When I didn’t get into the NY Half this year, I was trying to figure out a different option. A friend suggested I check out the Love Run Philadelphia — good course and nice swag which includes a mug and a nice medal. I was in! Sounded like a prefect new option for half marathon #5.
A month and a half before the race I went ahead and reserved a spot for the day of. I picked something close I picked something close enough to not have to walk too far to the starting line but not close enough to be impacted by road closures — an important trait. Thankfully a friend had some recommendations to help as I chose one, so took away one day of stress.
I got up before 4am to ensure I had enough time to gather up my things to get there with plenty of time to spare. The downside of the 7:30am early start time was needing to leave early enough to allow for the travel time. I naturally picked out all my clothes and fuel the day before.
I was also prepared with some throwaway layers for the start. Those proved quite helpful, as it was chilly at the starting line. I did learn though that I probably should have washed the sweatpants as they left black fuzz all over my highlighter yellow leggings. Ooooops.
The Course
There was a bit of doubling back during the course. It starts and ends at the Philadelphia Art Museum. The start zig zags a bit through downtown Philadelphia before making its way up the edge of town, up and past the Philadelphia Zoo before turning around to head back towards the Art Museum and the famous “Rocky Steps.”
Mile 1
Oh no. Where is my fuel?! I had two kinds of fuel and realize right at the start that it is nowhere to be found. Faaaaaabulous.
Mile 3
These first several miles were fun to get to see the downtown area but were shady and so cold. I was very thankful for all of my layers during this time as I would have been so cold otherwise. I did decide though that next time I would skip the vest.
I also noticed I’d been under 11:30 per mile all the early miles, which is really good for me. I was worried about going too fast and ending up the half hurting like I was in the 2023 NYC Half. I intentionally kept pulling back a bit, afraid to realize I’d overdone it and it be too late.
Mile 5
I was sort of hungry. This was the one water station with fuel out of the entire race. Should I gamble with fuel I haven’t used during the race itself? Such a no no, but I caved and tried it. Thankfully it all worked out. The strawberry banana from Gu tasted like a creamy smoothie and is a new fuel I’ve decided I need to have in my rotation going forward!
Mile 11
I started to get a little tired around this point and was looking for anything to distract me. It was at this point I noticed the runner who was running carrying two boxes of pizza. Why was he doing it? I would pass him as he would stop to eat a slice and then he would pass me. What was going on?!
Mile 12
This was the point the course stopped showing mile markers. Why?! It meant I spent the last stretch of the race trying to figure out how far off my watch was and where the finish line was!
Takeaways
Overall I loved this race. Great set up, energy and well-organized. And the swag gets an overall A+ — both the complimentary and the super fun red, white and blue BoCo hat I splurged on.
After a pitstop on the way home at Shake Shack for a celebratory burger, I made my way back home. It was such an easy race experience overall. Definitely recommend this one — and of course I came home and started planning my next race!
Leave a Reply