Philadelphia Marathon Roll Call

It's getting closer!!! Eek!

Jeremy went to the press conference yesterday for the Philadelphia Marathon. He is doing research for them, so all you runners be sure to fill out the online survey after the marathon, J wrote it. I am also supposed to remind people that the same question is asked three or four different ways on purpose. Apparently marathon runners like to complain about this stuff after filling out the surveys. But it's for a very scientific purpose! I have no idea why, something about the control group and blah, blah, blah...research stuff. So there, just in case you were wondering.



So apparently when Mayor Nutter saw a poster with the marathon's famous tagline hanging at the press conference, he wasn't too happy. He even made some remark about not using the ad agency again next year.

How dumb is that? Yeah, with everything that goes on in this city, that's really what the Mayor needs to be worried about. That the posters may or may not reference the word ASS.

And is this the first time he has seen this? The campaign has been up for months!

Anyway, enough about that. Who's excited about Sunday?!!?! I finally got my bib number yesterday: 6591. Jeremy's is 6590. I'm pretty sure they will have a tracking system on the website.

Jeremy is still feeling pretty crummy, but we are hopeful he will start feeling better soon. And luckily, it has not been passed to me yet. I'm sure I will get sick as a dog as soon as I cross that finish line...

So I can't believe how many bloggers are running Philly this year. I just wanted to do a quick roll call and give a shout out to anyone who is running this weekend.



First, there is Lil Runner who is making a game day decision on doing the full or the half. She is running her very first Philly marathon (or half marathon) for two. Maybe one day, years from now, they can run it again and she can tell tales about the day they ran it together in '08 (and Jr gave her that damn side stitch...that went away at mile 2 of course).

joyRuN is running her very first marathon this Sunday in Philly just days after her birthday. She's been training like mad, running great and I think she's the one person who is suffering from taper madness more than I am right now. She's going to do awesome!

Actually, Denise is suffering from a bit of taper madness as well (posting weather updates and last minute gel changes on her daily posts, anyone?). Ha, I think we all can relate. I just recently started reading her blog, but it's great. She is running really strong and is going to kick butt (asphalt) in her first marathon on Sunday.

Flyers26 is running his training runs so fast lately, I am starting to wonder if he is half-Kenyan. He's also running his first 26.2 on Sunday and I think this guy is going to blow us all away.

Then of course there is Ted, who was on a bit of a hiatus the past couple of weeks (we didn't forget about you!). He claimed in his last post that he was feeling a bit negative lately but I think we all sort of get there a little bit towards the end of training. Don't let that attitude fool you, Ted is a fantastic runner and going to rock this marathon.

Program2000 had to drop down to the half due to an achilles issue (I feel you, I had to do the same thing last January) but he has been feeling good and is ready to go on Sunday. Lets send him and his achilles good, healing vibes... Just think, a half-marathon just means your lucky butt will be able to drink a beer that much faster than the rest of us! Save me one!!!

And in our cheering section, we have ShoreTurtle (who's blog we still love even though he went to Michigan *shudder*). ShoreTurtle is not running on Sunday, but he has run it in the past. He is also thoughtful enough to get his butt out of bed on a freezing Sunday morning to run to various locations along the course and cheer on strangers all day. That's a true runner right there. With my friends and family being so far away, it makes me happy to know there will be at least one person out there cheering for us.

If I forgot anyone, let me know. Also, anyone running Philly (or another race) feel free to leave a bib number so we can track each other. Does everyone have their outfit planned yet? I want to know what I am looking for while I am out there.

And I know that this is a big race, but there has got to be a place where we can meet up. J and I have to go to the expo on Saturday morning/early afternoon and then are grabbing some lunch at the market (right next door). Maybe an expo meet up or possibly an after-the-race-pic on the Art Museum steps or in front of Rocky? Let me know if anyone is in.