PR at PDR!

This morning was the Philadelphia Distance Run, my first time doing a race local runners, including IronHubby, rave about. I was hoping to do a 1:55, which would be almost a 5 minute PR over November's Philly Half (1:58:58). On Friday, I printed and laminated a pace card that would keep me at an 8:45 pace, or 1:54:37 total time.

My running partners for the morning were Jen J. and Janeen M. We met bright and early at the Rodin Museum and hurried over to the HUGEMONGOUS porta-potty lines. And waited. And waited. And waited! Sheesh! :)

Once we were finally through the line, we ran over to the start and couldn't even get in the corral due to the crowds... so our start was a bit delayed. No biggie. Thank goodness for chip time! My stomach was in knots all last night and all morning, and my cold has come back with a vengeance, but I was confident that I'd be OK for the race.

Here are our splits. I missed a few of the mile markers, as you'll soon see.

9:33 (so crowded!)
8:40
8:44
ummmm
yeah, missed that one too
26:13! (that's for miles 4-6, for an 8:44 average pace)
8:51 (got a bit crowded again)
8:34
8:38
8:39
8:41
8:33
8:05 (explanation below)
:48

So, mile 13. As I got closer and closer to the finish, my stomach got worse and worse. I tried to put it out of my mind, but finally around mile 12.25 I had to zip into a portapotty. Major GI distress. Ugh. I turned my watch off while I was in there and turned it back on as soon as I was done... and then I RACED the rest of that mile to get back on pace.

CHIP TIME 1:55:07
WATCH TIME 1:54:04

Huge thanks to Janeen and especially Jen for their outstanding company, witty banter, laughs, and great support this morning. I couldn't have done it without them!

Kudos also to Heather for her PR! Way to go, girlie!!!