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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 411 to 421]
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Y. C. from Boston, MA
(11/19/2007)
"Done it twice; look forward to the next one" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I ran this race in 2006 and 2007, and despite the large increase in size in 2007, I'm impressed at how well-organized and well-run it was. Bag check/bag return were quick and hassle-free, the start was organized without being tedious, and the fuel stations were copious. There were lines at the port-a-johns, of course, but not as bad as at other races of similar size (20,000!). The main reason I stayed with Philly is logistics: it's totally hassle-free, so you don't have to think about anything except the running you came to do. I hope they don't try to make the race any bigger than this! I appreciated how smoothly they ran everything and that I didn't really have to think about anything. As big-city races go (I've done Boston twice), this is about as easy as it gets. | |
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Virginia Sticinski from Newark, DE
(11/19/2007)
"Much improved since 2006, but can do better..." (about: 2007)
2 previous marathons
| 2 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 A better organized race this year, but way too crowded at the start with the half-marathoners. Why not stagger the starts a little more - say, start the half-marathoners about 30 minutes after the marathoners?? This would not only take care of a too crowded start, but would also help eliminate some of the "bottlenecks" early in the race. | |
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D. R. from South Jersey
(11/19/2007)
"You Listened Philly!" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I ran Philly this year and last. What a difference a year makes. Despite the fact that the race was much more crowded this year (probably due to Chicago) and actually maxed out, the improvements were noticeable. The expo was spacious and well organized. The line was long for bib pickup but moved quickly and getting my Tshirt was a breeze. As always, the volunteers deserve a HUGE pat on the back. Race day, I didn't have a problem with the portapotties, but I arrived early. Baggage check was a breeze. It literally took me seconds to both drop off and pick up. Refreshments afterwards went smoothly. Kudos to the spectators that braved the cold and rain, they were awesome! You obviously listened Philly and I am so grateful. I love this course and did not want to give up on Philly!!! My only suggestions: 1) what happened to the great gear bag you gave last year?? Man, I was bummed! Mine is just wearing out now and I was looking forward to getting a new one! 2) Better live tracking. This marathon is big enough to warrant the great live tracking like Chicago and MCM, IMHO. 3) Stop touting this race as a FLAT course. Ok, it doesn't have major hills, but most first timers are taken off guard by the significant hills that ARE a part of this course. Especially if those runners ran PDR which is a similar, but much flatter course. Obviously, my suggestions are minor and I plan to run Philly again next year regardless. A little tweaking could make this great marathon incredible! | |
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J. H. from New York, NY
(11/19/2007)
"Good course, good organization, new chip problems?" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Philadelphia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Overall the marathon was a lot of fun, despite the cold weather and rain. There were more than enough fluid stations that were always well stocked, a decent number of toilets throughout the course, and the spectators were fine, esp. given the early start (7 a.m.). My only one major complaint is the new chip system that they used this year. First, because you couldn't use your own Champion Chip, and second and more importantly, because a bunch of people's chips didn't even register on the mats (i.e. no results). I know 4 different people (marathon and half marathon) who all wore their chips, but none of them show up on the results. Not a major deal, but still kind of disappointing. | |
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J. M. from New York, NY
(11/19/2007)
"Philly did itself proud" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly in my 9 marathons - Philly got it pretty much right in 2007. Other than better line control at number pickup (nit-picky), everything was well-organized. I don't expect heated waiting areas before a race as being outside seems reasonable to me. One or two water stops could have been better manned, but this was not Chicago by any means. Medals were very nice and it wasn't hard to move through the food tent and be on my way back to the hotel. Five stars - they did a great job. | |
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E. D. from Aston, PA
(11/19/2007)
"Great Marathon" (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Philadelphia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my first marathon and I was very impressed. I am from Philly and have run Broad St., PDR several times and thought they were organized well. After reading comments from previous years I was nervous about the marathon. The volunteers were great, there was plenty of water, no confusion with the 1/2 marathon and overall a great race. I was especially impressed with the new chip timers and the clear finish line. It was nice to not have to come to an abrupt stop at the finish. The spectators were great... handing out orange slices, Kleenex and even beer! It was truly an emotional experience seeing all the fans. My only improvement would be for the website.... It never mentioned there was a cap of 15,000 runners, so when it sold out, many were disappointed. The expo being at Temple is a bit difficult to get to as well. Overall great race and a great experience! | |
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K. H. from Washington, D.C.
(11/19/2007)
"Great race for a fast time!" (about: 2007)
2 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 This was my third marathon and first time running Philly. In previous years, I ran Marine Corp and Chicago. I came with high hopes of qualifying for Boston and missed by less than a minute. I did take off almost 14 minutes from my time at Chicago last year, so I am still happy. It was a great race and I will likely be back next year. I had read all the runners comments from last year and I think the organizers really listened. Course: I really enjoyed the course. Very pretty to see the city sights and to run along the river and through Fairmont Park. There are not a lot of crowds, but the runners are enough to keep you motivated. The lack of crowds may have been caused by the weather - cold, wind, and rain. Course is fast! A few small uphills between mile 9-12, but nothing to get stressed over. I was surprised by (and not quite prepared for) the number of downhills. I was able to gain a lot of speed on the downhills, but my knees are paying for it today. Good course to run a PR or to qualify for Boston. Baggage check before the race was very easy and convenient. There was plenty of water and gatorade along the course. My only complaint would be the location of one of the water stops. I think it was around the corner from South Street. It was too short of a block for a water stop and the race came to a sudden halt for a few moments as runners turned the corner and stopped for water. The food tent was immediately after the race finished and had plenty for everyone. It felt great to have a cup of hot chicken broth right after the race. I was very pleased with the t-shirt (long sleeve coolmax) and medal. I highly recommend the race. | |
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J. O. from Colorado
(11/19/2007)
"Better than I expected" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I was skeptical about the scale of the improvements needed in this race after I read the dozens of comments about last year's race. Most of them seem to have been fixed but it still remains a work in progress. I stood in line for over 30 mins on Saturday morning to get the race number and the starting line was completely unmonitored right up to the (late - abut 10 mins) start of the race. There were family members mixed in with the runners, and there were no pace signs (7 mins/mile etc). But worst of all, cars were driving through the crowd of runners lining up at the start up to a couple of minutes before the horn sounded. Since it was dark, the potential for injury was high. The chips seem to have worked (despite the widespread skepticism of runners present at the start near me) though my chip and clock times are the same and I know that it took me about 20 seconds to cross the starting mat. I think that many of the continuing problems would be solved by having more volunteers on hand. Compared to other big-city races, they seem to be few in number though not in enthusiasm and assistance. | |
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A. A. from Pennsylvania
(11/19/2007)
"Some surprises this year" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 They moved the start time up 1 hour to 7:00 but started almost 15 minutes late. They also changed the timing system, which we were not made aware of until we picked up our bibs. Long line at packet pickup Saturday afternoon. All of this gave me a bad feeling about this race before the gun went off. They also changed the course heading up to Manyunk by adding a substantial hill, but did not notify the runners. Even so, the race went pretty well, but proper communication with the runners would have made the day a little more enjoyable. These concerns can be easily fixed. The fast course will bring me back again. | |
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Gary Walters from Salisbury Mills, New York
(11/19/2007)
"Race distance inaccurate." (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Philadelphia Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 Dear race director, I personally had a wonderful experience and my training paid off as I obtained my goal to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I did want to let you know that I noticed my Garmin had a different distance and it was confusing throughout the race as I would see your mile markers not matching my clock but you figure somewhere it will straighten out by the finish, it did not. I finished the race and had 26.57 as my distance. It started out that every mile marker was about a quarter of a mile further than my Garmin GPS said then it continually became worse until I ended up with .37 longer than it should have been. I heard many others talking about the same problem. These GPS units are quite accurate and everyone I spoke to came up with significantly longer distances than 26.2. You changed the course this year and I am wondering if someone may have mis-marked it, only slightly but it could have made the difference if either the start or finish weren't moved accordingly. As you know, many hours of devotion go into training to qualify for Boston not to mention the money and sacrifice to ones family. If this proves to be correct. I am hoping you will fix this so that the people who really did qualify can do so. There are ways to figure out what the real distance is and then the corresponding correct times. It is only fair to every participant that this be looked into and corrected. Especially for those that missed qualifying by small amounts. I appreciate your time to this matter, Gary Walters |
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