It was inevitiable, and unfortunately happened a bit sooner than I would’ve hoped, but I’ve neglected my blog.  I’m going to try and get back into things, keep up to date with the races I’ve been doing, and get a few more tech posts out there.  For now though, I’m putting up the rundown of races I’ve done this spring and a detailed review of the brand-new Oddyssey Half Marathon.

Spring Rundown

Last I checked in, I had just finished the Tyler Arboretum 10K Trail Run, and I was a little worse for the wear, having rolled my ankle pretty badly.  As it turned out, the ankle issue was a bit more severe than I had hoped, and I had to stay off of it for quite sometime.  I still managed a few runs this spring, so here’s the run-down of them all along with a quick synopsis of each one.

• 4/10/2010 – Dash for Diabetes 5K – West Chester, PA – This was race #4 in the West Chester Downtown Grand Prix.  It used the standard downtown loop course, which I’ve come to be a big fan of.  There was a great crowd, and the race was well organized.  Unfortunately for me, my ankle wasn’t quite healed, so I ran/walked/hobbled to what may be my slowest 5K ever.
• 5/2/2010 – Blue Cross Broad Street Run – Philadelphia, PA- I was finally back to running normally for this one, and it was great as usual.  Broad Street has been one of the few races that has grown in size, but still feels like a local race and is still affordable (unlike the race formally known as the Distance Run in the fall).  I’ll be back every year as long as they keep it up.  It was HOT that day.  I saw several runners on the ground waiting for EMT attention.  I was trying to pace my sister to a PR, unfortunately, the heat got to us, and we fell about 2 minutes short, but it was still a great race and a great day.
• 5/15/2010 – Good Samaritan 5K – Phoenixville, PA – This was a very small race on the Schuylkill River Trail section that goes from Oaks to Philadelphia.  It was low-key, nothing exceptional, but no complaints either.
• 5/29/2010 – Oddyseey Half Marathon – Philadelphia, PA- Read below for a detailed review, but I think this race has a chance to grow into a pretty cool run.
• 5/31/2010 – Laney Bug 5K – West Chester, PA – Race #5 in the West Chester Downtown Grand Prix. A little bit smaller crowd (~200-300) for this one, but still on the standard downtown loop.  It seems like the next few races in the series will be a bit more crowded; its been nice having a few on the smaller side.  I’m really starting to like the idea of running the same course several times a year.  It gives a nice indicator of progress throughout the year, although it doesn’t help to much that one race had the course covered in a foot of snow and another was run in driving wind and rain.
• 6/11/2010 – Dub C 4-Miler - West Chester, PA – Race #6 in the West Chester Downtown Grand Prix and the first on a different course.  I can’t say enough about the race.  It was well organized for its size (~600).  The course never felt crowded except for the very start on Gay St., but it was well worth it to have the start and finish go straight through the heart of town.  Timing was done with disposable chips and everyone got a really nice Brooks technical running shirt.  Even more, the race was very affordable at $25.  The race had all the amenities of the larger races I’ve been to but at 1/3 the normal price.   I was pleasantly surprised with my time as well.  I ran this at the end of a week where I had really started to ramp up mileage.  The course was rolling hills the entire way, but I managed to run successive faster miles the whole way, coming in at 28:42.  Hopefully that bodes well for my plan to ramp up mileage for my summer running plans.

The Oddyssey Half Marathon

This was the first year the Oddyssey Half Marathon was held.  Overall, I really like the idea of the race.  The organizers put it toether with two main goals in mind.  First, organize a half marathon roughly a month after the broad street run, allowing first time 10-milers to quickly transition to a half-marathon if they’re looking for the next step.  Also, the event has a certain quirkiness about it.  Its definitely a competitive race, but has some nice distractions for the people that are looking just to have some fun.  All in all, I think the race had a great start.  It certainly wasn’t perfect, but the race organizers have it going in the right direction.

Race Organization

I did not make it down to the pre-race packet pickup/expo, so I can’t comment much on that.  I will say that both my sister and I had a friend pick up our packets, and it didn’t seem like there was any issue with that.  That’s always a plus.  The race started at Memorial Hall Green in Fairmount Park.  We parked in the park close to the start, and it seemed like thre was plenty of parking to go around.  The race had commandeered the Mann Center (local concert venue) for overflow parking.  I’m not sure if it was used, but there’s a ton of parking there, so there’s plenty of room for the race to get bigger.

The start was pretty low-key.  There was music playing, and runners pretty much just relaxed on the green waiting for the start.  There were a couple negative points about the start.  For one, there definitely were not enough bathrooms.  The race had almost 700 runners, which is not huge by any stretch of the imagination, but only had a handful of bathrooms.  That certainly will need to be fixed in future years if the race is going to grow.  Other than that, the race started abut 30 minutes late (partially due to the bathroom issues), which can be a bit upsetting for some of the more routine-based runners.  Its somewhat to be expected for the first year I guess, so we’ll see how it goes next year.

Other than that, I found the start to be very relaxing.  The area is nice and spacious, so there’s plenty of room to stretch and warm-up if thats your thing, and even more to just sit down and rest, which is more my thing.  There was a bag check, and it looked like you could also pick up your race stuff that morning, which are both nice perks that I hope stick around in the future.

The finish was well done.  There was plenty of water and food to go around, and they had a band playing, again making the green a perfect place just to lay down in the grass, relax, and wait for the results.  The timing system they used was quite nice.  The ‘chip’ consisted of a small foam pad that was affixed to the back of the bib.  It seemed to work just fine, and the nicer part was that there were computers set up at the finish line where you could get your results almost immediately.  This was all done by Mid Atlantic Timing, and I’d like to see more timing companies provide that service in the future.

The ‘swag’ that we got  could use some improvement.  The price (by the time I got around to registering) was upwards of $70.  That’s pretty steep for a half marathon (though not nearly as expensive as the newly dubbed, Rock N Roll Philly half-marathon).  I’m willing to pay that, but I expect the stuff I get to be consistent with the price.  The shirt was a cotton tee.  While it was nice, for the price, the expectation has become that you’ll a tech shirt at the very least.  The organizers chose to forgo the usual finisher medal in favor of a pint glass.  I liked that a lot.  Its fun sometimes to get something besides a medal for a change.  Really, if they just lower the price a bit or upgrade to a tech shirt, I’d be extremely happy with the gear, but at the high price, I feel like the organizers should throw something else in.

I got one more pleasant surprise a week after the race.  The race photos were actually really, really nice.  Much better than the ones I’m used to seeing.  The photos were done by Action Sports International, which I’ve seen used before, but the photos seemed to have much better close-ups and individualized shots than most races I’ve been in.  I guess it might have been because of the relatively moderate number of participants, but I was still impressed.

The Course

I was running this race with my sister.  After just falling short of getting her a PR at the broad street run, we had regrouped and were shooting for a PR in the half.    That meant a 1:53 for her, and we decided to shoot for a 1:50 knowing that there’d be a pretty sizable hill towards the end.  The course, at least on paper looked very manageable for a PR.  It starts at Memorial Green on the Belmont Plateau.  The first 4 miles meander in and around Fairmount Park, staing mostly flat, as you’re up on top of the plateau.  I really enjoyed this part of the race.  It covered roads and paved trails that I very rarely, if ever, run on, especially in a race.

At about 4 and a half miles, the course drops down off the plateau and heads towards center city on Martin Luther King Drive.  I really enjoy running this direction on MLK Drive, as it gives you a very nice view of Boathouse Row across the river and the Philadelphia skyline as you head towards the city.  Its somewhat disappointing that the other big race that uses this route (Rock N Roll Philly Half) runs the opposite direction, and then back down Kelly Drive.  It really misses out on some great views.  At about 5.5 miles, you reach the turnaround and head back on MLK Drive out towards the Falls Bridge.  This is very familiar territory for me, having run many training runs and races going this direction.  Once you reach Falls Bridge (just shy of 10 miles), you turn and start the run back home.

Miles 4.5 to 12 are basically pancake flat having followed a long loop on MLK Drive.  They make for a relatively fast race, and that showed in the times my sister and I were putting up.  We were well under pace for hitting 1:50, and things looked great for getting her a PR.  These miles were also nice because they featured 2 turn arounds.  Both of them give you a decent chance of seeing the leaders coming through, and also allow you give/get some encouragement if you have any friends just in front of or behind you on the course.

At around Mile 12.5, the course turns and goes back up to the top of the Plateau.  At 12.5 miles, the hill can be pretty rough.  From what I can tell, it climbs about 100′ in about a quarter mile.  For people that are tired out from the race, it can certainly seem pretty daunting.  My sister and I got up the hill pretty slowly, but passed quite a few along the way who had stopped to walk.  Once we were up top, it was just a quick quarter mile on to the finish back at Memorial Green.  We finished well under our goal time of 1:50, even with the hill at the end.

I had seen previous incarnations of the course that reduced the mileage early on in Fairmont Park and added a few miles in the park after climbing the hill at the end.  I have to say I’m in favor of how the course actually ended up.  It’s nice to have the finish right in front of you after that last hard climb, and you can really give it all you have towards the end.  For my purposes, the water stops were spaced at just the right intervals.  They were usually 2-3 miles apart, which is good for me, but I know some people prefer them every mile, so that could be another area for improvement.  Additionally, they didn’t have sports drink at the stops, which is almost a must, especially if the day turns out to be hot.  Overall though, I was a big fan of the course.  Its just different enough from the other races that go out and back on the Schuylkill, and it’s pretty fast.  I hope they don’t change it too much in the future.

The Fun and Quirkiness

The race organizers wanted to create a fun atmosphere for the race so that people could really enjoy it and have a good time.  One of the smaller things they did was have a Facebook page that they actively updated prior to and after the race.  It made for a nice little community, and with all the updates the organizers were putting on it, it got me excited for the race.  I hope they continue the page in the future.  It was also great to see all the commentary on the page after the race was over.

Another feature of the race was the costume contest.  In addition to the running awards, awards were given out for the best costume.  By rough estimate, I would say a good quarter to third of the runners at least had some sort of costume on.  It certainly made the race more interesting as we ran, and I was impressed with the costumes (both in the costumes themselves, and the fact that people could run in them).  I think the costume contest definitely helped to lighten the mood, and it seems like that will only continue to grow year to year.

The race also consisted of several secret, optional obstacles.  The first one did come as a surprise to me.  While running, I saw some chalk writing on the road.  On the left it said free pass, and I missed what was written on the right side.  I was on the right, however, and just continued running.  A few steps later I realized what was going on, as a volunteer lobbed a water balloon right into the “splash zone” I was running in.  The volunteers were great for this, softly tossing the balloons somewhat close to the runners.  Usually they hit the ground just close enough to give you a splash and cool you off a bit.

The second obstacle was a long tube on the ground that you could hop of the course and belly-crawl through.   Volunteers kept the tube nice and wet, hosing it down frequently.   I didn’t see many people going for it, but had I not been pacing my sister, I probably would have given it a try.

The last obstacle we actually missed while we were running out (I think it was actually the first), but I caught a glimpse of it on our way back.  There were two super-sized Jenga towers, and you could stop and try your luck and removing a piece.

The obstacles were fun, but I hope they improve on them next year.  I think they could use a few more, and also the organizers might want to consider incorporating them into some kind of contest.  It seems like it would be fairly easy to mark your bib if you successfully completed an obstacle, and then there could be an award for the fastest runners that completed all obstacles.

Final Thoughts

I really have high hopes for this race.  I’ve made quite a few comparisons of this race to the Rock N Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon (formerly Philadelphia Distance Run) in September.  Over the last few years, that race has become overcrowded, overpriced, and in general has lost its Philly-ness feel.  I’m hoping that as the Oddyssey Half Marathon grows, it’ll come to replace the Rock N Roll run as THE half marathon to run in Philly.  I really like the two core ideas behind the run.  Pairing it up with the Broad Street Run (which has grown while remaining distinctly Philly) is a great idea, and all the obstacles and costume contests really can make this race a fun race that attracts all kinds of runners.

So if the race organizers are listening, keep up the good work.  I had a great time this year, but there are a couple things I think you can improve on.

• Start on time, and get a few more porta-potties (I’m willing to give a free pass on this for the first year)
• Either lower the price or upgrade the freebies that runners get.
• More Obstacles!  They were great, but I was expecting more.  Maybe incorporate them into the race too.
• Add sports drink to the water stops, and consider adding a few more water stops.

Other than that, I was very impressed with the race as a first time race, and I’m looking forward to next year.  For now, I’m ramping up mileage in preparation for the Back on My Feet 20in24 run in July, and will probably be limiting my racing until then.