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☰
Philadelphia Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Philadelphia Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.3 
Organization 3.6 
Spectators 3.8
Number of comments: 749 [displaying comments 321 to 331]
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Carlo de la Rama from New Jersey
(4/8/2008)
"the turnaround sucks" (about: 2007)
3 previous marathons
| 3 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The first half is wonderful. it starts downtown and throughout South Street. The worst is the turnaround. From the time you encounter the art museum (the second time), you run a loop and go back to it. If you're struggling after mile 14, you will continually wonder when the turnaround will appear. | |
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D. A. from VA
(3/10/2008)
"A tough turnaround" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Philadelphia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I love Philly, and I loved running through it. The course is terrific with one HUGE exception: marathoners must run past the half marathoners' finish line, which, for me, created a tough mental barrier. I passed thousands of cheering fans for the half runners, but I had another 13.1 to go, and almost immediately, the route gets into a beautiful but nearly spectator-free area. Fortunately, the all-too-short Manayunk area was filled with exuberant fans. The expo could have been better organized; there were long lines without clear signs about where to be, and some of us were picking up our own bags. The buses to the expo were reliable, but we took a cab from the expo to our hotel because it was cold, and there wasn't a bus, and we didn't feel like waiting. The hotel we stayed in - near the art museum - was a dump, and I wouldn't list it as a choice even though it's remarkably close to the start and finish, and there's Starbucks and Whole Foods a couple blocks away. It was tough to find the post-race meeting area - the wind kicked in, and the balloons were blown away. The good news is that the weather was just the way I like it - cold and cloudy - and I ran a 15-minute negative split and my second best time. | |
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K. T. from Philadelphia, PA USA
(3/7/2008)
"This race keeps getting worse" (about: 2007)
3 previous marathons
| 3 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 This was my third Philly Marathon and it keeps getting worse! The first time I ran there was no half-marathon and it was a great race. The course is too narrow at the beginning to have so many runners taking off at the same time. I had to practically walk at times for the first 6. I was so frustrated by the 10K mark this year, that I almost bagged the race and met my family for breakfast!! The half needs to be taken away or the course needs to change! | |
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T. C. from Ottawa, ON
(2/29/2008)
"Great race (esp. for those who haven't trained)!" (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Philadelphia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Pros -course was flat and fast (mostly) -great volunteers and spectators -really nice runners; met people from all over the US -more than enough food at the end of the race Cons -HUGE bottleneck for the first 6 miles because the half and full marathons started together -the race shirt color was blah (gray) This is definitely a race I would consider running again and again!!! | |
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Doug MacGray from Wilmington, Delaware
(12/30/2007)
"Heartily Enjoyable First Marathon" (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Philadelphia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I ran my first marathon, and this was a very well run event for the uninitiated. My only problem was that the fans were great and numerous in the first half, causing me to run faster than I should, and the second half is a bit more lonely for large stretches. Plenty of water stops, Gatorade and gel packs. The volunteers and fans were very good. I am considering another try next year. | |
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m. w. from ottawa, canada
(12/28/2007)
"A fair but not flat course" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Philadelphia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Fix the running expo and number pickup, work a little bit on the water stations and start the race on time and this would be an excellent race. Didn't run the old course but suspect that this new course is a little hillier than the old. That's okay; all in all, it is an interesting tour of the streets of Philadelphia (you need to hum Springsteen as you run) along with the zoo and river tour (hum what you want). The food (great big pretzels and hot chicken broth) were amazing. The PA announcers made the finish fun and interesting. Mixing the half with the full may cause some problems but I like the feel at the start of the huge marathon thanks to the presence of a lot of half marathoners. Did not find they unduly slowed me down. Given past posts, I think this marathon is on the right road. | |
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B. D. from Cambridge, MA, USA
(12/27/2007)
"Too many basic mistakes" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 My biggest gripe with the race is the fact that, even though the website claimed that ChampionChip would be used, it was not. Instead, an inadequately tested "paper" chip was used, and was a disaster. Many runners did not receive official times. One of my teammates was in this group of missing persons; her first email resulted in her getting a time that was off by 4 minutes; and 2 weeks after the race the official website was updated to give her a time that was, we think, roughly correct. The official photos were more use than the chips. And none of these problems were ever acknowledged by the race directors. Other problems have been noted elsewhere - the biggest in my mind was a failure to start the race on time. I was well and truly cold when we finally set off at 7:15. This is basic stuff - you don't wait till race start time to start towing illegally parked cars off the course. Given the large crowds, some sort of corral arrangement, even to help with self-seeding would be a wise idea. Many races this big will at least provide a front corral for "sub-elite" runners (e.g. those in the sub-3-hour range). Other aspects of the race (Gu, water, etc.) seemed fine to me, but I wasn't running in the most crowded part of the pack. The course is indeed not pancake flat (and who knows if it will get changed at the last minute again as it did this year) but I did find it a reasonably fast course. | |
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C. T. from Philadelphia
(12/20/2007)
"Needs new race director - period." (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 The organization gets worse each time I've run Philadelphia. This year the expo was a fiasco; allowing traffic to cross the start on 22nd Street up to 7:00 a.m. was a joke; the race started late - in the rain; there were no corrals (why ask our time if you are not going to seed?); the water stops again were often too short or too narrow; the course was changed from the year before, but the new course map was never provided... I could go on and on. It may seem like I am picking on the organizers, but frankly they deserve it. These mistakes are rookie mistakes - ones that a marathon that strives to get bigger each year (as Philly is trying) should not be making. It is time for them to get a real race director, not the flunky from City Hall. | |
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s. t. from New York
(12/7/2007)
"I loved this race" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Philadelphia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This was my fourth marathon and my favorite so far. For such a large race, I have no complaints about organization. It seems that they really did everything they could to assist the runners, with surprisingly frequent water stations, clocks at every mile, and lots of love for the back of the pack. I wish they had some other source of food than Clif Shots, because my stomach can't handle those things, but that's a personal preference. I thus got hungry later in the race. There are two hills that seemed significantly steep, but neither were particularly long. You couldn't ask more from a course. We got to run through downtown, through parks, and along a river. I didn't mind the 12-mile round trip out-and-back at the end of the race. I actually enjoyed watching the faster runners coming the other way. Spectators were sparse but enthusiastic. God bless the spectator with bagels at mile 19/21. He saved my life. :) | |
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K. B. from Connecticut
(12/7/2007)
"Much improved" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I ran the Philly Marathon in 2005 and wrote my critical review. In reading the reviews from last year, it got no better in 2006 (maybe worse). So it's only fair that I write a review for 2007. Upon arriving at the expo, I wasn't too hopeful that there was any improvement. We were met with a really long line, although it did move reasonably quickly. We weren't directed where to go after getting the bib number, and had to ask around to know. After finally getting our bag (the pick-up obviously placed to force you through the expo), we realized that we had no pins for the bib. We went back to the table and were told we could only have two pins because they were afraid they'd run out. Huh? We went to bed expecting the worst the next day. What a surprise we got. Other than a 15-minute late start, everything ran really well. No long lines for toilets, and easy bag drop-off (and pick-up). It was a bit crowed at the start, but I've seen much worse. The Philly course is great. The weather was perfect - not just cool, but only about a 4-degree difference from start to finish. The finish was organized and the food tent a very short walk. I have to give the Philly folks their due. You made a huge improvement. It's not Steamtown yet, but a couple more years of improvements like this and you'll rank as one of the best. |
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