This was the first marathon I ran with my girlfriend (since she waived her NYC Marathon entrance after paying $140 to run with me). We used our usual training schedule from previous marathons and stuck to it fairly well. She ran track in high school and college and her first marathon in sub four hours so we were relatively the same speed. Neither of us had plans to run super fast so we both figured training together would work out well. Our training schedule called for us to run 5 days a week with Sundays and Thursdays off. Originally I was worried that reducing my training 1 day a week would affect my time but it actually worked out nicely. We ran together once or twice a week because of different work schedules but always did our long runs together on the weekend. When we ran together we were never very competitive but if I ran in the morning and told her my pace she always made sure to match it on her run in the afternoon. I think this was part of the reasoning it was my fastest marathon. I never thought much of my training pace until the week before the race I ran into my friend in CP who was training for Philly. He was trying to qualify for Boston so our pace was around 7:20 for 5 miles or so. I never even thought about making it to Boston until afterward when he told my sister that he thought I was capable of doing it. Apparently he didn't notice my labored breathing during the run. Still it got me thinking. I knew I wouldn't be able to run a 3:10 for Philadelphia but his encouragement made me want run faster than originally planned. I set out to run a 3:40 and help my girlfriend qualify, only I didn't really mention this idea to her.
Race day started off like any race in the Northeast in mid November, cold. To make matters worse rain was in the forecast, and if you haven't run in the rain let me tell you that it's not a pleasant experience. The start of the race was chilly but dry and we brough a large cheering squad. We began around an 8 min pace, faster than we trained for long runs. Immediately my girlfriend got worried, I assured her we'd be fine at that pace even though our running styles are completely different (she likes to start slow and get faster, I like to start fast and keep that pace). The first half of the race was fast despite the rolling hills and we ran it in 1:50 or about 8:20/mile. This part of the course took us through downtown Philly then over the river and through a more rural area near some local colleges. All in all it was nice section. After that the things got worse. The temperature slowly dropped and it began to drizzle. The second half of the race took us out of the city. Six miles out, turn around at a cone, and 6 miles back. The stretch of road had a large rock face on one side and a river on the other making for a poor viewing area and very desolate of spectators. At mile 16 (and mile 22 after turning around) a group of college kids were handing out beer. I felt good at the time and thought how great it'd be to grab one on the way back. Around mile 17 my girlfriend needed to go to the bathroom. For the first time during a long run or marathon I didn't need to make a pit stop. I asked if it was OK that I left her and keep running and she agreed (I still feel bad about doing that but my legs felt good and I didn't need to go). Within 3 miles of ditching her I hit the wall. There was going to be no beer for me. It was shortly after the turnaround when it hit me and I started to realize why, I just ran the last few miles at a slight decline which meant I had to run back up. I can't remember if I walked during the race but I imagine I did, like any marathon it was painful. It's tough running with no spectators and even worse, no running partner. I muscled through the wall keeping a close eye on my watch with the hopes of a decent time.
Watching the clock and cheers from the crowd while running back into the city helped me finish. I made the woman's qualifying cutoff time for the Boston Marathon in 3:39. While it's not a huge feat for many, I cut my previous best time by over 13 minutes and I was happy. Afterward I met up with my friend who claimed Philly was a fast race and he told me the course changed from the previous year, of course this was after Runner's World published an article on how fast the course was. He didn't qualify for Boston that year and retracted all the statements he made about the Philly Marathon. Maybe it was the altered route or the cold rain, but I didn't meet anyone who ran well that day. It makes me wonder, how did I run my PR there?
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