Race Report ”“ Philadelphia 8K on Marathon Weekend Nov 20th 2005

A long year was coming to its fruition with our trip to the US and an entry in my hand for the Philadelphia Marathon. However, as much as this has been a great year for me in my running, this weekend was to be one of mixed emotions. Mixed because I had planned for this to be an attempt at a decent run, a good time, and a return to believing that I still have “it” in me.

But fate had played her part in the past 5 weeks, and after my trip around 26 miles of Dublin at the end of October, I had been unable to run at all, my right foot had swollen up again after the marathon, and although I had iced well, and the swelling had gone, I decided to err with caution and not train so as to give myself an outside chance of lining up in Philly. Hey! We had the plane tickets, and the hotel booked, so I had to think positively.

We left for America, and a few days in New York, on the Tuesday prior to the race. I had thought about running in Central Park, but we were staying on 3rd and Lexington, far enough away to ensure that, once again, caution was the winner. The foot was tested enough by sightseeing in New York, and by the time we headed down to Philly on the Friday I was 100% sure that the decision in my head to only run the 8K was a wise one. In New York we met up with Diane Hobe and Rachel (Hak), great to see old friends again, and had hoped to meet up with Janet (Triola) in Philly, but unfortunately that wasn’t to be.

Saturday morning was cold, crisp, and sunny, and at 7am I was out along the Delaware for my first run in 3 weeks, an easy 2 to 3 miles on a wonderful day for running, if a little on the cool side. After showering it was off for breakfast, some shopping for Dee, and then onto the expo. It was very simple to switch to the 8K from the marathon, and the expo was well set out in a tent at the Eakins Oval right in front of the Art Museum. Lots of stuff to buy, and quite a few freebies as well. Bought a pair of Loco’s along with some shorts, a jacket, and left around 1 to meet up with some Cool Runners at Little Pete’s Restaurant nearby. My apologies for being late, and not really getting a chance to chat with many, but it was good to see Tribob and Diane again, along with Mrpat and the rest of the Boomers crew. Then it was back to our hotel and rest up before the, now shorter, race.

Sunday morning was another crisp and sunny day, although a little warmer than the previous day, and we taxied down to the start and mingled with the marathoners, who were off some 30 minutes before us 8K’ers! Around 10,000 were taking part in the Full and it was great seeing them off, although tinged with some regret I wasn’t with them. We started off at 8:30, and with chip timing for us too, I held back until crossing the start line and easily got into steady running. Given I had so little running in me in the past few weeks I had no thoughts about speed or what pace I could sustain, so I just took it easy as we headed towards Centre City before turning back on ourselves and back to the Museum.

Mile 1 was 8:53, very easy, in fact too easy, I felt fine, and decided to push on a little, running at a nice clip as we headed along towards the Parkway and the Schuylkill River. Mile 2 was a faster 7:58 and everything was going well. I saw a couple of girls with Greek Goddess T-Shirts, who turned out to be Cool Runners, and I was able to have a brief chat after the race with them and hopefully more friendships made for the future. Mile 3 came along in 8:03 and we turned around and headed for home.

I was well aware of my right foot, and was constantly monitoring it as I ran. I had given Dee a commitment that if any pain came I would stop and not take any chances, and somewhere in that 4th mile I felt my foot was swelling, so I stopped, released the shoe laces a little and walked a little to see if it was a recurrence of the injury. Mile 4 was reached at this point (9:02), and having ascertained that the foot was fine, I decided to start running again and started to pass all those who had passed me whilst I was walking ”“ guess they were wondering!

The last mile has a nice little climb back to the finish line outside the Art Museum, in front of the “Rocky” steps, and I caught up with a girl, Jennie, I had been chatting to at the start. She was looking for a fast finish as well, so we ran together, hard up the hill, and as the museum came into sight and the final turn, we accelerated again, picking off runners, and with only a group of three ahead within touching distance, we kicked again and I pulled her past them and we crossed the line having out kicked around 20 people in the last 100m, and hitting the official time of 41:18, with a last mile in 7:22, which probably meant I was running sub 7’s for most of that mile as I walked the first 100m of the mile.

I waited for the Cool Running Goddesses and said my hello’s, drank my water and Gatorade, and made my way across to the Steps to meet up with Dee and my clothes. She was happy to see me, and thought I had looked really strong finishing and passing so many in the finishing straight. I was happy with my run, happy to meet so many other people, and we retired from the finishing line after seeing the marathon winners come home, including a fellow Cool Runner who was 6th lady home, and first female vet, running 2:51, a great run from Meg, and again apologies for not hanging around to party afterwards, but Dee and I had our own party, and enjoyed our last day on this trip.

All in all, an enjoyable run, a long way to go for an 8K, but sensible to run this rather than risk everything. There is always another day, and 2005 has been a good year for me at 47. I have a few small races left before Xmas and then down to some serious training for 2006 and hopefully all will be as well.

8K 'Mile' Splits:

8:53

7:58

8:03

9:02

7:22

41:18 -

Liam