Philadelphia Marathon 11/07

The race started at the staircase of The Museum Of Art. Made famous by Rocky's triumphant training run to the top of the stairs. Maybe they were famous before the movie, but I'm sure that is what they are recongnized most for now as you see hundreds of people run up to the top and raise their hands in the air when they make it up. My wife told me that during the race the announcer for the race held a run to the top and they blasted the theme music to Rocky and hundreds of people all ran up the stairs.The starting line for the race was a sea of people as far as you can see. They start the half and the full marathons together so I think there was about 12 to 15 thousand people total. The largest race I've run in yet.My plan was to run w/ the 3:40 pacers. The roads were so crowded with runners that it wasn't easy staying with the pace group so I found myself fading back a bit and continuosly dodging slower runners just to keep the same pace. My first mile was 9 minutes and I still had the pacer in my sights but I knew I had to start making up some ground. I learned quick that if you wanted to move faster you needed to stay to the sides of the streets as opposed to running down the middle where it was always jammed up. It was around mile 7 or 8 when I finally caught up with the pacer but the roads were still packed with runners. I was starting to wonder if it was going to ever thin out. At around mile 10 I unintentionaly started pulling away from the pace group and pulled a little further ahead of them for the next few miles. At one point I turned back to see where the pacer was (they carried balloons) and I couldn't see them at all, and I was about 2 minutes ahead of where I should of been. At about mile 17 the people were thinning out and I was starting to feel a little fatigued. I think I was keeping my original pace, but I deffinitely wasn't gaining any ground on the 3:40 group at this point. At mile 18 I took my 2.99 knit gloves off and ditched them to the side of the road. It was like 40 degrees and a little windy I think. At around mile 19 I was starting to question my ability to keep pace and mile 20 I was deffinitely feeling like it would be almost impossible. I had eaten around 3 gels since the start and did not have the stomach for anymore. I forced another one down just cause I could feel the energy leaving my body, but it didn't seem to really help much. At mile 21 my pace group that I had a lead on earlier was coming up behind me. I could hear the pacer yelling behind me "cmon 3:40's, keep it up you're doing great". I said ok, I will try to run with them for the rest of the way, but it was wierd, my legs just could move that fast anymore! I stayed with them for a few moments and the watched them slowly pull away in to the distance. Mile 23 was my slowest mile yet, I wouldn't be suprised if it was a 10 minute pace. Mile 24 to 25 felt like an eternity!! I was convinced that they did not measure this mile correctly at all, until I reached the mile 25 marker. Mile 25 to the end of the race was the most trying thing I have done since I've been running so far. So many questions were running through my head like, How bad do I want this? How important is this to me? Should I just stop and walk? Will I ever run another Marathon again? Can I possibly pull the last 1.2 miles out in under 10 minutes wich is what I needed to do to come in under 3:45. I put my head down, staired at the ground and pushed as hard as I could until I had the finish line in my sights! I knew now that they probably had mile 24 marked just fine cause the last mile felt even longer.The theme to Rocky playing when I crossed the finish line, my wife waiting there with a big smile on her face, and all I could think of was "Thank God its over".I wrapped a thermal blanket around me as fast as I could, cause within a minute of my finish my body temerature must of been dangerously low, my teeth were literally chattering together and my body was shaking like crazy.I went in the tent real fast and drank some orange juice, but didn't have the stomach to eat anything yet. I hooked up w/ my wife and we had about a mile walk to the parking garage with no time to waste cause I had to be at my youngest sons last soccer game of the year back in NJ. ( 2 hour drive). It was the coldest walk that I have ever had to do and you know I wasn't moving very fast at all.On the way home I was suddenly STARVING! We made one stop at what might of been the best Italian Deli I've ever been in. I ordered a Ham and Swiss hero w/ lettuce tomato and mayo and I think it might go down as the greatest thing I've ever eaten in my life!At one point in the car, I had my seat pushed all the way back and my wife was driving ofcourse, I stretched my legs out and my calf locked up and some wierd lump popped up out of it like there was an Alien trying to brake free from inside. My yell scared the heck out of my wife and she nearly drove off the road. I immediatly grabbed it, put pressure on it, and started rubbing it until the lump went back down. I'm still not really sure what that was all about but I'm fine today. It was an amazing race.