~Philadelphia Marathon 11/23/08~

[Cindylou]

Best Wishes to all of you. Have fun and be safe.

Cindy

 

[Theta]

Jen - The shirts sounds cool. My only gripe with last year's shirt was that it was kind of small. I order a men's XL and it fit more like a L/M. I haven't gotten a decent race shirt from any Philly race so I am hoping this one will be nice.

Lou

Oh carp! I ordered a M since L's seem to be just a little big and after Disney's L's last year were HUGE. I hope they have some L's left I can trade in my M.

Sara, Cam and Howard, I am very jealous. I still need to pack tonight, but I will see you in about 16 hours.

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Thanks Cindy!

I'm leaving work, getting dinner, packing, going to bed, getting up, driving, and See you all in Philly!
(who am I kidding, I'm sure I'll be back on here later tonight!)

 

[msblrobs]

Okay, who's trash talking me while I'm outta range for the day The back's doing alright even after the successful business trip I made a couple of new friends this afternoon and now I'm lucky enough to be hanging with my gracious hosts

Lou - Hopfully this year's shirt won't be too tight . I know I've been up since 3:00 a.m. and had a LONG day so I'm real loopy but the visuals I have on you sporting the mis-sized race shirt are priceless

Cindy - Thank you - The visuals of you in the robe at the starting line have now taken the place of Lou in the man bo*b shirt

Colleen - Travel safe and we'll see you real soon

Dave - Thinking of you and hoping the drive is relatively painless

Mike - Happily awaiting the arrival of your little angels

Jodi - Safe travels to you & Bruce as well

I'm pretty optimisitc about Sunday at this point We'll see how walking all day tomorrow is on the back . Hoping the COLD will numb any residual pain

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Hey All: I'm here and checked into my room here at the Embassy Suites. Really nice room! Good choice Lou.

Sara- Good to know that business trips and treadmill moving are good for your back.

OK, I'm loopy too. See you all tomorrow.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Okay, who's trash talking me while I'm outta range for the day

I think that'd be all of us...

 

[KeenHo]

Hi everyone!

The carb-loading is over , and of course the desserts were delicious. Our guests have gone their separate ways back to their homes and hotels.

What a wonderful group of people, friends and team members. Cam and I are humbled to be among you all.

Thank you for visiting us and enjoying an evening prior to your race and/or scream team efforts.

Good Luck to those running the Philadelphia Half Marathon and the Philadelphia Marathon tomorrow!

Sleep well, see you bright and early in the morning!



Howard

 

[lourodrigis]

Hi everyone!

The carb-loading is over , and of course the desserts were delicious. Our guests have gone their separate ways back to their homes and hotels.

What a wonderful group of people, friends and team members. Cam and I are humbled to be among you all.

Thank you for visiting us and enjoying an evening prior to your race and/or scream team efforts.

Good Luck to those running the Philadelphia Half Marathon and the Philadelphia Marathon tomorrow!

Sleep well, see you bright and early in the morning!



Howard

Howard & Cam - Thanks for hosting this dinner. The food was great!!! What a nice time. You guys were great hosts.

Not much sleep expected tonight. I feel like driving to the Art Museum now...just kidding.

See everyone 6AM at the Embassy Suites!

Lou

 

[Kira G.]

Good luck everyone!

I'm not running tomorrow (it's a long story) but I'll be thinking of all of you. Bundle up!

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

Go WISH Team!

 

[mla1977]

Hi everyone! Sorry I missed you at the dinner. I did get to meet Cam when I finished my race though. My bib# was 25902. I'm not sure about the unofficial time though. Way faster than I was actually going. I had a great time though and I'm looking forward to next time!

 

[jbucci]

Hey Philia crew. Huge thanks to Cam for dinner last night, it was great

Eating a few cookies when we got home from the marathon was also good.

We had a good time but the race never "felt right" in terms of running pace and temperature. I went from being too hot to too cold ad back again lots of times. I did manage a PR by 1 minute, not quite the time I was hoping for but I'll take it. Butch had a harder time with his cold and finished about 13 min slower than his last half for which he is beating himself up at the minute.

We have both now showered and drunk our weight in broth and are finally warm, now all that is left is to convince DD5 to watch tv all day so we can lounge and relax.

Hope everyone had a good race

 

[Optimator]

Hey All,

We're back home, safe and sound. I've eaten enough pizza for the entire hoard of bots and am anxiously awaiting bedtime.

Cam and Howard - Words fail to express our most heartfelt gratitude for opening your home (and your ovens ) to us. You both are truly too kind.

All the rest of you yahoos - It was really great seeing you all again. I hope everyone has made it home and is please with how things went today.


A weekend that was over a year in the making is now done. Let the post-marathon funk begin! Oh wait. A few of us idiots get to repeat the feat in a little over a month.

 

[Theta]

Hi everyone,

I was able to get on the 4:15 flight out of PHL and I am home now, I am so happy I am home to help the kiddies into bed. Cam and Howard, thank you, thank you, thank you for EVERYTHING.

It was great to see everyone again and wonderful to meet more fabulous people!



I will write more later. I was very happy with my run, but I am sore tonight and ready for bed soon.

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

I'm still here. I was at Pep Boys for 8 hours. I hope my car will be fixed tomorrow.

 

[msblrobs]

Dave - Are you still stranded ? Please keep us updated and hopefully you're already home by now!

Colleen - Glad to hear you were able to get an earlier flight home so you could get some time with the kids . Thanks for being an awesome roommate !

Mike - Thank you for sharing your family with us this weekend You are very blessed and I'm sure you'll be counting those blessings on Thursday!

Jen - I looked for you and thought about you often so it's great to hear that you & Butch both covered the distance even if it wasn't the best of runs for you .

Lily - Thanks for lurking and I hope you & Ted are both doing great

Lou - So glad to have a face to put with the name and hopefully we didn't scare your wife & son too badly . It was great to meet you all and I hope you were very happy with your run .

Jodi - Trusting you made the train without incident and it was great seeing you again . Bruce seems to have warmed up to us I looked for him on Sunday but had no luck finding him.

Cam & Howard - Words fail me and I cannot express enough how much I appreciate your graciousness over the weekend
I realize you understand and subscribe to WISH as a second family and you both truly epitomize that sentiment .

Cindy - It was awesome meeting you & Matt as well . Can't wait for your race report .

Chester - Hoping you and Tracy are enjoying the warm weather in FL today . Enjoyed seeing you both again

I made it back home safely around 4:00 and had time to love on the DD's . I had a great run, depsite the long port-o-potty lines at mile 9 and the cold symptoms resulting in asthma issues . I think y'all know me well enough by now to understand the race really isn't the reason for my joining the party, it's merely the price of admission for the pleasure of hanging with some of the finest people I've been blessed enough to meet I apologize for bailing on the post-run festivities but I was really struggling with the breathing and the congestion so I felt it best to head on home. I trust SOMEONE at least had a drink for me . I'm feeling terrible today, all cold related, but I've gotta drag myself into the office real soon . Thank God it's a short work week

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Dave - Are you still stranded ? Please keep us updated and hopefully you're already home by now!

Yup, I'm still stranded, and I'm back at the Embassy Suites. I just bumped into Cindy and Matt in the hotel lobby. Pep Boys opens at 9am and they think they have another 2 hours of work to do on the car. So I'm hoping I can get out between 11a-12p. I need to call in to work and tell them I can't make it. Which kind of stinks because I had scheduled a big event for today. Aaargh... I'm going to save all my thank yous for when I get back. I'll keep you all posted.

 

[jbucci]

Dave: Sorry to hear you are stranded, hopefully the car will be fine today and you can have some nice, clear weather for the drive home.

Sara: Thanks for looking for me. I tried to find you and Dave but didn't have any luck at the start (of course, I wouldn't have talked to you during the race ).

We were sorry to miss the post race hanging out but we needed to get back home so our sitters could get out by noon. Butch was also feeling pretty lousy and needed to get back into the warmth.

So which Philly bots are going to be in Disney in Jan?

 

[lourodrigis]

Cam - Alright, if they ever have a WISH Hall of Fame you get my nomination for this weekend alone. The food Saturday night was awesome! I give you a lot credit for hanging outside in sub-freezing temps all day to cheer us on. And then, you saved the day by breaking out the desserts from Saturday night at the Embassy after the race! Thanks so much for everything you did this weekend to make the Philly Marathon even better.

Howard - I'm glad we had a chance to hang out this weekend. You and Cam have a great house and were great hosts. I'm glad you were able to tough out Philly and finish despite the feet issues. That was a tough race yesterday.

Sara - I'm glad I got a chance to meet you as well. It was great having lunch with you Howard, and Colleen at the Terminal. Sorry you had to bust out so soon but you probably had your fill of Philly and DD's needed you more. Great job toughing out the 1/2. Yesterday was a tough day to run, especially if you were dealing with congestion.

Jodi - So glad I finally got to meet you. We even got to hang out at the porto-potties together! I was hoping to catch you at the finish but, true to form, you slipped right through the finish tent and got out of Philly before we could catch you. You put up a very nice time! I thought I could feel you breathing down my neck during those last few miles.

Chester - I'm glad I got to meet you and your wife. I give you guys credit for making the trip up north to Philly during November. You definitely had the biggest disadvantage with the weather we had yesterday. Glad you were able to tough it out. Next time come up for the PDR in September...the weather is much better and there are more touristy things to do.

Dave - That stinks about your car. I should have given you and everyone my cell number on Saturday night in case on something like that happened. Glad you spotted me on Delaware Ave. Sorry I didn't hang out too long. I am not much of a running partner, especially during a race. All I kept thinking about early on was running fast, knowing that I would need the minutes when I tank at the end. Anyway, I'm glad we met and look forward to seeing you at future events.

Mike - Glad I had a chance to meet you and your family. Dude, that was an awesome run you had yesterday. You didn't even look that tired when I saw you at the end. I think you set the WISH marathon bar pretty high for everyone. Hope you guys had an easy drive home yesterday.

Colleen - So glad I finally got to meet you! Glad we were able to catch up on Saturday. Sorry we couldn't find a place to hang out after the race. Ironically, once everyone left the restaurant the hostess sat Cindy, Matt, and me immediately. However, I'm glad you were able to get on the early flight to get home to your family. Next time your in Philly we'll catch a Flyers game!

Cindy and Matt - I'm glad we were able to hang out and grab some beers after the race. Those beers took a lot of the pain off my knees...temporarily. Good luck to both of you with the Goofy. I'm sure I will catch up with you guys again once the Spring races kick back in. My parents and sister live south of Baltimore so I plan to run some races in that area in 2009.

Jen - I'm glad you and Butch had good races yesterday. That was a whole lot different then running in DL in August. I'm sure I will cross paths with you guys a lot during the 2009 Philly races. Who knows, we may even pass each other in the malls this season?

I'll do a real race report later today. Quick summary...I finished in 4:07:17 (chip time). It's a PR so I am not going to complain. I wanted to run a sub-4 but I really didn't put in the training miles for that. I felt REAL good up until mile 21 and then got very light headed and had to stop (dehydrated). Shortly after that I got a major cramp in my right quad and that was it for me. Around Mile 23 I went back to jogging and started to feel a lot better. All things considered I feel much better today than I expected...despite the fact that I am walking around the house like Fred Sanford.

Lou

 

[aladdinsgirl]

Congrats everyone! I hope everyone is nice and warm today and not too sore. Just keep telling yourselves it's a short week. I can't wait to hear all the race reports, I know you all did fabulous.

Lou--Awesome time!!!!!

Dave--I hope you make it home soon!