Tales of the Philadelphia Marathon

Below you will find some Wanderer accounts of the Philadelphia Marathon.

Matt Mauren's Two Cents about the Philadelphia Marathon:

This was my first NON-Minnesotan marathon, and while I cut 22minutes off my best time, I did not meet my four hour goal... The weather was ideal if you were a duck in that it was wet and cold through and through... The highlight of the race was the fantastic, supportive attendance of many of the Wanderers...in spite of the less than stellar weather. The lowlight of the race is when my lower body threw in the proverbial towel at mile 23. Runner up for highlight of the race was Chris running the last 8 miles of the race with me. Honorable mention goes to Fierce Grape Gatorade who showed up as well to support me at mile 24. Every little bit counts. All in all, when the dust settled, and the race was run, I marked it down as one of the best days in my life thusfar.

Tammy Leigh DeMent's account:

As a comeback run after a pinched nerve and almost two years of being off my feet for any serious running I have to say overall I'm pretty happy with my 4:42 performance. Its not a Personal Best, but not a Worst either.  I have to ask though, are the specators always so unwilling to let the runners into the corrals? I pulled a hamstring 5 minutes before gun time because I was trying to manuever through the crowd. That's ok though, it only hurt for the first 13 miles, until other stuff started hurting ....

It was a generally icky day but I don't so much mind running in the rain, I mean, chaffing is chaffing - whether from hot sweat or cold rain, what difference does it make? As someone still kinda new to Philly I have to say I LOVED the route, except, well, whose idea was it to put Manayunk at the END of the race? Come on, REALLY!?  

I have to give the day to the Wanderers Support Team. Seeing The Great One and Maureen around mile 15 (even if I did have to jump up and down to get their attention) was really motivating with sparkly signs in both of my names! Then I saw Helen cruising by in the opposite direction looking fast and sleek. Those Wanderers who, at Falls Bridge cheered and danced (yes I was hallucinating but that's okay, if I needed them to be dancing then they were, damn it!) are the best.  I don't know who handed me that yummy blue powerade, but THANK YOU!

The surprise was that on the way out of #@%$^!& Manayunk they were all STILL THERE!  Even Susan and Maureen freezing their BUTTS off and by then Chris was with them yelling, um, HURRY UP!  And then, and then, and then at the end just when I stopped feeling like I might throw up, Crownie gave me my medal! How cool is THAT!? (I'm really glad I didn't throw up on you, Crownie)

Anyway, this is the best club EVER! and because of the incredible amount of support I have to agree with Funny-Man Matt Mauren and say that it was one of the best days of my life.

Helen Cheung's account:

Having run in this area for most of my life, I always thought that doing the Philadelphia Marathon would be boring and stupid.  But now that I've done one, I actually enjoyed every step of the first 23 miles.  Philly felt remarkably different when we runners took over the streets -- the first seven miles of the race through Center City were crowded and festive, with many spectators lined up along Chestnut Street to scream things at our ears.  I was loving it, but it was hard to pace myself with so much adrenaline flowing.

Luckily, I caught up to the 3:10 pace group and decided to hang with them.  At mile 14, I was joined by my star bandit Noah, who ran with me up to Midvale and joined the Wanderers cheer club that was making a ton of noise.  The pace group gradually got away from me in Manayunk, but I ran into an old coworker and we made a pact to keep those 3:10 pacer balloons within sight.  

To quote Noah, the key to not getting bored in a race is running hard to the point of suffering.  This marathon never got boring because at around mile 23, my legs and feet just cramped up and I was in pain.  Since nothing - not stretching, eating, nor drinking - helped, I just limped along.  During this stretch, seeing Susan, Maureen, and Tammy Leigh out there gave me a huge mental boost.  

I got to the finish line in 3:10:37 (a PR) and Dennis put a medal around my neck.  It was a great day.  Thanks so much for the support of the Wanderers.  The main home course advantage for me is having y'all out there!

Polly 'n Chris' Post-Marathon Party Pics Posted »

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