Ending on a High Note

I ran the Philadelphia Half Marathon for a charity, Best Buddies PA, this year. I'd never done that before. To be honest, the idea of asking people for money has always been difficult for me. But I thought, running for a charity would be a great way to end my 13.1 year. And it was all that and more. The people who worked for the organization were great, and the volunteers and kids that are buddies or get a buddy were wonderful as well.  The night before the race, Best Buddies PA hosted a dinner and some of the students spoke and it was really moving. I'm glad I did it.

Now onto the race. I got there the day before and get to hang out for a bit with ML and his friends R and J. There was one funny thing at the expo that R noted. If you predicted a 4 hour finish you got a corral all to yourself! Everyone else had a stretch of time 2:00:00 - 2:29:59, etc. but 4 hours was just 4 hours. Anyway, after we got our packets we went across the street to Reading Terminal Market and grabbed a sandwich - deli for them, while I went with a Philly Cheesesteak. It was warm enough for us to eat outside.

The race itself was good. I got to start right in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum, i.e. the steps that Rocky runs up and raises his hands in victory at. There were lots of yelling "Adriane" at the start and people taking pics like the one below.

it was a crowded and took me over 17 minutes to get to the start, but at the start I, and several other runners, got a high-five from the Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter. It was crowded for the first 4-5 miles, I think because we were in downtown Philly. We got to run through some historic areas, past Betsy Ross's house, the building where the Liberty Bell is housed (and one person was dressed as the bell - it gave me an idea of next halloween), City Hall (where Occupy Philadelphia was camped out) , Constitution Hall, and the Zoo. It really was a great way to see what the city has to offer in 2 hours 22 minutes and 35 seconds.

All in all, it was a great way to end my racing season.


I forgot to turn off the garmin after I crossed the finish line. I think I was just happy to be done. I finally remembered when I got to the food line.