philly post mortem

The good the bad and the ugly. The good was I finished around 3:18; the bad was I finished around 3:18; the ugly was my post run "monkey butt" as so delicately phrased by an anonymous runner. He spoke the truth, but the pain was intense and it was still below freezing. And the finish was far from the hotel.

Here is a quick overview of the Philly experience. (I know it has been a very long time since I posted, but facebook is easier... and I am sort of lazy.) The course sort of stinks. Mile 4 or 5 was cobblestones. The end of the race is out and back along the Schuylkill river. Boring and cold. In the middle we run up some hills near the fairgrounds, I thought the course was flat and fast. Overall, I give the course a C-.

Race management seemed overwhelmed and the 7 am start made for a very cold late November race in Philly. Little medical support at the end, I just needed a chair so I could put my clothes on... wheel chair would have been nice too. I grade it a C.

Weather was crazy. Below freezing from start to finish, water stations were, as you could imagine, ice stations. The run up the Schuylkill was mostly in the shade whcih made it even worse. Thankfully, the wind was not that much of a factor. Cold, but not miserable, B-.

My performance stunk. Not enough speedwork coupled with an abbreviated training schedule meant I was stupid to run sub 7 at any time during the race. I did and I paid. And, the bathroom break (bad diet management) at the half marathon point cost me 4 minutes. Other small issues were the knee pain the developed after a Friday easy run and the quad pain that has been around since last summer (it's still around). D-


My p