Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes

Philadelphia is magic.

For a city whose sports teams I absolutely loathe, it amazes me how much I love running in the city of Philadelphia.

I ran my first marathon there. The day I ran my first half, I came home and decided to sign up for a marathon. I was living in Boston and moving to New York in a few weeks and thought, well hey, the NYC Marathon will be easy! I'll run that.

Hahahahaha I was so naive then.

When I realized that New York and Marine Corps wouldn't be options for me, I settled on Philly.

The night before the race, my iPod Touch automatically updated my Nike+ and the next morning, I couldn't get the thing to start. I swore I wouldn't panic about ANYTHING on Race Day and I didn't. That was the first and last race I ever ran 'naked.'

Officially a Marathon-er

I loved the Philly Marathon. I loved the course, the crowd support, the feeling of running my first marathon...everything about it was absolute magic. I loved it so much that I opted to run the Half the following year...3 weeks after Marine Corps. Between MCM and Philly, I ran a total of 10 miles...over the course of 3 runs and I went into the race thinking, if I have to drop out at Mile 3 because of knee pain, that's what I'll do, because ever since Marine Corps, my knee had been killing me.

That's where I set my current Half-Marathon PR.


The race was just as awesome as the marathon had been the year before.

When Rock & Roll announced that they were giving away fancy "World Rocker" medals to anyone who ran an international race and a US race this year, and then offered a discount on National Running Day off registration, I knew I'd have to run Philly. Even though it isn't the same race, it's practically the same course.

So, tomorrow afternoon, I'm headed down to the city that has been so magical for me to toe the line at my 8th Half-Marathon (and only my 2nd this year!) and I. AM. PUMPED. I haven't raced in ages and I'm itching to toe the line again.

My only goals for this race are to run without my Garmin and to have fun. We'll see how it goes!

This will be my 3rd time running in Philly and you know what they say...3rd time's a charm!

Do you have a favorite city to race in? Have you ever raced 'naked'?