ING Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon [09/19/2010]

We'd registered for the ING Rock'n'Roll Half marathon in Philadelphia to assess our preparedness for our respective marathons.
Prepped Maggy up before Manasi picked her up for the weekend. Bless her heart!
The drive to Philly on Friday was quite stressful to say the least. Thanks to the fuckin I-495 beltway. Well, the supposedly 3 hour drive took us almost 6! Not good, especially when we were guests at a nephew's place who I hadn't met...ever! The couple, Kirti & Abhijit, was understanding and we had a good time chatting and catching up.
Saturday found us at the race expo where we picked up the race packets and walked around and bought a few things for Madhura. A couple of free beers helped cheer us up. And the double decker city tour ride too. A sumptuous lunch at the food market...yumm!!
Met up with Madhav and Gauri and had a nice dinner at P. F. Chang's.
Slept at a decent time and woke up at 5am. Abhijit dropped us off at downtown Philly. Grabbed a couple of bananas and half a bagel. Checked our bags in. A good warm up and we lined up at our respective corrals. The crowd was terrific. 25,000 strong! Amazing to see how such a large crowd got to the startup area, which basically covered the WHOLE of Arch street, starting from the Philadelphia musuem of Art! All without any chaos or accident.
The race started and I had my Garmin on. Started with a good stride.
The Garmin lost its signal less than 1M in. That was expected amidst the tall downtown buildings. So well...fine! All I could use it was as a timer.
I made sure I got a cup of water at every break station. My biggest concern was my sore ITB. I had my ProTek band on. A little too tight. It was holding up. No pains.
Found someone's shoe pouch with a car key in it! What a bummer to the chap who lost it. Stupid on his part to try out the pouch they handed out in the race packet. Drives the point home...not to try anything new on race day. I picked it up and wanted to give it to a voluteer who I thought might get to the finish before I did. Ended up carrying it all the way myself.
Started on the gel I had at mile 7. Grabbed a couple more at 8M. The run was awesome. Saw a few runner drop out. Some were limping bad. Some dropped out of exhaustion. But the crowd support was amazing. A band at every mile. Very cool.
At about 10m, I felt the exhaustion set in. The ProTek band started getting uncomfortable. I loosened it at 11M, I think. Maybe that was not a good idea. The temperature was about 75deg F. Pleasant.
Was really exhausted at 12M. More so when I knew that I would not be able to finish it within 2hrs.
Try as much as I could, inspite of all my plans, I couldn't manage a negative split.
My splits:

I was in quite a bit of pain after the race. The walk back to the train station was not pleasant. All this inspite of loads of R.I.C.E and foam roller and ultrasound therapy.
My am seriously re-evaluating my plans for the Marine Corp Marathon. Unfortunate and heart-breaking as it may sound, I might have to defer.
Lets see, maybe, more of the therapy might help. Madhura suggests that I do not attempt the marathon. And avoid long term injury. She has been right earlier. My heart does not agree though. All this effort that I have put in training...will be for nothing. Well, atleast thats how it sounds.
Pity we forgot the camera. No photos of this Philly trip.