Philadelphia Marathon Race Recap: Sub 4 Marathon Attempt #3
We are officially 6 days post-marathon and I’ve finally opened my laptop to start putting my thoughts to paper. (Apparently, 6 days out is the magical race recap day—see my Toronto Marathon recap lol)
So buckle up as I ramble through all my thoughts from 2023 Philadelphia Marathon.
Race goals
Before we get into the race recap, let’s talk goals.
My big goal going into Philly was to finally break 4 hours in the marathon. I hoped to get as close to 3:50 as possible, but I knew I’d be happy with anything with a 3 in front of it. And planned to go out conservatively and closer to 3:59:59.
But more importantly, I wanted to actually run a strong marathon. Hopefully, one where I didn’t need to walk—but more on that later.
Race weekend: Friday
This was my first time flying into a race weekend and honestly, I think it went as smoothly as it could have.
I took the 8:50 am flight out of Toronto and got to the airport at like 5. I sat around in the lounge and just munched on pancakes for 3 hours. It was great lol.
I landed in Philly at around 10 and took the SEPTA train from the airport to Suburban Station—which was a 5-minute walk to my hotel. It cost $7, was pretty easy, and saved me from paying for a $30 Uber. I think it arrived every 30 minutes and I waited maybe 10 at the airport for the station?
I was lucky enough to get checked in the moment I arrived.
Where I stayed for the Philadelphia Marathon Weekend
I stayed at the Notary Hotel on Juniper, right across from City Hall. I had a city view room and the view was INCREDIBLE.
Here are my thoughts on the Notary for Marathon weekend.
Pros of staying at the Notary:
The 5-minute walk from the expo was helpful. I went twice lol
Super convenient shuttle for race morning before and after the race. Shared with a few neighboring hotels
Right next to Trader Joe's (for easy carb loading/grocery stock-ups if you’re flying and can’t bring your own stuff).
Great rooms and hotel staff.
Cons of staying at the Notary:
A bit far from the start/finish. It’s about 1.5 miles from the start and finish. Which is not far in the grand scheme of things. BUT if you’re trying to conserve your legs on race weekend, it’s not ideal. I would have loved to visit the finish/start/Art museum before the race and walk over on race morning but it was just a bit too far to walk.
Philadelphia Marathon Race Expo
I went to the expo as soon as it opened on Friday. There was a bit of a line but it moved quickly. I assume it was busy since marathoners, half-marathoners, and 8K-ers were trying to grab their kits. I went back on Saturday and there was no line.
For the most part, I find expos a bit overwhelming. (Just me??) There’s SO much going on and I can never find what I’m looking for.
The expo here was fine. I did find it a little bit unorganized. But I managed to get my bib + race day stuff and got out of there.
There was a good number of vendors based on the expo-vendor list but nothing that really caught my attention. I did look quickly through the official gear, but I wasn’t super impressed. I would have LOVED to see some more name-brand race gear. (ie. Asics, Nike, Adidas. New Balance—anything really lol) Paying upwards of $100 for random quality gear just… isn’t it? Looking at Instagram, it seems Ambassadors got these stunning Asics jacket and would have LOVED to have been able to buy one of those.
I did end up going back to buy a jacket because my silly little brain didn’t bring something to stay warm post-marathon. I dug around the merch and found an old 2022 jacket (that didn’t have a year on it) for $80. WIN!
Friday afternoon was pretty uneventful. I went to Trader Joe’s to pick up some carbs. Then I walked over to Cleavers for a Philly Cheesesteak. SO good. But also $20?? Are they normally this expensive??
Then I went back to the room, at my Cheesesteak while watching Gilmore Girls.
I passed out at 6 pm.
Race weekend: Saturday
I got up early to spectate the half marathon on Saturday and it was an absolute blast! I parked myself at city hall and watching the elites come through was so much fun.
I then went for a short shakeout. I ran from City Hall to the Start Line and back.
Then went on a hunt for a Starbucks Philadelphia mug. (I found the last one at the 3rd store.) And on the way back, stopped on Walnut to watch the half again and wow it was such a party. I love a good DJ and spectator dance party.
I then went back and sat around in the hotel to eat. Then back to the expo for that aforementioned jacket. (Also bumped into some IG friends which was LOVELY!)
Then I picked up a massive Maggiano’s pasta, watched Netflix, and finalized my playlist.
I was lights out by 7:00 pm.
Carb load note: This is the first marathon where I tracked my carbs. I always thought I had been eating enough… NOPE. I used the Featherstone Nutrition calculator and had to get around 490 grams a day for a 3-day carb load. I fell short of my carbs on Thursday, but Friday and Saturday were good! (I even got in a bit extra to make up for Thursday.) I found that starting early in the morning made it a lot easier. And JUICE. Juice really helped..
Race morning
My alarm woke me up at 3 am. My Oura ring says I got about 7 hours of sleep. But I felt like I woke up a ton throughout the night cause I was so scared I would miss my alarm. (Which I’ve literally slept through my alarm once in my life so IDK what my problem is lol).
I knew I wanted to get on the first bus by 5 am. So I figured 2 hours would give me enough time to eat a bit and get ready.
The carb load definitely hit me this morning because eating anything was just horrible. I figured it was early enough, so I just nibbled on half a bagel with Nutella. I packed 2 Trader Joe's pretzel buns to eat at the start.
They had said they were only allowing sealed water bottles through security, so I also had one scoop of UCAN Energy at the hotel. And packed a scoop into a plastic bag to take with me into the Start area.
I got dressed. Braided my hair. Put on the glitter. (Made a reel of course lol) And I was out the door at 4:45 to get on the bus.
Even with the bus starting at 5, by the time I arrived, the first bus was almost full.
The start line
When we got off the shuttle bus, it was just our bus going through security. The bus was overall quiet but a super nice girl made some small talk with me and it was so nice to have a friendly person to chat with so early in the morning. (I was definitely feeling a bit self-conscious cause I felt people were staring at all the glitter on my face.
I expected security to be a hot mess but it was fine—probably because it was so early. They just took a flashlight to my bag and scanned me with a metal detector (I think that’s what it was.)
I thought they’d make me toss my hydration in a water bottle but they didn’t, so that was a nice surprise. It sounded like whether or not they let water in was really dependent on the gate and the security person.
After going through security, I immediately went to Gear Check. They weren’t kidding when it’s literally a bunch of UPS trucks lined up.
I took a couple of minutes to make my 2nd UCAN bottle. Can confirm it is very difficult to pour a scoop of powder into a plastic water bottle. I can’t be certain, but there’s probably still a pile of white UCAN powder on the grass at Eakins Oval.
It ended warmer than I thought, so I ditched my sleeves in my gear check bag (with my new jacket.) Then went over to the Warming tent.
Let me just say this warming tent was incredible. But at like 5:15 it was already pretty full and there were no chairs left. We sat around for an hour and I forced myself to eat my two Trader Joe's pretzel buns.
By the time we left to find portapotties at 6:15, it was packed. You couldn’t really move around inside. I went to the bathroom at one point and there was a line to get back in lol.
It ended up taking us basically 45 minutes to wait in line for some (very gross) portapotties but we managed to hop into our corral just after the first corral went off. I think Grey was either the 3rd or 4th corral.
Miles 1-3: Philadelphia City Center
According to Strava, I crossed the start line at 7:11 am.
Busy races tend to go out slowly thanks to the crowds. Philly was no exception. I’m usually grateful for this to avoid going out too fast. I try to avoid weaving this early and just go with the flow.
But we started behind the 4:10 pacer, so going with the flow meant we went through the first mile in the 9:40s (6:00/km) which was a bit slower than goal pace.
My Strava shows we didn’t settle into race pace until 4K—which was around 2.5 miles into the race. I wasn’t worried at the time, but in retrospect wonder if those seconds cost me my sub-4 finish. (But again, if I’d gone out faster, I could have hit a wall, so probably best not to focus on what could have been.)
I kept my music off for the first 1.5 hours to soak in the feels. But also because my headphones have a habit of dying when I need it most at the end of the race LOL.
The first few miles were honestly pretty uneventful. All I remember is that we did a bit of weaving to try to get into a comfortable pace. There were also dogs. I remember lots of dogs.
Oh—and I had to pee. Apparently, it wasn’t just me because SO MUCH peeing on the side of the road for this race. Spoiler alert: I never ended up peeing lol. (I scanned for bathrooms along the route, but they were all busy. And by the time there were empty bathrooms, we were too deep in the race for me to want to stop.)
Miles 4-7: The Nut Streets Party
Walnut and Chestnut streets were so FUN. This is true Philly city center and the crowds were ON it.
Going into the race, I knew this section would be packed. And both sides of the road were completely lined with spectators. SO many fun signs.
Also, when did we all start holding up massive photos of people’s faces?? Someone also had a picture of a fish. I don’t get it. If you do, please let me know!
This section has a bit of a sneaky slight uphill. But overall, a flat and fast section. I did find some spots got pretty crowded here with how narrow the streets were.
At some point here, we ran into (with?) a girl running her first marathon, hoping to run sub 4. I saw her again a few times in the race. But I wonder how she did??
Miles 8-12: Fairmont Park (and back)
Flat and fast my ass.
There are 2 relatively big hills in this race. One at mile 8 as you head toward the zoo. One at mile 9 up into Fairmont Park.
They weren’t horrible. But I didn’t LIKE running them 8 miles in.
Honestly, I didn’t train for hills at all. I think the only hills I ran in training were the bridge and tunnel at the Detroit Free Press Half. I skipped my hill repeats—oops! (In my defense, I would have to drive to a hill and I didn’t want to do that lol.)
Overall, they did pass faster than I thought they would. And I loved catching some speed going back down the hills. The out-and-backs in this race do mean that even with the few hills, you get to make up for them on the way back.
What stands out to me about this section of the race was that there was a person in a chicken costume that said “I’m just trying to cross the road.” LOL
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of out-and-backs during a race. It always sucks seeing people speeding along who are much further along than you.
But overall, this part of the race was quite enjoyable. Up till this point, I never found the pace difficult, so that was a win! I usually start to struggle by the half, so that made me feel good about the pace.
Miles 13-15: Fairmont Park Athletic Fields (and back)
We crossed the half at 1:58:58. 2 minutes to spare on the back half of the race.
I knew that our coach and personal pacer (Hi Alissa!) would drop off at the halfway point. But this is where I started getting nervous. I knew I could probably hold onto the pace, but it’s always tricky when you have to manage it yourself.
And of course, the second half of the marathon is always where things get wonky.
I knew after the half, we’d start the stretch of the race up Kelly Drive to Manayunk. I knew this part would be a bit quieter and that there was still a long way to go. Except I didn’t look at the map enough to realize there was a loop we had to finish before heading up Kelly Drive.
I had 8 UCAN Edge gels with me for the race. I took one every 30 minutes on the dot. (I will say this is probably the perfect fueling strategy for me.) I just grabbed a random Edge flavor every time I needed a gel. I kept trying to get one of the new Orange Mango ones and the entire time, I’d get one of the older flavors lol.
Somewhere around 15, I finally got to try my first Orange Mango UCAN and WOW what a flavor explosion. Highly recommend. (Yes, I loved it so much that you just got an entire rant about UCAN lol)
Miles 16-23: Kelly Drive to Manayunk (and back)
Finally. Kelly Drive.
I knew Kelly Drive was the last stretch of this race so all I wanted was to get here. But this part is tough because you’re so close but still so far to go.
By mile 16 onward, I distinctly remember the shift to “I’d like to be done now.”I never felt horrible, but I really didn’t want to keep running lol. The constant out and backs in this race also didn’t really help lol.
Kelly Drive was mostly me trying to click off miles in my head. I knew I just had to get to the turnaround point in Manayunk.
When they say Manayunk is a party? It’s a party!! It’s also sticky. The water stations here got progressively more chaotic with narrow streets, so it’s a lot of cups and stickiness on the ground lol. I had to start walking through the water stations to actually get electrolytes and water. (But also my legs didn’t mind.)
And yes, there was lots of beer being offered. (Absolutely not but thanks I guess LOL)
The turnaround at Manayunk was around 20 miles. At this point, I just told myself I had 10K to go and that was it.
By mile 20, I wasn’t really slowing down but I wasn’t speeding up. I kept trying to marathon math my way to an estimated finish time.
I was REALLY excited every time I saw a mile marker appear lol.
I told myself I would keep running comfortably and if I had it in me with 3 miles to go, I could go. I did ultimately lose my running group somewhere here. Not on purpose, but I turned around and they were gone. (It’s a busy course and I was just focused on moving my legs at this point.) I thought about slowing down but I knew if I stopped or slowed, I wasn’t gonna hold on.
With 3 miles to go, I started trying to count backward to see how close I was to 4 hours. I knew I was cutting it close, but it was possible.
So I told myself I’d go for it. I knew that I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t at least try.
Miles 24-26.2: The Finish
The last few miles in a marathon feel like FOREVER.
I remember looking for the 24-mile marker and saw a red blur in the distance. I thought it was coming up. It was NOT the mile marker. Imagine my disappointment LOL.
The last two miles I kept trying to conserve energy but also push the pace. I was worried I’d burn out.
Crossing the 40K mat, I knew I’d be close. I might not make it, but I’d be close. I also knew at this point, it was going to be a PR race, so I’d be happy with whatever time was on the clock.
I tried to push the pace a bit, but went between feeling good and going and feeling like I needed to slow down.
My watch was horribly behind, so I kept looking out for the 1 mile marker or anything beyond that, so I knew exactly how far I had to go. I don’t think I saw the 25-mile marker.
I definitely didn’t see the 26.
I’m someone who paces that last mile based on exactly how much distance I had left. Because how distorted my sense of distance is 4 hours in, without those markers, I couldn’t figure out exactly when to hit the gas.
As I got closer to the end, I kept an eye out for the finish line. But unlike most races I’ve run, there wasn’t a finish line arch. So it ended up coming up faster than I expected.
I would have loved to push a bit earlier, but once the finish line came into view, I BOOKED it. Very sorry to anyone I almost ran over. I’ll admit I’m a bit of an asshole at finish lines.
I knew I was close but I didn’t know if I’d made it.
Official time: 4:00:18
18 seconds off. But a 25-minute PR.
The finish
The second I crossed the finish, I spotted Alissa. I ran with the Lift Run Perform Sub 4 team and they had a finish line photographer (AKA media.) I immediately sat down in the media square, which was basically a chalk square on the floor. I’m sure this wasn’t allowed but no one kicked me out, so it was fine. But wow is this the best place to watch people finish a marathon.
I didn’t actually know my time until the tracking started to load and we pulled it up after. I didn’t go off with the gun and my watch was off.
(Side note: The Philly marathon tracking site is my mortal enemy. More on that below. But I have BEEF.)
After I picked myself up off the ground at the finish, I grabbed my post-run food. (Almost accidentally drank chicken broth that I thought was coffee lol.) And hobbled to gear check.
We then proceeded to get lost trying to get out of the finish area while I waddled around.
I had a split-second thought to go up the Rocky Steps to take a photo. It took 2 seconds to decide that sounded horrible.
So I hopped on the bus to race back to the hotel to get cleaned up and packed before checkout.
What I loved about the Philadelphia Marathon
The course. While not flat, I liked the mix of elevation for my legs and it was a nice change of pace to get it out of the way early on in the course. There is a lot of twists and turns and out-and-backs which I didn’t love. But overall a lovely course.
The crowds. What an absolute party! World major vibes for sure, without the world majors chaos.
The medals. How fun! Although the novelty of the ringing wore off pretty quickly LOL
What I loved less about the Philadelphia Marathon
The water stops. They were randomly on one side of the road or both at different stops. I got stressed trying to figure out which side the next stop would be. Also they got very congested, very early on in the race. So I basically had to stop at every stop to get water from like Mile 2.
The logstics. I had to get on a bus and arrive 2 hours early. Feels a little extra for a non-major. But I probably could have chosen a closer hotel.
The crowded course. I heard this was less of an issue for sub 3:30 marathoners and 4:30 plus marathoners. But where I was, it was SO crowded, I struggled to find a good pace and often had to weave around folks. And 20 miles in, my motivation to fight with the crowds just isn’t there lol.
The runner tracking. What was even going on here??? I was given like 3 different finish times. It thought I was still on the course for a solid 2 hours after I finished. All in all, very confusing. I also prefer the app trackers that will push my time to watch, so I can use that to pace using the official timer. It straight up also didn’t work for people I was tracking on the half.
Final thoughts
Am I a bit disappointed in those 18 seconds? Sure. But I also know they don’t matter. I ran a strong race and SMASHED my PR. A few tweaks to my race day and that Sub 4 would have been mine.
I’m absolutely thrilled with how that race went. But I can say with confidence that I don’t think I’ve reached my full potential in the marathon. I have no idea how fast I’ll run in the future, but I feel like I’m just getting started.
There won’t be a 2024 Spring Marathon for me. (Although my heart really wants those 18 seconds.) But I’m confident I’ll be back to the distance in the fall to finally get that Sub 4.
Would I run Philly again? When I finished, I said with absolute certainty that I wouldn’t choose to come back to Philly without a good reason. It was a bit too crowded for my taste and the water stops were such a hot mess.
But honestly, looking back I had such a great time, that I might just change my mind.
