| Marathon #30! |
Thank you for all the good luck wishes for my 30th marathon! I don’t usually write a race report for (just?) a marathon, but since it was my 30th and a destination race, I thought I’d shared a little about my day…. The weather had been quite cold leading up to race day. But the day promised to be perfect running conditions and didn’t disappoint. Having not run a big city marathon recently I prepared for security checks, long porta-pottie line ups and a lengthy wait in my corral to reach the start line. So, other than being a bit cold while I waited, everything went fairly smoothly and 23mins after the race started I crossed the start line and my marathon began.
The crowd support was amazing and the volunteers were fantastic – they really did the city of Philadelphia proud. Because of the wave starts which were three minutes apart, initially we had lots of room to run. But since the half and the full marathon ran together for the first 13 miles the course became quite congested at times. In some neighbourhoods the roads were quite narrow and the spectators were gathered on the road so it was challenging to find my pace. In my mind I was really hoping to finish sub-4:15 so when I reached the halfway mark at 2:08 I was a little worried. As the half marathoners broke off for the finish line, the pack dispersed and I was finally able to find my groove. As it turned out, the slower pace in the first half paid off for me as the miles in the second half clicked by easily and I just kept feeling strong! My pace picked up and I caught the 4:15 pace group. Once I passed them, I never saw them again:)
When I reached the 25 mile mark at 3:59, knowing I had only 1.2 miles to go, I knew I would finish sub-4:15, but didn’t think I would be so close to my personal best. I ran strong and happily into the finish. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see a sub-4:10! I couldn’t believe I was only 12 seconds off my PR!!!! I had to ask myself, Could I not have run just half a second per mile faster?!?
In the end, I had a great day on the course. I felt strong the whole way and enjoyed a world-class marathon here in Philadelphia. What more could a girl ask for?
The city of Philadelphia has been an amazing city to visit! The history here combined with some unbelievable collections of art has left Brian and I with too little time to see it all. We’re plotting out a strategy for our last couple of days….so we’re off to see a bit more before we head home later tomorrow.
Thank you again for supporting me in my marathoning adventures!
Elaine Reid
