This race was planned last fall by my new runner friend, Heidi. She then invited her local friend Adrienne (whom I have met & run with).  Both Heidi and Adrienne were bringing their husbands (Heidi’s hubby was even running.) It was also Heidi & Adrienne’s FIRST half marathon. (How exciting!)

Then Heidi invited 2 high school friends, Lisa & Andrea.  I had met neither of them.  They were experienced runners and were traveling solo.  Lisa got her own room so Andrea would be my roommate.

Everyone was driving out except me & Lisa. We were flying.

On Friday, I worked a half day and then flew out to Philly.

Nothing on this trip was easy or went smoothly.  My flight was supposed to leave at 5:15 pm.  It was delayed then we sat on the tar mat for 2 HOURS!!

I finally arrived in the Philly airport around 8 pm. I reserved my shuttle ahead (Big Mistake!).  I don’t want to go into all the details but they got mixed up on the flt time & number and after many calls of hearing “He’s on his way” and waiting 2 hours, I arrived at my hotel at 10:30 pm.  LONG DAY!!

The hotel Heidi picked was the Sheraton Downtown – not the race hotel (which was more expensive.) But the accommodations were fine (clean, comfy bed unfortunately no microwave, fridge or hot tub)

I met my roommate Andrea for the first time. She was awesome.  We got along great.

This hotel was about a mile away from the start of the race which was at the art museum.

The hotel is, however, just a few blocks from the Convention Center where the expo was being held.

The next morning, Andrea (who has lots of food allergies) & I made breakfast in our room (I had tea & oatmeal made creatively with a coffee maker).  Then we met Lisa and walked over to the expo. (I was also meeting Lisa for the first time…just loved her.)  Adrienne and her hubby were going out to breakfast (They have young kids & were savoring every kid-free moment.) and would meet us there. Heidi & her hubby Kevin has decided at the last moment to arrive today rather than last night.

First we got our bibs, then our shirts (tech short sleeved) and a coffee mug.

Then we met up with Adrienne and walked around the expo together.

The expo was a typical expo. Lots of running stuff to buy at good prices. But I really didn’t need a thing so I didn’t buy anything (I was tempted to buy shoes, though!!)  They were giving away free tech shirts from past events so I took 2 of those.

Adrienne got her hair braided…

while Lisa & Andrea got massages.

Then Lisa, Andrea & I walked across the street to have lunch at Reading Terminal Market.  It was great.  You could find anything you wanted to eat.

I forgot to mention that it was raining. Well, pouring. So we decided to take a trolley tour around town.

So we stayed dry and it was really informative.  I learned a lot about the city (I want to go back!) We had planned to get out at each stop but it was too cold and raining too hard.

We did get out at the museum to run up the steps and snap a picture of Rocky.

And also to see the Liberty Bell.

We actually spent the whole  day on the trolley.

We decided to go out to dinner as a group since even Kevin & Heidi had arrived.

Of course we chose a place that served pasta and we walked there (in the rain.)

After a lengthy wait, we got our food and it was very good.  We chatted about the upcoming race, of course, and what to wear with the weather forecast being cold and rainy.

We got back to the hotel rather late but who sleeps the night before a big race anyway? (More about the actual race in tomorrow’s post.  Spoiler: got very very wet!)

 

**Don’t forget to enter my PocketFuel giveaway!

Happy Running! Have you ever been to or run in Philly?