Three-Peat! Rock n' Roll Philly 2018 Recap

Disclaimer: I received free entry to the Rock n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador) and check out BibRave.com to find, review, and write race reviews!

Three-Peat! I am so excited to say my quest for a three-peat at the Rock n’ Roll Philadelphia was a success this past Sunday! I came into the race quite nervous, as I did not have the best or most consistent training schedule this time around. I was secretly hoping for an A time goal of sub 2:25 and a B goal of sub 2:30 with a C goal to just finish. I have run a few sub 2:30s in the past, but never at RNRPhilly. The heat and humidity always seem to get me, but I was hoping for a three-peat miracle!

I decided to drive down to Philly (KOP really) on Friday night so I would have all day Saturday to spend down there with my friends. It was all going smoothly until I hit NYC Friday night traffic. So that was fun. Got to listen to an extra podcast episode, thanks NYC!

My friend and I decided to head into Philly early on Saturday morning since we always had a habit of taking it down to the wire to get our packets. It was nice and refreshing to be there before noon, grab everything and have time to have a quick peruse around the expo.

I don’t know if I’m misremembering things, but I honestly remember Rock n’ Roll expos being bigger in past years. There were a fair amount of vendors at the expo this year, but I really missed seeing my favorite Injinji and Hoka booths. I got to taste some delicious vegan pizza from Daiya though, so I’ll call that a win. After the expo we decided to hit up Independence Square and get our history on! Needless to say I busted out a few verses from Hamilton because why not?!

Saturday night I had a really tough time getting to sleep (I think the last time I checked my clock it was 12:45am). I was super nervous for Sunday and kept thinking about everything that could go wrong. If I’m being honest, I didn’t have the best training schedule for this race. About midway through training I started to feel burnt out from running and cut my training back to the bare minimum. I had hit 11 miles as my longest training run and felt confident I would finish the race, I just didn’t know how long it would take me.

Come Sunday morning I still had a lot of jitters, but had a 35 minute ride into Philly to try and calm my nerves. I arrived at my pre-paid parking spot with an hour to spare and then spent the next 30 minutes arguing with the attendant that I indeed had a spot reserved and would like to park in the lot so I could get to the race. In the end he was accommodating and parked my car, but talk about stressful!

7:30am came and went and I was still in line for the porta-potties. Luckily, I was in corral 16 and had about 25 minutes after the race officially started to chill. My group was suddenly very close to the start, I took a deep breath, and I crossed the start!

Rock n’ Roll changed the course for the half marathon this year, I think because all of the construction downtown finished. Overall, the beginning 4 miles were nice and wound you through the city, but I missed the hill up toward Eastern State Penitentiary. Though creepy, I love the Penitentiary architecture and I missed the gargoyles! I was SO afraid at the beginning of the race that the Eagles drumline wouldn’t be on course anymore since they are always at the top of the hill by mile 4. Luckily, they were there and I got to jam out for a little! I LOVE them!

Around mile 5 I was lucky enough to see fellow BRP Dane on course and we ran together for about a half mile. Unfortunately his IT band started to act up and he had to slow down. We waved goodbye and I was back solo. I don’t really remember miles 6-9, but I remember thinking “dang, I feel good! Why do I feel so good? This is weird…” The first time I really stopped running was at a water station at mile 10.5. I couldn’t believe it! At that point my calf started to cramp so I took it easy for about a mile. With so few miles left in the race, once my calf felt better I decided to just leave it all out on the course. Mile 12 was my fastest of the whole race! My unofficial time was 2:29:30, which was my B time goal. I am so happy I finished strong and felt good through my 10th half marathon! I still have to check Athlinks for my official time and add it to my profile. Hopefully my watch wasn’t too far off!

When I started running I didn’t think I would be able to run 1 half marathon yet alone 10. I still can’t believe it and I’m looking forward to letting that number sink in for a while. I want to run more, but honestly, I think I’m going to take a break from longer distances for a little bit. It just started to get too much. But you’ll definitely see me out on the course in the not to distant future! Despite what I say, I know I can’t stay away for too long!

Congratulations to all of the runners this weekend!

-Happy Running