I’m sure the Philly marathoners are happy as hell the race wasn’t today. It’s 30 degrees but the windchill is 19 and man, it’s a little breezy out there. But I just had a great run in it! 9 miles w/10 strides. If we go by windchill, it was my coldest run ever (by 1 degree, lol) but I got the gear, so I was comfy!
Technical running clothes are the bomb is all I have to say. If I was out in normal clothing, I’d have been wearing a down coat, sweater, turtleneck, thick scarf, hat and gloves and probably still have been chilly. Today I ran in my thicker tights, UA mock turtleneck and my Asics Storm Shelter Jacket, hat and gloves. That was it! Two thin layers between me and the elements and it was just right!
While I was out there, I had a “runners are crazy” sighting, not from the few runners in shorts (they’re just mildly crazy) but from the one guy with no shirt on! He must have been about 50, carrying his shirt in his hand, sweating profusely…I thought he was going to have a heart attack. That’s crazy.
I’m about to jump in the shower then head on down to Reading Terminal for a lunch date with 3 of my BQ forum babes who are in town for the marathon. I can’t wait! We’ve all really gotten to know each other over the months, so to get to meet up with them will be a trip. So cool how running and forums can get you tons of new friends from all over the place.
Tomorrow, I’ll be meeting a few more before the race and then planting myself at strategic spots to cheer everyone on. If you’re racing and I don’t see you at Rocky beforehand, I’ll be in the above mentioned normal clothing (black down coat, white/black knit hat, jeans) at mile 12, probably a little after the marker, from about 8:20 – 9:00, then I’ll make my way over to mile 15/24.75ish to hopefully meet up with ShoreTurtle for some more cheering. I figure I’ll be there from 9:30 – 11ish, so I’ll probably only see my peeps at that spot as they’re on the way to the finish.
With at least 10 runners I know of to cheer for, I put everyone’s projected time that I knew into Excel and made a spreadsheet to keep track of who will likely be where, when. Spectating is serious stuff!
I can’t wait! Though I gave myself the day off running tomorrow. I figure for all the time I’ll be freezing my ass off, I probably won’t want to be outside again once I get back home.
So if you’re running tomorrow and you see this post, tell me your goal time in a comment so I know when to look for you, or tell me at Rocky in the morning. I think I got everyone that comments here through forum posts or your blogs, but for those that don’t have either (Lisa?), let me know.
Other than that…GOOD LUCK PHILLY RUNNERS!!!!! I can tell already I’m going to be teary and totally vaclempt for you guys and gals. Run like the wind!






Hey… if you are tracking runners go to the marathon’s webpage… under runners there is a link to track runners and you can get a text whenever your runner(s) pass certain splits.
I will be out there cheering runners on… hopefully I will be running it next year!
Tracking for this race is kinda lame though, you need to know everyone’s last name, which I don’t for most, so I’m stuck with looking out for people. If it’d accept bib numbers (or forum usernames, lol), I’d be golden, but alas…nada.
Have a great time tomorrow and if you see me, say hi!
I love spectating! Good for you for cheering on your friends. Cheering my friends on at Chicago this year was one of the most inspirational things I’ve done. The cellphone tracking thing is pretty cool too.
Sounds like fun! You are the only person that I know that would make an Excel spreadsheet for cheering. (or me )
Funny thing – last night I was punching #’s into my spreadsheet for todays race.
I had my 1/2 miles splits up to 10 miles, then I shrank it down, printed it, and taped it to my arm for my race today. I’m such a statistical nerd…
Cool Dave, I didn’t know you were racing today, I’m going to read your report now. And you know I share the spreadsheet love.
Hi Erin.
I was going to comment about the nice picture on the second post but I couldnt find a comment place. So I aint telling ya all how nice you look.
Thanks Bruce, there was some weirdness going on in the entry and it was fine in Firefox, just weird in Internet Explorer. But it’s all fixed now. Thanks for not telling me how nice I look.