Race Report: Philadelphia (Dietz & Watson) Half Marathon
November 19, 2022
A Goal: sub-2 hours
B Goal: PR (previous PR 2:05:08)
C Goal: nothing; really it was sub-2 or bust
(Skippable) Background: Was running with a friend who was going to pace me to a sub 2-hr half. He doesn't live here, he hadn't been registered for the race, but when I asked him (impulsively) if he would pace me ~someday~ he agreed and a few days later asked when my next race was. I had been thinking this was more of a future thing: my current PR was 2:05:08 and that had been a huge leap from my previous PR of about 2:15, but he is a Man of Action and said No Time like the Present so we were set for this November. I asked Billy for a somewhat aggressive training plan to get me ready -- as I said this friend was traveling here
just for me and I didn't want to disappoint him. The pressure was on me today, at least in my mind. Training went fine, I hit all my paces in my workouts, but really had no idea how this was going to happen.
Freezing cold this morning. Forecast was high 20's and it felt cold. For all of you interested in how people dress for races in cold weather, I wore bike shorts and a very thin long sleeve layer with a short sleeve shirt over it. I did have throwaway sweats however. We left my apartment about 6AM for a 7AM start. It's a little less than a mile from my place to the start area, and we walk/jogged that but there was a wall of people waiting to get through security. It took us a while to get through the line but one good thing was that there were a lot of porta potties outside the secure area so we were able to take care of that with a short wait before getting on line. The hold up seemed to be that they were looking in every gear check bag and then putting a wristband on the bag to indicate it was checked. That took a lot of time and surely slowed the line way down. Don't know if they will choose to do that tomorrow for the full. Still we had time to check our gear check bags and get in the corrals no problem.
They started the wheelchair athletes on time, I'm pretty sure, but there were staggered corral starts after that. No idea why they took so long in between each corral but when it's freezing it's not ideal. Anyway everybody was in good spirits. The announcers mentioned our National League Champion Phillies and our (almost) undefeated Eagles and the crowd was in good spirits. Eventually we were set off and it was now or never for my sub 2 hours.
I am a "warmer upper" and it takes me a few miles to get comfortable at race pace. I told my friend but he really wasn't having any of that. I had told him that my problems achieving PRs is mostly mental, I just decide I can't do something before the race starts, or I just quit on a pace when it gets hard, and I miss my goals. So he was determined to just get me on a steady pace and stay there. I decided my strategy should be just to follow him and not look at my watch AT ALL. The first 7 miles are pretty flat and scenic (City Hall, Constitution Center, Independence Hall, South Street) and I was feeling good although the pace felt
very aggressive compared to my normal half pace. I had no idea how I would hold this for the whole race.
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Photo: Me & friend looking happy before the hills
The wheels started coming off mentally and a bit physically at the first hill at mile 8-9. The hard (for me) pace had taken its toll and I got very fatigued on the hill (it's my weakness) I complained a little to my friend (he was prepared for this, I told him to ignore me if I complained) and he gently encouraged me to get in a rhythm with my breathing again when the hill was over. I continued to complain quietly, knowing there was
another hill coming up within a mile. The pace still felt so fast but I didn't look at my watch. That next hill really killed me. I pretty much actually whined at my friend and said I needed to walk a little on the next hill (this turned out to be my slowest mile by over a minute, maybe a minute and a half). I could tell my friend was getting a little worried about our goal at that point. The race has a little loop in Fairmount Park here, and at the end of the loop you can see people coming into the loop (where you already were) at a higher elevation. I was so mentally shot that I believed that the people I was looking at were a
future part of the race instead of the past, and my heart sank. How can I climb another hill to get where they are? It was such a relief to realize that, no, we were actually heading into a downhill and then a very flat Kelly Drive finish near the river.
That last 1.5 miles were so hard. It was the most I had ever given in a half marathon by far. I decided to look at my watch: We were definitely going to make it! I was totally gassed and slowed tremendously and really wanted to walk but now I know what it feels like to really give it all you got in the race. I had nothing left when we crossed that line. Fun fact for folks running the full tomorrow: about 200 yards before the finish there is a street sign (that is just there all the time, not for the race) that says WRONG WAY. It does not apply to you. I was in such a mental blur that for a half second I almost stopped and turned around because I must be going in the wrong direction.
Official finish time: 1:57:41. I still can't believe it! And as a bonus, it turned out that my friend had taken me out a bit too fast because my Garmin also gave me an unofficial PR in the 5k, 10k, and half marathon all today! I am so thankful to him for coming out here and doing this for me. And putting up with my whining mid-race. I'm very sore already but it's totally worth it. And anybody who is on the fence about running this weekend, it's a truly great course and a great race.
Edited to add that I thanked Billy in a DM, but once again, I've progressed so much with his plans I just want to publicly thank him too
