{"id":1059,"date":"2014-07-22T14:06:40","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T18:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2014-07-23T09:41:42","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T13:41:42","slug":"the-in24-philadelphia-midnight-madness-8-4-mile-race-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/?p=1059","title":{"rendered":"The in24 Philadelphia Midnight Madness 8.4 Mile Race Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of firsts for me this past weekend: my first trip to Philadelphia and my first night run. \u00a0Both exceeded my expectations!<\/p>\n

Back in June I entered a draw over at RunKarlaRun<\/a>for a free entry into this race. \u00a0The truth be told I really didn’t think I would win but thought what the heck, why not enter? \u00a0Obviously I did end up winning. \u00a0Apparently the only contests I have luck in are running ones; last year my name was drawn for the NYC Half Marathon lottery on my first year trying and then I won this entry. \u00a0My husband, while happy for me, has suggested I try winning something that actually earns us money rather than costing us \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I’ll be perfectly honest, Philly has never even been on my radar as a place to visit. \u00a0Had I not won the race entry I probably would never have made it to this city. \u00a0I am so glad though that I did get there. \u00a0I love being in a city where I can just walk for hours and Philly met that requirement. \u00a0It is a very “walkable” place\u00a0and my husband and I clocked many miles just enjoying the city. \u00a0Philly is of course full of history. \u00a0I admit to being a little weak in the whole American history thing, but this city made it easy for us to learn about all of the events that have taken place there. \u00a0There were historical plaques everywhere and bus shelters had\u00a0posters saying “This block in the year __________”. \u00a0Just looking at the architecture alone was enough to keep me happy. \u00a0Then there was the food. \u00a0It is very safe to say that my 13.5 km run and all the walking didn’t come close to burning off everything I ate at several excellent restaurants over the weekend. \u00a0I am choosing to not step on a scale for a few days.<\/p>\n

Race kit pick up was held at a downtown running store. \u00a0This was a small race so there was no expo but it was fun to look around the store. \u00a0While there we met Scott, Executive Director of Back on My Feet, Philadelphia. \u00a0Back on My Feet sounds like a phenomenal program that helps homeless people reach new goals and see themselves in a positive light. \u00a0It is a program that has expanded to many American cities and as of 2013 it has seen 1000 members obtain employment. \u00a0I probably can’t do justice to all that this organization does. \u00a0If you love to read how running can change lives I strongly suggest you check out the Philadelphia chapter’s website at\u00a0http:\/\/philadelphia.backonmyfeet.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Meeting<\/a>

Meeting Scott at race kt pick up.<\/p><\/div>\n

Meeting Scott was one of the highlights of the weekend. \u00a0He was so enthusiastic about the race, within moments of meeting him you know why he has the job of Executive Director of Back on My Feet in Philadelphia. \u00a0He was excited to know that we had come from Ottawa so I could do what he called their little race. \u00a0I think he was somewhat shocked when he realized that the race was our soul purpose for the trip. \u00a0He kindly gave us some advice on how to speak with a Philly accent (apparently my pronunciation of “organization” completely gave away the fact I wasn’t a local) and recommended foods to try while in town. \u00a0If I hadn’t already been excited to try this race, Scott’s enthusiasm would have done the trick.<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/a>

Free frozen custard with your bib!<\/p><\/div>\n

I would be lying if I said the thought of safety during a midnight run in a major American city hadn’t crossed my mind. \u00a0This was particularly true when the final information email came out with a note that all runners were strongly encouraged to carry their cell phones. \u00a0But hey, running in a park in the middle of Philly after midnight…what could go wrong, right? \u00a0The fact was I felt perfectly safe throughout the run. \u00a0With only 200 runners I certainly wasn’t always in a pack, but I had no concerns for my safety. \u00a0The path for the most part was well lit, though I did learn quickly to watch the pavement when near the many large trees alongside the route. \u00a0The roots often pushed up the pavement just enough that at night time it could be easy to miss. \u00a0But otherwise I felt very comfortable out there and it was such a unique way for me to see a popular Philly running route.<\/p>\n

We arrived in plenty of time for the race, which was a good thing because it didn’t start exactly where I thought. \u00a0After climbing the “Rocky” stairs and circling around the museum with no sign of the start line, I spotted a couple of ultra marathoners walking on a path below us. \u00a0I ran after one and he very kindly gave me directions to the start. \u00a0For someone who had been running and walking for almost 14 hours at this point, he was very friendly and helpful. \u00a0Had that been me I would have probably struggled to be coherent, much less friendly.<\/p>\n

At the hotel room we had stitched some glow sticks on my clothing, but once we got to the race it was time to do more. \u00a0In the end this is what I looked like (my shoes and compression socks, which you can’t see here were also adorned in neon):<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_1994Reduced\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMG_1995Reduced\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For a while I chatted with a runner who had in previous years taken part in the ultra marathon event. \u00a0Check out her illuminated outfit (that is me on the left, her on the right)<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2003Reduced\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I was impressed with her “glowing” effort but even more impressed to find out in previous years she had completed from 50 to 80 miles (miles,<\/em> not kms!) when competing in the ultras. \u00a0For the in24 ultra\u00a0event runners start at 10 am on Saturday and see how many miles they can complete in 24 hours. \u00a0Our midnight race ran the same loop as the ultra runners, but in the opposite direction. \u00a0It was amazing to have the opportunity to cheer on these runners, probably my favourite part of the race. \u00a0It is pretty difficult to mentally moan about being tired when you see people who have been out there for over 14 hours. \u00a0Remarkably some of them still had the energy to cheer us on too!<\/p>\n

Running in the dark along the Schuylkill River was wonderful. \u00a0I’m sure it is lovely in the daytime but at night it was so peaceful. \u00a0I was surprised by the number of fishermen out at that time of night. \u00a0Halfway through the race you cross over the river and I slowed my pace down and just enjoyed the views. \u00a0Heading towards the end of the race the view included lit up boat houses and the city skyline with the Museum of Art in the foreground. \u00a0I kept debating whether I should stop and take pictures but in the end I decided to just keep moving. \u00a0To make up for it, after the race my husband and I headed to a spot where I knew I could get some shots of the scenery. \u00a0Remember, by this time it was after 1:30 am, so my husband gets bonus points for being the most patient spectator ever \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Some of the views:<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2032Reduced\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Museum of Art and my glow starting to fade.<\/p><\/div>\n

As for my run, I have to say my legs were a little tired from playing tourist. \u00a0That and my stomach might have been a little too full and I can’t say it was feeling happy at the 10k mark. \u00a0Ideally I would have liked to run just a little faster, but I was still in the time range I was expecting. \u00a0I can definitely tell I need to start doing a little more work if I want to pick up my speed. \u00a0But as I mentioned in the previous post, all but one of the female runners ahead of me were younger, so that always makes me feel good \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0While I didn’t have a lot left in me at the end, I had just enough to give a little sprint and a big smile ( I think) as I hit the finish line. \u00a0My medal was handed to me by Scott who asked if it was worth coming all the way from Canada. \u00a0The answer to that was a resounding “Yes!”<\/p>\n

And what do you do the day after a midnight run? \u00a0Head to the waterfront and grab a hammock!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2087Reduced\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And finally, my favourite Philly photo:<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2099Reduced\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of firsts for me this past weekend: my first trip to Philadelphia and my first night run. \u00a0Both exceeded my expectations! Back in June I entered a draw over at RunKarlaRunfor a free entry into this race. \u00a0The truth be told I really didn’t think I would win but thought what the heck, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3amQ2-h5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1059"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1069,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059\/revisions\/1069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}