Back to Philly race weekend after 4 years, this time for the half! Drove Friday afternoon for packet pick up not really feeling it. I was tired from the weekend before running in Vegas and my head just was not in it. My hubby and our friend were also signed up so I volunteered to get our packets and even told hubby I'm not sure if I will even run the race. Got to the expo easy enough, parked at a garage paid $40 but I didn't want to spend time looking for street parking in the very busy area. I walk in and whom do I see but Meb Keflezighi, I got so excited when he called me over when he saw that I was staring. I got to shake his hand, exchange a few words and and get a picture. Then I saw people lining up to meet and greet Des Linden, stood in that one was totally start struck to meet her! After that I got our bibs and t-shirt ( I love that they always put the course map on the back), some free samples and saw Bart Yasso at a seminar. By this time my mood was completely changed and I was pumped up!
Saturday morning we drove to Philly from Lancaster (about 1.5 hours) got close by parking on street, and walked to start line. we had plenty of time to hang around but it was cold! I decided I'll hang with the 2hr pacer since that's my comfort level. after 4 miles I was feeling very good so took off, the energy and crowd support running in Philadelphia city is just amazing! The course was hillier than I remembered, not too bad but definitely not flat. Aide stations were often and one offered a carb boom energy gel. I ended up running my fastest overall pace ever, but no official PR because I ran too much in the first miles not paying attention to the tangents. Both my husband and our friend finished with nice new PRs and I was super happy on how the race went considering my mind set the day before! Definitely a race I recommend and I just may have to come back again! after we finished, got our medals, refreshments and walked over to the Rocky statue for picture!