Short Race Report - Philadelphia Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon

[Kristia]

As promised, here is my quick race report from the Rock n Roll half marathon that I ran in Philly this past weekend.

We went to the expo on Saturday to pick up our bibs and race packets. It was held in the Philadelphia Convention Center and was by far the most organized and best expo I have been to. There were no lines for bib pickup and were quickly in the expo. There were a lot of companies giving free samples. Some companies giving out freebies included Cascadian Farm granola, Larabar, Food Should Taste Good, Smartfood Selects, Jelly Belly Sport Beans, GU, and others. One of the organic yogurt companies was giving out free yogurt mixed with Craisins and Granola. They also packed our goodie bags (pretty nice canvas bags with the Rock n Roll guitar logo) with a free GU gel, Starkist tuna foil package (that was a little random!) and a lot of coupons.

After the expo, we went to Reading Terminal Market for lunch. You definitely need to check this place out if you have never been and are in Philly. It is right next to the Convention Center so it was the obvious choice for lunch.

The next morning we were out the door at 6 am and arrived, parked and walked the few blocks to the staging area. There were plenty of bathrooms and they were even giving out pre-race goodies. They had bananas, bagels and water. There were a couple vendors cooking up cheesesteaks but that was not on my menu pre-race! There was also the obligatory Philly soft pretzel vendor wandering around! They even had a Slurpee truck giving out free Slurpees. Dan had one of those but again...not for me!

Sunrise in Philly

We were in Corral 19 of 23. I had estimated a finish time of 2:30.

Looking behind our corral towards the Art Museum

Ahead towards City Hall - the start line is up there somewhere!

Dan and I hanging out waiting for the start

 

[Kristia]

We are slowly moving up!

Finally, here we go!

And it starts with the walkers! We all started the slow jog across the start line only to run into walkers, walking 5 across just chatting away. They weren't even doing a quick speed walk, they were leisurely strolling. They jog across the start only to start walking about 50 ft from the start! Really......come on! Go back to the last corral if thats the way you want to do the race. I was passing people pretty early on that by their numbers had been in MUCH lower corrals than me and were going painfully slow and I could tell that that was probably their normal pace. This race doesn't require previous race results for corral placement unless you are elite so my guess is that some of these people don't want to be swept so they put themselves in a lower corral. I am not fast by any means but it really makes it hard when so many people are not honest with their estimated finish times! OK...I'm done...

Anyway we head towards City Hall and did the loop around it. City Hall is a really beautiful block size building/compound. It has such beautiful architecture. Too bad my blurry pics don't do it justice!

 

[Kristia]

After leaving the City Hall area, we passed the Constitution Center.

Independence Hall in the distance. On the right side of the pic is the building that houses the Liberty Bell.

Heading back to the museum district. We pass the Rodin Museum and The Franklin Institute which is pictured here.

I have to mention that they had water stops every 1-1 1/2 miles. Every other stop was a gatorade stop and they had one GU stop at mile 8 or 9. I heard some people complaining that the water tables were empty when they got there but I was towards the back of the pack and never had that problem. The first 3 tables may have been empty but there was always water if you ran a bit further. There were bands every couple miles and spectators lined the course. Spectators are great in Philly. Tons of people show up to cheer everyone on, not just their families.

We headed behind the Art Museum and into Fairmount Park along the Schukyll River. First up was beautiful, historic Boathouse Row. These are clubhouses for the skulling rowing clubs. I think most of the houses date back to the 1800's. Sorry so blurry!

We ran under a few of these cool old bridges. There was a Mr. Incredible on a bike with a boom box playing Elvis music. Just a random guy helping us out (He even has his own facebook page)!

Finally around mile 8, I see Falls River Bridge in the distance. This is between mile 9 and 10 where we can cross the river and head into the final 5k of the race. Thank goodness this bridge was pretty flat and there wasn't a huge incline to run up!

 

[Mr mom]

What a beautiful city

 

[Kristia]

We crossed over the bridge to run back on the other side of the river. 5k left!

Soon, I only had a mile left. I felt like I had plenty of time for a PR so I actually stopped to take a couple pics. Coming back up to the Art Museum...

Looking back to Boathouse Row from the other side this time.

Coming up to the finish line, I only had a 100 feet or so left and it felt like such a steep climb! I think that was the most winded I had been the entire time on the course but I finally was done and had my medal! I made my way through the post-race runners area. They had a ton of food and refreshments for the runners. My only complaint for this part was there were no bags to carry the stuff. They also didn't have enough of the drinks on ice so it was warm water and gatorade until I saw the chocolate milk....YUM! It was ice cold chocolately heaven in a bottle! By now though, I was carrying a large bottle of gatorade, a bottle of water, chocolate milk, a snickers marathon bar (which by the way was just too thick and chewy for me after a race), and a banana. They were also giving out fruit cups, bagels, and pretzels but I couldn't carry any more and kept dropping things. Wish I had a bag!

Dan and I had a plan to meet at the family reunion area if we were separated during the race so I headed that way. When I found him, he was still rolling with sweat and was clearly exhausted. I found out that I was only 2 minutes behind him as he really hit a wall in the last mile. If I hadn't stopped to take the pictures maybe I could have overtaken him lol! I beat him in our first half marathon and I think he plans to never let that happen again!

I love this statue of Washington! The details are extraordinary!

Darn guy messing up my moose picture!

We were delighted to find that the Slurpee truck was still handing out Slurpees so we both indulged in those. With the race bibs we got a ticket for a free Michelob Ultra but neither of us are big beer drinkers especially after running so we skipped that.

Here is Dan's pic on the museum steps. I just noticed that darn guy is photobombing this one as well although I did cut him off a bit. I will crop him out later but I had to post it here. He is too sexy for his shorts!

That concludes my race report! Overall we had a great time and are going to put this on our list of races to make an annual tradition! We might travel to do other Rock n Roll races. We might try the one in DC next!

 

[Kristia]

What a beautiful city

It really is! Although like any city there are many parts that you shouldn't venture into, but Center City is really great!

 

[Mickey&Minnie]

Haha I saw what you were saying with the walkers. I loved your race report!

 

[Kristia]

Haha I saw what you were saying with the walkers. I loved your race report!

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

 

[Mad Stitch]

City hall looks great. I need to get to Philly sometime. All these pics but no close up of the bling though?

 

[Kristia]

City hall looks great. I need to get to Philly sometime. All these pics but no close up of the bling though?

Oops sorry! Posted them in the "What did you do" thread and forgot to repost here.

 

[Fievel]

Great report! It's always fun to run when there is great scenery around

 

[LindsayLoves]

I love the photo of the inflatable guy who's legs you run in between, too funny.

What camera do you carry with you when you race? Your pictures while running turn out pretty well, mine are usually a blurry mess.

 

[wiigirl]

Great report! Love the photos!

 

[Kristia]

Great report! It's always fun to run when there is great scenery around

Thanks! I agree with you there! I spend all my time taking in the scenery so that I don't think about what I am actually doing!

I love the photo of the inflatable guy who's legs you run in between, too funny.

What camera do you carry with you when you race? Your pictures while running turn out pretty well, mine are usually a blurry mess.

That inflatable guy was neat! I have an older Canon Elph Powershot. I have used it in my Disney races too. It is lightweight and takes decent pics even though it is probably about 8 years old now!

Great report! Love the photos!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Mickey&Minnie]

I am loving the bling!

 

[JillC LI]

Great trip report Kristi. I still haven't figured out how to put pics in my posts! Lame-o me.

 

[lukacseven]

I thought the race went well. Aside from Disney, probably the best expo in a while. I've been running all the Philly races for years and this one (Philly Distance Run) was a very poorly run event until Rock n Roll took it over a few years ago. I do get sick of running the same out and back course along the Schuylkill River for every Philly race - I like the November Marathon course better. Although, I liked running the first 3 miles through the city in the direction they did this year better (reverse of past years). The only negatives I'd say were one poorly positioned water station and the fact that there were no cold drinks at the finish line. One of my favorite things about the Rock n Roll events is the secure finish line area. This was the best year so far for course entertainment, but I thought spectator support wasn't what it was in past years or other races.

 

[Kristia]

I thought the race went well. Aside from Disney, probably the best expo in a while. I've been running all the Philly races for years and this one (Philly Distance Run) was a very poorly run event until Rock n Roll took it over a few years ago. I do get sick of running the same out and back course along the Schuylkill River for every Philly race - I like the November Marathon course better. Although, I liked running the first 3 miles through the city in the direction they did this year better (reverse of past years). The only negatives I'd say were one poorly positioned water station and the fact that there were no cold drinks at the finish line. One of my favorite things about the Rock n Roll events is the secure finish line area. This was the best year so far for course entertainment, but I thought spectator support wasn't what it was in past years or other races.

I agree on the cold drinks thing. They stuffing the drinks into the ice containers but runners were coming in as fast as they would put the drinks in. They really need a way to keep large numbers of drinks cold at one time. Those barrels with ice were not big enough for all the runners coming in. I thought the spectators were great. I am used to running smaller races like the Seaside Half where there were NO spectators except on the small section of the boardwalk (and I think they were just there by default).

 

[Texas84]

As my USAF LtCol Dad would say, "Good report!" Looks like a really nice course.

I could go for some chocolate milk after a run. That sounds great! And I'll say it again, wish these races had ice cold Coke at the end.

 

[Kristia]

As my USAF LtCol Dad would say, "Good report!" Looks like a really nice course.

I could go for some chocolate milk after a run. That sounds great! And I'll say it again, wish these races had ice cold Coke at the end.

The Slurpee truck had frozen Coke slurpees! I had one of those. It really hit the spot!