Noteworthy Changes at the Philly Marathon

interesting.

Philadelphia may be the first marathon that has a half along with it to run separate days.

It is easy to run the half and the full at the same time as the courses are usually the same for the first 13 miles.

Also notable is the appointment of Jim Marino as race director. Marino is already RD of the nation's largest 10-miler, the Broad Street Run, and was named Road Race Management's RD of the Year in 2006. He's a big, affable bear of a man, as you can see here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160427_For_race_day__a_survivor_tells_his_story.html

There's been a steady drumbeat of local support for appointing an experienced RD to head up the Philly Marathon, as demonstrated in an op-ed piece here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/health/sportsmedicine/philadelphia-marathon/20151120_Is_race_going_the_distance_.html

Marino's a great pick. If superstorm Sandy blew you out of NYCM 2012 and down to Philly that year, he was right there getting the dedicated NYCM overflow corrals ready that morning. If you've ever cursed the nonsensical double dogleg over the iron-clad Falls Bridge for messing with your Garmin reception during the race, it'll be gone this fall -- per the same press release that announced Marino's appointment. Coincidence? Hardly.

The Philly Marathon was #9 among American marathons in 2014 in size (with over 10,000 finishers), but still trailed #8 Disneyworld by more than 8,000 paticipants. It's a fast marathon course that runs quite late in the fall season, with well over a third of the field BQing. It's also geographically convenient for much of the Northeast Corridor. Under focused race management, the growth potential for the dedicated full marathon in Philly is tremendous.

So come run with us sometime. (Just be sure to leave your Santa suit at home.)

. . . It's a fast marathon course that runs quite late in the fall season, with well over a third of the field BQing.

I agree with everything you said, except

(a) the BQ rate is around 13% (not unusual for a big race like this, most of the 25%+ BQ races are smaller affairs like Erie)

(b) it is mostly flat but people that are from flat parts of the country should prepare for the long uphill section near Drexel (Mile 7ish) and the steep hill between 9 and 10.

To me, the worst thing about the Philadelphia Marathon is the first two miles (especially along Arch Street) where it is incredible congested. Moving the half to Saturday should completely wipe this problem out.

Thanks for the extra tidbits, I didn't see that philly.com article until you mentioned it. Looking forward to seeing how the half course is changed as well.

Eliminating the Falls Bridge portion (which included a 180 turn and slight uphill) will make the course significantly faster... even if it's just extending the manayunk portion a bit more. Great stuff!

Carson Wentz wrote:

I agree with everything you said, except

(a) the BQ rate is around 13% (not unusual for a big race like this, most of the 25%+ BQ races are smaller affairs like Erie)

Whoops, my bad -- you are correct. I misread the caption in the Running USA annual report, and should've known it was high.

What it actually said was that Philly has one of the highest headcounts for sub-4 finishes of any marathon in the US, coming in historically with around 40% of the field finishing in under four hours. It'll be interesting to see whether that increases now that the marathon will return to having its own dedicated start.

You're also right about flagging those long uphills in the course. Trivia fact: the most recent Philly Marathon course featured nearly as much vertical climbing as the New York City Marathon:

Much of it is front-loaded in the two areas you mention, which is probably why Philly has a reputation as a flatter course than NYC -- it IS much flatter in in all-important final five miles, after the turnaround in Manayunk.

Exciting and positive changes ahead.

Not a fan of the changes to the Philly Half:

"The Half Marathon start will remain on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the race will continue down Arch Street, then head south on Front Street and return back to Center City via Chestnut Street. After returning up the Parkway, Half Marathoners will continue on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive into the beautiful but challenging hills of West Fairmount Park, before crossing the Strawberry Mansion Bridge into East Fairmount Park for a short portion of the famous Boxers’ Trail. Participants will then travel back on Kelly Drive for a flat and fast finish at Eakins Oval in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art."

They eliminated the University City portion of the course in favor of the played-out MLK/Kelly Drive combo. The new course is essentially a combination of Philly RnR and Oddyssey Half.

That's a shame, as now there's nothing that differentiates this race from every other Philly race. I'm glad I saw this before registering, as I'll probably pass now. I really hope the marathon course doesn't suffer from the same boring changes.

It will also be interesting to see how the 8k race will be held in conjunction with the half, as the 8k course is typically out-and-back over the last 2.5 miles of the new half course. And they're both being held on the same day.

They need a third change. To finish up the steps at the art museum!

Yo Filly wrote:

Trivia fact: the most recent Philly Marathon course featured nearly as much vertical climbing as the New York City Marathon:

http://mymarathonpace.com/Elevation_Charts.html

Those elevation climbing stats are horribly inaccurate. Just sayin'.

Does this change eliminate the hill going up to the zoo? A little confused- RnR Philly Half is a fast course... How does this course now differ from that?

Add me to the long list of people unhappy about the break up of the half and full race. It was unique for a big city Marathon to have the half and full runners start together and as a somewhat competitive male, it was nice to have some extra bodies to run with the first half of a full marathon. I have the opinion that those who whined about it being mentally defeating to see runners finish when you are only halfway through your own rave are weak and should have enjoyed the extra help.

Not good changes with the prize money- no drug testing or anti-doping policy! Making the stakes higher at the top means there's more likely to be dopers flocking to it.