I'm the first to admit that I'm not the best at writing race recaps. As Joan Benoit Samuelson says, "every race tells a story" and I enjoy reading and sharing other runners' stories. I wish it was easy for me to tell my story but I'll try to share what I can. After suffering from severe and sudden shin splint type pain during my run on Thursday, I was seriously worried that I wouldn't be able to run at all on Sunday. Running is my stress relief and I just began marathon training so the thought of not being able to run for weeks was overwhelming. Fortunately, I decided to take it one day at a time and forced myself to rest (no more #RWRunStreak for me) and iced, iced, baby! ;-) Two days without running felt like 2 months since my shin still hurt while I walked and I feared the worst. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I taped my leg, put on my compression socks and hoped for the best. I was pleasantly surprised that I had no shin pain at all during the race. I was truly grateful for every step and enjoyed every mile (even that final hill!). Due to the high temperature, humidity and dew point, I knew that I had to race carefully. I tried my best to maintain marathon pace throughout the race and I was able to meet my goal - finishing in 1:54:57 (average pace 8:46). Since I just began marathon training (#Train2BQ) and I'm not a fan of summer racing, this was my last race until my 11th attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon (BQ) at the Rivanna Greenbelt Marathon on Saturday, September 10.
Many thanks to all the volunteers, spectators, runners and walkers! I had an amazing time and hope to elaborate more on my recap in the coming days.
Did you run, cheer or volunteer? Write a race recap?
Share your link in comments & we'll add to our list!
@MalindaAnnHill's 5th Broad Street Run
1:18:40
70 out of 2,014 (40-44)
927 out of 18,928 women
3,992 out of 34,427 finishers
That was one wet, cold race.
Did you beat Broad Street?
Did you cheer or volunteer?
Share your story or recap in the comments and we'll add to our post!
Kim:
This was my first race since my 5ks in high school cross country (10 years ago). After high school I gained a bit of weight and worked a desk job. I took advantage of the free donuts and celebratory pizzas one too many times. Anyway, March 2015 I finally decided to change myself. I started tracking my food and joined the gym. The first day I got on the treadmill I couldn't even run a minute! I was so out of shape and winded. Once I could finally run a mile, it was a slow one (for me). A year later here I am 53 lbs down and crushing 10 miles in the rain. I am very proud of my pace/time! Next year I plan on moving up a corral. The beginning was rough trying to get around people. I felt amazing Sunday. I stressed out thinking I couldn't do it or I would be really slow but I amazed myself and currently looking for a half to sign up for!
Sara:
Alex and I ran our second tethered Broad St and beat our previous time by 2 minutes and change. Our time was 1:32:14. We've never had a rain race together and it caused a lot of anxiety for Alex the first mile. Overall though, great race with so many great spectators and volunteers in spite of the weather!
Meghan:
I had to transfer my bib this year :-( but I had a great time cheering on my husband, and everyone else I knew or just randomly yelled at! This was my first time actually seeing the elites during a race, which was cool. I started watching at Temple (I saw you! Can't miss the skirt!) and then hopped on the subway to get to mile 9 once I saw my honey. I made it with minutes to spare. All in all, spectating is fun but I can't wait to run it again!
Malinda is currently writing a recap and will post it soon. Although Malinda didn't reach her BQ goal, there is still time to help us reach her fundraising goal to support Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer. No donation is too small to fight childhood cancer!
In the meantime, did you run, cheer or volunteer at the GORE-TEX Philadelphia Marathon and Half Marathon on Sunday, November 22? If you wrote a recap, please share your link in the comments and we'll add to our list.
We are excited to support Medals4Mettle - a national non-profit organization that facilitates the gifting of earned marathon, half marathon and triathlon medals to children and adults showing mettle or courage while dealing with difficult challenges.
Donors are welcome to share the story behind their earned medal(s) and why they want to donate.
Information gathered from those donating medals helps Medals4Mettle gain a clearer sense of their support base and may help obtain corporate sponsorship dollars in the future.
To donate your medal(s), please clean your medal(s) and remove the ribbon(s).
Medal4Mettle ribbons are attached to the donated medals before they are given to the recipients.
If you live or work near Philadelphia, you can drop-off your medal(s) at any Philadelphia Runner store.
Medals4Mettle is a non-profit organization founded in 2005. Medals4Mettle facilitates the gifting of earned marathon, half marathon, and triathlon finishers’ medals from event participants to children and adults dealing with chronic, debilitating or life-threatening illness. We do this as a celebration of the human spirit, knowing that while our medal recipients may not be out on the race course with us, they are fighting in the race for their own lives. Over the past 9 years, Medals4Mettle has presented over 45,000 medals to deserving children and adults.
Medals4Mettle is a different kind of charity that does not seek to compete with other charities for valuable dollars. It is our mission to work with established charitable organizations to increase exposure and expand education by providing runners and triathletes with a simple way to gift their medals to others. It is also our hope that this will provide athletes with the opportunity to get to know their recipient or a charitable cause, and learn more about the disease or other problem that they have faced so courageously. Only a fraction of marathon runners run for a charity and Medals4Mettle believes that the simple gifting of a finisher’s medal is a subtle but effective way to introduce the concept of charitable running.
Yes. Medals4Mettle is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Donations made to your local chapter or through our website are tax-deductible. Donations of money are always needed to help offset the costs of manufacturing ribbons, distributing and awarding medals to recipients, chapter promotional materials, and ongoing shipping and administration costs of running the organization. Our chapter coordinators are all volunteers that coordinate medal collection and distribution, so your monetary donations truly go towards supporting our medal gifting program.
Where do I send my medals?
Medals4Mettle has 60 chapters in the United States as well as several chapters in other countries. To find the chapter closest to you, visit http://www.medals4mettle.org/chapters.html/If you do not have a chapter in your state, medals can be sent to our headquarters in Indianapolis, IN. Please note that many of our chapters have drop-off locations at local running stores, or may pick up medals at local race expos. Contact your local chapter coordinator if you have any questions.
How should I send the medals?
If at all possible, we ask that you remove the ribbons before mailing. Please wrap the medals in bubble-wrap or paper to help prevent damage in shipment. If you are sending a large quantity of medals, we recommend that you use USPS Priority Flat Rate boxes; this tends to be the cheapest as you pay one postage rate regardless of the weight.
We also encourage you to tell us about yourself and where the medal is from to provide us and M4M recipients some background on you and your gift.
What kinds of medals do you accept? Medals4Mettle accepts only earned marathon, half-marathon, or triathlon medals.
In the spirit of fostering philanthropy, we also accept any medals earned by children who wish to donate their medals to other children.
Can I send you my old trophies or awards from other sports?
We appreciate your donated race medals, however please do not send badges, pins, patches, stickers, plaques, ribbons or trophies as these cannot be used. Only the medals noted above are accepted.
I am a race director and I have extra medals that were never given out. Can I send you those?
We ask that only earned race medals be sent in. One of the most important parts of our program is that the medals presented were donated by athletes who earned them and wanted to pass them along to someone who they felt needed them more. Please do not send extra/unearned medals or medals from a race that was cancelled.
What happens to the medals I send you?
,Medals are presented to children and adults, either in hospital settings, group settings, or on an individual basis. The medals are presented to those who are fighting serious life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer, or who are facing lifelong debilitating illnesses. The medals are theirs to keep. We do this at no charge to the recipients, hospitals or groups we work with.
I want to help Medals4Mettle but I don't have any medals. Are there are other ways I can help?
Yes! Any of the following would help us greatly:
1. Wear our tech shirt during your races. Donate $35 or more and we'll send you our tech shirt. For more information, visit: http://www.medals4mettle.org/donate.html
2. If you are a blogger, writing a blog post about our organization helps spread the word.
4. If you are part of a running or tri club, hold a group collection for Medals4Mettle.
5. If you work for a running/cycling/athlete retail store, offer to have a medal collection box at your store.
6. Volunteer your time. You don't have to be an athlete to be involved! We have volunteers and chapter coordinators from all walks of life. You can volunteer with your local chapter, or form a chapter in your area if there isn't already one.
Many thanks to all the volunteers and spectators. While I do enjoy the many miles of "solitude" along Kelly Drive, I also appreciated the shout-outs I received along the course - even when I was being passed. ;-) I also appreciated the virtual support through my social network. I must admit that, against the advice of Mark Remy, I decided to #TweetAndRun when I realized I wasn't going to BQ or PR.
And, special thanks to @armusa for taking my photo!
Did you volunteer, cheer or run the 2013 Philadelphia Marathon, Half Marathon or Rothman 8K? Did you write a race recap or post? If so, please share your experience and/or link in the comments section and I'll add your post to my list below.
2013 Philadelphia Marathon: Race Recaps and Reports
I was very grateful for the opportunity to spectate. In case you missed it, "Standing Ovation" by Mark Remy was a powerful tribute to spectators. Mark was able to capture all of my emotions related to the Boston Marathon tragedy.
On New Year's Day last year, Melinda Ann Hill made a resolution: Become more social with her running.
She did that, and with a dash of romance mixed in, by signing up for the Philadelphia Runner's Valentine's Day Singles Fun Run, a three-miler that will take place on - yup - Feb. 14.
"It seemed like the perfect opportunity to meet other single runners," said Hill, 41, of Wynnewood.
This is the third annual Valentine's event for the Philadelphia Runner, a store with locations in Center City, University City, and Glen Mills. Ken Culbertson, marketing director and outreach coordinator, said that when he joined the company one of his jobs was to come up with events that would get people into the stores. Most of the Center City customers are young and single (and so are the store's employees, he adds), so he figured a Valentine's Day event would be a hit.
"The first year, we had 100 people because we kept it in the store," Culberson said. "A hundred people in our store was probably too many."
So they branched out. Now the run is capped at 200, which was made possible by moving locations. The run starts at the Center City store, and the post-event party is at nearby Ladder 15.
For $30, runners get a shirt and entry to the Ladder 15 event that includes light food, two drink tickets, and a DJ. The organizers also operate a bag check, holding a participant's non-running items in the store and carting them over to the bar after the run.
But don't just show up on Valentine's Day at the store. Runners must buy tickets in advance through the store's website at phillyrunner.com.
Tickets are split equally among men and women. As of press time, women's tickets were sold out, but men's spots were available. I signed up because, as my mother reminded me, "It's not like you have anything else to do." Thanks, Mom.
Adam Halperin, 34, heard about the run last year through a friend. "It seemed like a fun thing to do for Valentine's Day, much better than going to a bar," said Halperin, who lives in Philadelphia. He met a woman there last year whom he dated for a few months, so he considered it a success. They're not still together, though, so he'll be at this year's run, too.
Hill didn't meet her "sole" mate last year, but she'll be back as well, most likely donning her pink sparkle skirt for the occasion.
"I always have a good time when I can run a few miles, add a new shirt to my running T-shirt collection, and enjoy a couple of drinks in the company of my fellow 'run nerds,' " she said. "My laces are crossed I'll meet Mr. Right this year!"
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