Philadelphia Half Marathon - Part 1

Hello!  I'm back!  After spending the last couple of days in the City of Brotherly Love for the Philadelphia Half Marathon, I am back to share it with you!  This is the first of several posts - Pre-race, Race Day, and Lessons Learned.  So, bare with me as I break this race down in multiple posts.  Here we go!

Saturday morning we got up and dropped Higgy and Pooka off at the kennel.  With their medical issues they cannot just stay home by themselves.

We headed home and grabbed our bags to head to Philly.  We made good time and parked in the garage.  From the garage we headed right to the Expo at the Convention Center.

Once inside, we checked in to get our bibs and goodies.  Then we took our photos next to the race course.  We started this in Florida and decided to do it again.  :-)  I also took a photo of where the corrals would be the next morning.  It was helpful to know how far back I really was!

See the blue?  That was me.  Aaaaaaaalllllllll the way in the back.

Then it was off to buy stuff.  LOL!  I really didn't have high hopes because I knew there wasn't much that was labeled "half marathon."  I got one item (other than the shirt that came with my registration).

It was pricey, but it was the only thing I got so I justified it that way.

After we finished picking out our goodies, we  met up with some lovely blogger ladies who were also racing the next day.  It was so fun to meet other runners and hear all about their running adventures both at other races and what their goals were for the race.

We chatted for a while, then everyone headed off for their last minute prep for the race.  We headed off to the Expo to see what was being offered.  I picked up one other item from the Expo, this one prepping for the Yeungling Shamrock Half Marathon in March.

I bought two of these Sweaty Bands in Green Metallic to match the St. Patrick's Day theme.  I would have purchased one, but they were thinner than I wanted, so I figured two would work.  And to the lovely lady at the booth Saturday afternoon who was running the Philly Half, I hope you had a great race!

We also picked up Yeungling Shamrock Race plastic cups.  :-)  We had a lovely time chatting with the lady at the booth.  She is also running the Shamrock Half that weekend.  It was so nice to chat with others who are running the half, whether it is Philly or Shamrock.

We didn't stay too long at the Expo, then headed to Reading Terminal Market next door for the best cookies at Famous 4th Street Cookie Company.  They are amazing and don't take my word for it

Seriously.  If you can't trust Cookie Monster, who can you trust?  I got my one cookie, which is what I get when we come to the Philadelphia Marathon weekend.  I get a peanut butter cookie.  Yum!

Once cookies were eaten, we headed back to the car to grab our stuff and check into the hotel.  We stayed at the Crown Plaza at 19th and Market.  We've stayed there before and it's a good location both for the race and within the city.  We "unpacked" and got our clothes all set for the next morning.

Then it was carb loading dinner.  Yum!  We headed to

We totally forgot to take food pictures, so you'll just have to make due with descriptions of our meal.  LOL!  We started off with

BRUSCHETTA
Assortment of grilled Italian Breads:
Tomato, Basil and Herbed Goat Cheese   /   Grilled Portabella Mushroom and Aged Provolone
Caponata  /  Pepperonata and Gorgonzola Cheese

Our meals were tasty.  Hubby ordered gnocchi with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.  This actually isn't on the menu, but we asked and they were nice enough to put it together for us.

I ordered the 

Agnolotti Melanzane  pasta filled with roasted baby eggplant, caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts and mascarpone cheese in a shrimp and tomato basil sauce

Mine was also yummy, though for some reason I swore it was linguine noodles.  It was good and that's all that matters!

After dinner, we made a quick stop at the CVS as I forgot a brush.  Oops!  We grabbed candy bars for dessert and went back to the hotel.  We laid low, watched a little t.v. and hit the sack about 10:00 p.m.

Next up: Race Day!