Latest reviews by Lisa Perry

(2021)
"The BEST SWAG EVER!!"
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I had always heard about this race over the years but my race schedule just didn't align with being able to run it. Fast forward to 2020 and all in person races came to a screeching halt. I had been thinking of running the local one in my area. When the opportunity came to take part in the virtual race I jumped on it. I had to see what the hype was all about! I was thrilled when the swag back arrived. The lush jacket felt amazing on, and the medal was gorgeous with a piece of chocolate in the middle. Plus, we were given extra chocolate, nuun sample and a honey stinger waffle. I can't wait for bigger in person races to come back because this one has chocolate stations along the course! I highly recommend this race series!!

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(2020)
"An incredibly fun way to run a half marathon!!"
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My husband surprised me with a trip to Disney for my birthday weekend and also signed me up to run the princess challenge - the 10k on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday while were were there! That's my kind of birthday celebration!!! I had never run a RUNDISNEY race before so this was a first for me. I was super excited and bought some accesories before race day so that i could run in a different princess costume for each day. I was Belle for the 10k and Anna from frozen for the half marathon.
The expo was top notch and had some many vendors to check out. I didn't buy anything and kind of regret it because I then wasn't able to get stuff online after the race was over. Things to know before hand!! However we were in and out and got everyhing very easily. Swag was nice in my opinion, I ended up getting 3 race shirts, one for each race and then one that showed that I did the princess challenge. Then I got 3 medals and the medals are AMAZING!! You may not care about medals, but I love my medals and these are beautiful.

The one thing about the disney races is that they start super early.. like 5:30am. So I was up around 3-3:30am to get ready, then catch the bus to the start then get to the corral and be ready. The hardest part was waking up, once I was up I was super excited and couldn't wait to race! My hubs came with me and stayed with me until the very last second I had to get into my corral. He then waited around for me until the race was done, what a champ! I was seeded into the A corral for the half marathon based on my time I submitted from a previous half marathon. It was amazing to be the first corral to go off! At first as I was going along I wasn't going to stop at the character stops and get pictures but then I decided to start because I thought when am I going to be back here again to run this race? It could very well be a once in a lifetime thing for me. I'm happy that I ended up geting a bunch of photos with the characters along the way, it sure kept things interesting. My favorite though was running through the princess castle!! It was an amazing weekend of running for me and I'm so glad to have experienced this. I hope to run some other disney races once things get more back to normal.

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(2019)
"An amazing race through the streets of Philadelphia!!"
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This year I ran the challenge which is the half marathon on Saturday, and the full on Sunday. I will just review the full marathon here, and make a second review for the half!
Also, This was my 9th time running the Philadelphia marathon in my life. I ran it a bunch of times back in the day (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009). I then took a break and ran it again in 2015 and 2017. It has changed so much! It went from being a great marathon into being A FANTASTIC MARATHON!!!
The one thing I will say is the weather can be all over the place because this is run in mid to late November. I've run the race when it was 50 and sunny, when it was 50 and windy as heck, when it was 35 and freezing, and this past Sunday when it was 40 and rainy and then snowing. You never know what weather you will get in any one given year. Just keep that in mind.

Expo: It's easy to get to by train beings that it's right at the convention center. It's in a large enough room so that you don't feel overwhelmed by not being able to move around and there is a nice amount of vendors there to get whatever you may need before you race, or also find some sales on other items. Finding your bib and race swag is organized and easy to navigate through. There were a lot of talking events and other things that I personally did not have time to attend but would be great if my schedule had allowed for that.

PRE RACE and RACE: Arrive early! Be prepared to go through a security check, which moves fairly quickly if you don't have any bags with you. If you do, just be prepared for it to take a bit longer. I had no issues going thru and then getting into my corral. Also, there are plenty of bathrooms but lines get long.. be prepared to wait if you are like me and have to go before the race starts!
There is a lot of positive energy flowing everywhere before the race starts, which is and was helpful for me to calm my nerves. You are standing there with so many others that are about to run the same marathon as you! It's pretty neat! I was a few corrals back so I didn't start until maybe 10-12 mins after the first corral went off. The weather on Sunday was not the best and I was surprised to see so many spectators lined up throughout the entire course. I don't know that there were very many 'bare' spots along the way. I can't imagine how many more would have been out if the sun was shining LOL! There are plenty of water stops, free gel giveaways and bathrooms along the course. This race has gotten a lot bigger so every bathroom stop had people waiting on line to use them.
My favorite areas are mid way when you run past the art museum.. tons of people cheering you on, and bonus was Bart Yasso and Meb standing there giving high fives out, manayunk.. holy energy there...wow, and the finish line.. so many spectators line that area and are cheering you on.. ITS A RUSH that can stick with you for a while. It puts a smile on my face just writing about it!!!

All in all, this race gets a million thumbs up for me. If you are local to the Philadelphia area and want to run a great marathon, this one is for you!

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(2019)
"An awesome half marathon running through the streets of brotherly love!!"
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I ran the half this year in conjunction with the full on the following day to complete the Liberty Bell Challenge. I have run the half two other times, in 2016 and 2018.

EXPO: Easy to get to and in a huge room at the convention center. Plenty of vendors and it's easy to navigate through to get your BIB and race swag! You get an an awesome tech shirt, which I love and wear often when I'm out for a training run.

PRE - RACE and RACE: Because I live 30-45 mins away we always drive in before the race and we have not found it an issue to find a parking garage or street parking to park the car and walk to the start. If you are not local there are plenty of hotels to stay over at fairly close to the start and then you can just walk over. However like with any bigger race, be prepared to go through a security line to get into the Corral area. If you arrive early you should have no issues getting through there. If you need the bathroom before the race, like me, give yourself extra time because even though there are a lot of them, you will still be waiting in line for a while. After that you just need to hop in your corral and wait until it's time to GO! Lot's of energy before hand and plenty of room to move around and stretch. Depending on which corral you are in will determine how long from the start time you will get to start. Start time is 7:30, a half hour later than the marathon start the next day. I was in the gray corral and went off 10-15 mins past the start time. Your time doesn't start counting until you physically go over the start mat though :) The newly designed half marathon brings you though the different areas of Philadelphia across many different land marks for the first 10 miles, then out to Fairmount Park area and then Kelly Drive to bring it home and spectators line the course through out the entire race!! It's fast and mostly flat with a few areas that have an incline. There are mile markers at every mile, water stops, free gel giveaways, and plenty of bathrooms to use. This is a high quality half marathon and I'm so glad I've had the chance to run it 3 times already. It's also very nice that it's not on the same day as the full. The half is on Saturday and it's only the half that is racing - I love that!
I highly recommend this race if you are up for running a fun, fast race through Philly!!

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(2019)
"Atlantic City Marathon Review"
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This was my first time running the Atlantic City Marathon.

EXPO and PRE RACE: It was very easy to park at Bally's and navigate through the casino to find where the expo was taking place. I had my two small children (ages 4 and 6) with me so some of the sights as we walked from the parking garage to the expo room were not so great.. people smoking in the hallway, drinking, and just general casino folk so that was a little disappointing but it didn't last long so it wasn't that big of a deal. The expo was small but I figured it would be as it's a smaller race. It did still have things like energy gels, chews and other race items that you could get at last minute. I thought they might have had a spot for compression boots but no such luck (bummer). A negative: there were no pins for our bibs which as small as that sounds was pretty disappointing. I mean, if I pay over $100 dollars for a race I expect there to be pins for my bib. Don't make me go to the store to buy my own, especially when I'm from out of town. I know, silly but it was definitely like a wow moment in my opinion. So anyway, we walked thru and were in and out rather quickly and the booths that were there were nice. Some of the race pacers were there, some general AC marathon merchandise, other running merchandise, a beer and vodka spritzer table (those were the ones that stuck out to me). We then left and headed to Buca Di Beppo for dinner which was literally right outside of the expo room-super easy! Another nice thing was that they gave us parking passes so that parking was only $5 to park that day, and for race day!

RACE DAY:
It was easy for my husband to drop me off and for me to walk up and get in line to go. In bigger races this takes way longer and it not as easy, and often frustrating to say the least. The crowd was ready to go and everyone seemed in great spirits! I think we were all happy that it had not started to rain yet. The course was flat and fast for the most part. Because it's a small race, and the weather had turned from clear to down pouring about 2 hours in the race there was very little crowd support. That can get really lonely for some that may only have 1 person behind them and 1 in front at certain times. There were plenty of water/fuel stations and the volunteers were awesome! I loved running on the boardwalk which you do after around mile 8, and then again from mile 23 to the finish. And even despite the horrible weather there was still a crowd at the finish line, which is always uplifting to the person who just ran over 26 miles and is ready to lay down LOL! I had been looking forward to hanging out after ever since I signed up and getting my free beer but because I was soaked to the bone and we couldn't hang outside we decided to just call it a day and go home. Other bonuses about the race: FREE RACE PHOTOS.. amazing! and the medal was awesome too. Overall, having run 18 marathons, I would definitely do this race again and but would hope the weather would be different :)

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