Sport Today

Sorry for the repost to those of you who have already seen this. My
server has been having propagation problems in the last couple of days.
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Ok, as promised, here's my race report for this morning's Philadelphia
Distance Run -- thanks to the encouragement of all you rec.runners and to
the volunteers and to the *excellent* crowd support, I made it through my
first half-marathon kinda smiling. Not quite as fast as I'd have liked
(more on that later), but all in all I feel good about the race and how I
did.

It sure was a humid one out there this morning, with record-setting heat
to boot. Knew it was going to be tough when I got up at 6:15 and already
it was 70+ degrees with 85% humidity. Ate a bagel, checked my email, got
ready. Drank a lot of water. A LOT of water. My boyfriend, who is not a
runner but who is infinitely supportive, got up and left with me at 7:30,
carrying a bag full of extra water, dry stuff, post-race fruit and major
triscuit carbage.

We get to City Hall around 7:45 (8:30 start) and there are already a lot
of people milling around and warming up and drinking more water. The guy
is telling us over the loudspeaker that this is the hottest and most
recent PDR in recent memory and to be really careful about heat stress
and dehydration. They said in the pre-race material they sent me that
water stops were roughly every two miles. Uh oh, bad news on a day like
today. I'm glad I decided to carry some of my own water with me for
between official water stops, and I'm astounded how few people around me
seem to be planning the same.

Pre-race spiel from Ed Rendell, the mayor of Philadelphia, and before I
know it we're off. I've lined up middle-to-back-of-the-pack, which is
roughly where I expect to finish. Weirdly, they don't seem to have pace
markers for anything slower than 7 min/mi and I'm wondering what
elaborate psych-out drill is going on, but I take my best guess.

Mile 1: SLOOOOOW. With 7,700 other runners, I don't even cross the start
line until a little over 2 minutes into official race time. I remember the
advice of rec.running gurus and find a pace which is comfortable and
then back off. Lots of people are passing me but I don't really mind. I
know how far we have to go and how hot it is (and how far it is to a real
water stop) and I'm taking it at my own pace. Pass the time clock at the
mile 1 marker and it's about what I figured -- about 12:00. I figured I
was running about 9:30/10 min/mi and subtracting the time from the start
that's about what it is. Lots of people lining the sidewalks -- we're
running in the city till about mile 3 -- cheering us on. One very strange
looking guy with a big sombrero and a nametag reading TACO BILL shouting
at us, "Get your tacos and tequila over here!" Damn it, I have to go to
the bathroom, even though I went like ten minutes before the start and
thirty minutes before that. Taking all this stuff about hydration
seriously.

Mile 2: I more or less keep pace. Start to pass a couple of people here
and there who clearly started out too fast. Again, good crowd support. We
loop back close to the starting line just after mile 2 and we hear over
the loudspeaker that three Kenyans are leading the pack (well ahead of
me, needless to say!). Mile two marker shows that I'm cruising at pretty
even speed.

Miles 3-4: Water in here somewhere. I pass a few more people and notice that
very few people are passing me anymore. A group of great little kids
shouting organized cheers at us like, "Run, run, GO GO GO" with some
other no doubt more eloquent words that I miss as I pass by. We head to
the art museum and the river drives which is where most of the mileage
is. Markers indicate that I'm now running about 9:30 min/mi. Just past
the mile 4 marker I am passing still more people even though I've not
sped up much at all. I'm not breathing heavily in the least -- this is
definitely Sunday morning leisure pace for me but I'm leery of potential
heat exhaustion. Starting to be glad I brought water and that I consumed so
much yesterday and this morning as people around me are already beginning
to falter.

Miles 5-8: I'm passing people in droves now even though I'm still not
breathing hard and I'm only conscious of speeding up around mile 7. The
group of people who have been running in my vicinity are huffing and
puffing and I'm remembering Miles's mantras: I am STRONG. And the really
great thing is that I really AM strong -- even with the heat, I don't
feel too bad. Not much crowd support in these miles but I've always found
West River Drive very beautiful and so I hardly miss it.

Miles 9-10: I'm flying now. Definite increase in speed here -- maybe I
put on the burst too soon actually, but I can't hold back any more. Nice
drummer and bagpipist along mile 9, and more crowd support again too. I
begin to notice that I am running with a whole different group of people
-- no one I started with for the first half of the race is anywhere in
sight. And I'm STILL passing people, and not being passed back. I see
more DNFs than before as the heat really hits people. I completely miss
the mile 9 marker and I'm running along, trying to reconcile the fact that
I FEEL so fast but I haven't even hit the marker yet... then I see mile
10 and realize that I did the two of them about 7:30 min apiece...

... and then, just after the mile 10 marker and water stop, it happens.
This guy is doubled over, one step away from passing out, at the side of
the road. I am appalled by how many people just run by, even commenting
to each other about it. Some of them had water. All of them went by. This
guy I'm running with now and I step to the side to see if the man on the
ground is ok and I give him the rest of my water. Fortunately the
paramedics come within 2-3 minutes and the other guy and I continue
running. But this was by far the most disappointing moment of the race
for me, watching people coast by him, even *kidding* each other about it.
I ease back into my pace but for the rest of the race I can't manage to
recover the adrenaline kick which was fueling me in 9-10.

Miles 11-12: I'm feeling the lack of water even though I'm still pretty
well-hydrated. Miles 8-10 were in the shade and now we've got to head
back into that awful sun again. I feel myself slowing and I'm not passing
people anymore (but, with all the people walking and just sort of
shuffling along, neither am I being passed, so it's not just me). Some
angel of mercy has a sprinkler for us to run through somewhere during
mile 12. More and more people, whose encouragement is WONDERFUL. Ouch, my
foot hurts. Somewhere during mile 11 I start feeling this pain on the
outside of my right foot -- I stop to retie my shoe a few times, trying
to get it just right, but as I continue this hurts like hell. And to
think I was worried about my perennially problematic knees. I keep going
-- I'm so close to the finish -- but mile 12 HURTS. And it kills me,
because it wasn't my wind, it wasn't even dehydration. I'm STILL not even
really breathing deeply. I pass those cheering kids again which gives me
a lift.

Mile 13-13.1: From out of nowhere I find a burst of speed and ignore
whatever is going on with my foot. Thanks the the woman who singled me
out by number to cheer me on about 1/2 mile from the finish -- it really
helped! After an abyssmally slow miles 11-12 (22 min total -- but that
counts the few minutes stop with the guy by the side of the road), I
managed to turn in an 8:10 min mile 13 (plus 0.1). There's David, my
boyfriend, cheering me from the sidelines. I cross the finish line in a
little over 2 hours -- I know I could have done faster on a less
miserable day weather-wise and had I not stopped for that guy, but I'm
basically pleased with my performance under the circumstances and
considering that it's my first race.

My foot feels a better now, incidentally, though it's still a bit sore.
Don't know quite what happened -- maybe muscle cramping? I should be
finding out my official time/place soon, maybe tonight if they post it on
the website as promised. All in all, great job by the organizers and the
volunteers and most especially by the crowds cheering us on. Thanks to
all of you guys too, for all the encouragement throughout. Next spring,
26.2!!

Kieran

Whoo Hooo! Way to go, girl!

Good on you to stop and help the guy in trouble. It takes a special person to
sacrifice a little of their own race to help another runner.

It sounds like you had a good plan - tho you probably picked the pace up just a
little too soon, which is why you struggled in a bit. But under better
conditions it might have worked out O.K.  You won't know until next time.

Mike "Proud of you" Tennent
"TriBop"
'98 Ironman Canada, 16:17:03

Thought I'd add my own comments on the Philadelphia Soup Swim -- err,
Distance Run.  :-)

I was one of those people who didn't bring water with me.  I generally get
along okay on the kind of water stop schedule this race provided, but this
was the hottest and most humid race I've ever run in, so I got a rude
shock on Sunday.  I'l definitely have a water bottle in my next summer
race.

<grumble>  I really think they should've spread things out more.  They
*definitely* should not have had the lines of runners branch around the
sides of City Hall -- the crunch where the two lines met on Market St. was
ridiculous!

My times were about the same as yours, and I had the same, er, problem.
They really need tore-think the first couple of miles of the race.  Seeing
some of the city is fine, but all those corners were getting frustrating.

Those kids on Logan Circle were chanting "Keep on running, ten more to
go!"  A few people near me commented on this -- we couldn't figure out if
this was an cheer or a tease!

You probably blew past me here.  I had made the mistake of wearing a
T-shirt even though I'm not a good hot-weather runner.  I took the time to
tie my shirt around my waist (and run off into the bushes!) and started
picking up the pace about 2 miles up W. River Drive.

It was hard to keep from pushing it too hard when I hit the Falls Bridge
(dead center of it was the 8 mile mark). Between the fact that it's the
peak of the only significant hill in the race, finally hitting some shade
after the *very* sunny W. River Drive, the drummer and bagpiper providing
the only distraction in miles, and the sheer relief of getting my wind
back, I probably ran my fastest couple of miles around here.

Had an ugly sight on Kelly Drive myself.  Saw two people pulling a woman
who had fainted off to the side of the road.  There's an ambulance up
ahead, and every runner for about a minute is yelling at them "There's a
runner down back there!"  But the paramedic just walks slowly along the
sidewalk, in no hurry at all to get over there.  Wanted to run back there
and kick him up into second gear.  But all I'd do is add to the gaper
block and get in the way of people who knew what they were doing...

I was ready to stop and kneel to the man with the sprinkler; he got a few
of us going again just when we needed it.  That's what I really missed on
this run -- most of my previous road races had been in heavily residential
areas where you got sprinklers and hoses every mile or so.  I don't
necessarily need to *drink* a lot of water, but on a run like that one I
need to cool off somehow!

The last long stretch of direct sunshine along Kelly Drive and the Parkway
took a whole lot out of me, and I finished pretty slowly, with a time of
2:06:57.  Mighty frustrating and humbling.  This was my first race in
years, but the previous half-marathon I did in 1987, I'd done in 1:24:09!
Of course, that was the Red Baron Half-Marathon in Corning, NY, which is
run in mid-November, and has a long, gradual downhill starting at the 5
mile mark.

The *inside* of my feet hurt, but I know the reason why -- I titaled my
shoes.  I hadn't looked carefully enough at the soles in the past couple
weeks, and my treads were worn almost completely away around the heel.
Bought a new pair of Sauconys yesterday to start training for the
Philadelphia Marathon in November.

BTW, the scores were up on the  website at about 8 or so Sunday night.

--
Brian Gerstel
IS Specialist
Univ. of PA - IRHE