broke and race morning was comfortably in the low 40s with calm wind. The race starts and ends at the Art Museum which is conveniently about 3/4 mile from my apartment, so I didn’t have to get up until 5:30am for the 7:00am start. I got to the security checkpoint at 6:30am and had plenty of time to finish my tea and get in some light stretching.

The course is truly a tale of two halves. The first 13.1 miles go through Center City, Chinatown, Penns Landing, Rittenhouse, University City, the Zoo, the Please Touch Museum, and West River before curling back to the front of the Art Museum. It’s a great route. There are lots of sights, spectators, turns, and surfaces. It keeps things interesting.

Miles 13.1-26.2 is essentially an out-and-back to Manayunk on Kelly Drive. In race reports I read, nearly everyone shared their dislike of this section. It’s boring, there’s not a lot of spectators, etc. I didn’t put much credence in this since Kelly Drive was my main training ground. I know every stone between Philly and Manayunk; why should I fear it?

Notice the theme of over confidence growing.

For the first 11 miles, I felt great and was maintaining a pace right around 9 min. Coming down from the Please Touch Museum onto West River, the course is mostly downhill, and I was on a runner’s high. I also knew my family was waiting at mile 13.5, so I was excited to see them. I let myself ride the good vibes, and I ended up doing a couple negative splits, dropping as low as 8:18 min on Mile 14. This was a mistake. I should have stayed focused and reigned myself in to remain on the target pace. Distance running is all about pacing. Once you break out of your pace by going too fast or too slow, it’s going to be difficult to recover.

At mile 16, I came around a bend on Kelly drive and got hit straight on with a 10 mph head wind. This isn’t a terribly strong wind for Kelly drive. It’s always windy by the river. But, it was the small push back that knocked me off my high. I held my pace over the next two miles, but the acid was starting to build up in my quads.  Unfortunately, I was never able to loosen up for the remainder of the race, and my pace suffered for it.

Kelly Drive did end up being pretty brutal. There’s lot of space and not a lot of people. Ironically enough, the plentiful space and lack of people are the very reasons I enjoy training on Kelly Drive. Of course, by the time you get out of Manayunk, you only have less than 5 miles left to go, so it wasn’t too difficult to find the willpower to push through.

I finished with a time of 4:13:50, a pace of 9:40. It wasn’t sub-4:00, but it was unrealistic to put that expectation on myself in the first place when I had yet to even complete a marathon. My time was also more than 12 minutes faster than the time I wrote down for registration 7 months earlier. I will absolutely take it.

I was a little banged up after the race. Mostly, my body was trying to regulate itself after expending so much. The post race meal was buffalo wings and soda. I was craving protein and sugar, so they hit the spot. I’m still a bit sore as I write this the day after but not enough that I can complain about it. All things considered, I’m actually feeling good!

Overall, the race was a delight. The course shows a great cross section of Philadelphia. The logistics were excellent. Everything from the pre-race expo to security to water stops were smooth and easy. Even the weather co-operated! You can’t ask for more. Since the field is not as large or competitive as some other North East races like Boston or New York, I think Philadelphia is a great choice for anyone looking to do their first marathon.

I would like to thank the organizers and volunteers for putting on a flawless event; my family and friends who supported me during my training and on race day; and Mr. Stroz for instilling in me a love of running and the value of hard work!