OFFICIAL - What Did You Think of the Philadelphia Marathon??

doesn't "poppycock" pretty much mean the same thing as "balderdash" or hogwash??

word, as much sense as u made, all your credibility was lost with that

Yuot is a beast of a man. 6th place after winning the DIII National Championship in thick mud the day before? Ridiculous.

Steve S wrote:

doesn't "poppycock" pretty much mean the same thing as "balderdash" or hogwash??

Some of the 13-year-olds on this board are uncomfortable with the syllable "cock."

A bunch of thoughts about the 2006 Philadelphia Marathon and the race I ran:

12,000 runners in 3 races. Probably another 4000–6000 spectators milling

around the start-finish area. They claimed there would be 100

port-a-potties at the start, but I'm not sure they had that many, and

some of the ones they had—about 10?—were reserved for VIPs. Along the

course: two port-a-potties every 2–3 miles. I guess the city doesn't

care if people relieve themselves all over the place.

I think they should bill this as "America's Least Friendly Marathon."

The spectators and volunteers were fine, but the runners were

antisocial. About half of the people were wearing iPods. For the first

half of the run—when the half was going on—there were people to talk to,

but for the second half it was all iPods and people not interested in

talking.

I don't mind people who are faster than me, but the guy who was beating

me halfway through while juggling 6 balls made me feel like a jackass. I

passed him, though, and don't think he passed me back.

Last year I ran 4:13 at Ashland, WI. This year I ran 5:05 (no walking)

on what I thought was better training. I had a 4-hour (22-mile) run

under my belt 3 weeks out, and I think I did more speedwork. The big

question is whether missing a week of running two weeks out because of

the flu (ran a 12-miler 2 weeks out, missed a few days with travel, then

got the flu really bad and got better in time to run a 6-miler one week

out) is enough to explain a drop like that. The day of the race I felt

like I had no speed, and I was tired before the halfway mark. My splits

say that I definitely did not go out too fast.

The course was advertised as "fast and flat," with a max elevation of

100 feet. It might be because I was having a bad day, but it seemed like

we did those 100 feet over and over (and it's relatively hilly where I

train).

I didn't ike the course. The beginning was okay, but around mile 12 we

hit the Schuykill river. We stayed with it until we crossed it, ran by

the finish (I got to see the woman's champion finish as I ran by there)

and then went for 12-mile out and back, mostly along the other side of

the river. Finishing with an out and back just isn't interesting at all

(not a concern for the lead runners, but for the recreational people I

think it's an issue).

The traffic was ridiculous. The city doesn't have reliable signs to

direct you to the interstate, and even if they did the road closures

would have made them impossible to follow. They needed to have some

indication of how to get out of town once you finished.

Race shirts weren't bad: a two-sided technical T-shirt, no ads, with a

logo on the front and the race course map on the back.

I agree about Barthlow he is an asshole, and doesnt give a flying f*** about american athletes thinks the kenyans and international athletes are the only starts thus the only people he pays attention to. I think US Marathoning should have never took the guy on as a coordinator because easily put he sucks!

My experience with Larry Barthlow was horrible as well. He was condescending, arrogant and completely unsuited for his position. I am amazed this man would be put in charge of anything.

I thought my experience might have been an isolated incident but I can see it wasn't.

This thread should be forwarded to the marketing department of all of the marathons sponsors.

Mike Franko