Philadelphia Marathon weather perfect this year

Ran Philly today. It was great weather! Was about 35 deg at the 7:00 start and peaked in low 40s. Very light winds.

Course record was broken for both Male and Female winners. I even PRd today despite a half asxed training cycle.

Philadelphia should be up there with Chicago and NYC in terms of number of entrants.

Possibly one day it will be.

Looked at the results and saw a local female elite got an OTQ. Great result for her.

Though I didn’t see it myself, I heard there was an unregistered runner pacing the lead woman in the final miles. True? Legal? Ethical?

from Boston to Denver and every town in-between wrote:

40s and dry with a clear sky.

never have run Philly but want to in the future.

too close to NYC on the schedule though.

It’s a miracle!

Barry (not registered) wrote:

from Boston to Denver and every town in-between wrote:

40s and dry with a clear sky.

never have run Philly but want to in the future.

too close to NYC on the schedule though.

It’s a miracle!

for real, that race has had some miserably cold and windy years

Kvothe wrote:

Barry (not registered) wrote:

It’s a miracle!

for real, that race has had some miserably cold and windy years

There’s gonna be dancin’ in the streets

great song. This is true.

Beauty and the Beast wrote:

Philadelphia should be up there with Chicago and NYC in terms of number of entrants.

Possibly one day it will be.

I don't understand why it's not. I'm not sure what the Marathon's max registration is, assuming they have one. I get that the Broad Street Run is in a completely different season but with the numbers it draws I would think that the Philly 1/2 and full could get close to that.

The Love Run 1/2 is usually about a month before the Broad Street Run but is capped at 10K entrants for some reason. It always sells out. They could get a lot more if they wanted.

Don't think numbers will ever be up there with those top tier marathons. Philly doesn't have the money, prestige, elite field as NYC and Chicago. But is is a very good second tier marathon.

I think numbers have grown since they split out the half to Saturday. I ran it a few years ago when the full and half started together and it seemed there were much more half runners. Haven't looked up numbers, bit it seemed there were more marathoners this time with it being run on it's own on Sunday.

When she ran past me going the other way towards the finish, there was a guy in a windbreaker jacket running beside her and holding a bottle. Looked like a coach or something. Didn't look like he had run the marathon up until that point.

The 3rd place male (not sure how he finished, but he was in 3rd place near the finish) stopped and was walking at mile 26. Guy looked link he was about to fall over. Not sure how he finished.

The guy who was leading almost the whole race went through 30k at 2:07:xx pace! ...and then blew up.

I passed the women’s winner near the finish and didn’t see anyone pacing or assisting. Didn’t see any coaches or folks running along with her after the turnaround either.

Beauty and the Beast wrote:

Philadelphia should be up there with Chicago and NYC in terms of number of entrants.

Possibly one day it will be.

It'd be a shame if that happened. This was my first time doing Philly, but it seemed like the perfect number of people that they could accommodate. The shuttles from the hotels were extremely convenient, porty-potty lines were reasonable, and they had heated tents. They even had a 2:45 pacer. This was my first race in a while where I didn't have to do any weaving to get around people at the start, but there were also plenty of people in the final miles that you weren't running all alone. I think making this the size of NYC or Chicago would completely ruin it.

My wife said she saw the guy jump in and start pacing.

slo-twitch wrote:

The guy who was leading almost the whole race went through 30k at 2:07:xx pace! ...and then blew up.

I passed the women’s winner near the finish and didn’t see anyone pacing or assisting. Didn’t see any coaches or folks running along with her after the turnaround either.

Wow! I actaully spoke to him in the elevator at my hotel after the race coming down in the elevator to check out, but didn't know who it was. My wife asked him how he did like he was just another runner, but I could tell he was one in the elite field. When he said he was on pace for "oh seven" then crashed at the end, I thought I misheard him since no one runs that fast at Philly. Man! He would've taken 7 or 8 minutes off the course record if he'd been able to hold on to the end.

When I was running up Kelly Dr I did see the leader way way out in front. Didn't see 2nd and 3rd for a while after. Wow! Too bad he had to stop.

JO Coach wrote:

Beauty and the Beast wrote:

Philadelphia should be up there with Chicago and NYC in terms of number of entrants.

Possibly one day it will be.

I don't understand why it's not. I'm not sure what the Marathon's max registration is, assuming they have one. I get that the Broad Street Run is in a completely different season but with the numbers it draws I would think that the Philly 1/2 and full could get close to that.

The Love Run 1/2 is usually about a month before the Broad Street Run but is capped at 10K entrants for some reason. It always sells out. They could get a lot more if they wanted.

The old Philly Distance Classic in September used to be a big one. The top half-marathon times for the year used to come there. It became and Rock N Roll event and naturally was ruined.

slo-twitch wrote:

The guy who was leading almost the whole race went through 30k at 2:07:xx pace! ...and then blew up.

I passed the women’s winner near the finish and didn’t see anyone pacing or assisting. Didn’t see any coaches or folks running along with her after the turnaround either.

I ran Philly for the first time in years yesterday, and it really was a perfect weather day. I went out pretty conservatively but was able to really push the second half for a 3:04 with a huge negative split, PR, and BQ. Thrilled with the day.

As for the leader, I felt terribly. As we were at about mile 17-18, he was coming back at 22-23. We remarked that he was on course record pace and then he immediately started walking. Didn't seem like a good day from there on out.

I would agree. It should get no bigger, it is the perfect size. I didn’t wait long for shuttles, ports potties, or bag drop. Corrals are reasonable. Well organized, great course. But still a big marathon/big city feel.

The large marathon experiences (well, Boston is the only biggie I’ve done) kind of suck if you ask me. Waiting for shuttles, port a potties, herded with a mass of humanity just pain sucks if you ask me.

vivalarepublica wrote:

Looked at the results and saw a local female elite got an OTQ. Great result for her.

Just a correction: FOUR local runners with Philadelphia Runner Track Club (3 females, one male) qualified for the trials :)

J