Philadelphia Rock n Roll Half-Marathon

Figured I better get on it & blog my last race before I run my next one on Sunday!  3 weekends ago, I headed up to Philadelphia to see my best friend Stephanie and also to run the Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half-Marathon.  They didn’t offer the full marathon & I was happy to have an excuse to run a “fun” race without worrying I’d die trying to finish 26 miles.

And this is the reason I hardly ever buy the professional photos- there weren’t many of me & these few are horrible, but the picture of Brett Michaels, the after-race headliner, totally cracked me up.  You can actually see Stephanie and I attempting a repeat performance of our synchronized jump from the Philly marathon last fall.

I haven’t really raced a race in a while- my goal in any marathon is just to finish & if I’m feeling good, run under 5 hours.  I usually cross the half-marathon mark around 2:15, so I knew I could easily run the half-marathon in that and I was pleased with the 2:10 (yes, I’m rounding down!).  At 16K people, this race was smaller than the other 20K+ Rock n Roll marathons I’d run, but I wasn’t accustomed to the course being crowded the whole way- it usually thins out pretty good after 26 miles.

The race started and ended at the same place, which was convenient.  It followed much of the same (but obviously shorter) course than the Philadelphia Marathon I ran last November.  Starting down Frainklin Ave headed into downtown and through the historic district is a scenic start and then out/back along the river add a touch of nature to the route.

We hopped a cab from Stephanie’s downtown loft and awaited the start on a mild morning.  I was relaxed and ready to enjoy my “taper” run of 13 miles on my way to the Denver marathon 3 weeks later.

I love running down Ben Franklin Parkway and was entertained to run by all the global flags and past many of the beautiful museums as we headed toward the gorgeous City Hall.

Past City Hall, we passed by through the Independence Mall and the historic district before turning around and coming back through Chinatown as we were passing beneath the shadows of the ultra-modern skyscrapers.

Then we headed out to my favorite part of the course- the tree lined road along the Schuylkill River.

Over the bridge and we headed back  towards town on the west side of the river, coming back across from boat house row and back towards museum.  It was a great race- Philly is an awesome town to run a half or full marathon, a good mix of city-scape and nature mixed togehter, along with great architecture and history.  This RnR race was well organized and I had a blast running it for fun rather than just survive or finish, like my full marathons.  I mostly just enjoyed having fun and spending some time with my best friend doing something that we love.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:  New iPhone 4s ordered and should be here in a week!