The Philly Marathon or Jutta's Big Win!

Special Events Organizer Patti Teske from Tri & Run Sports hosted a group of 15 runners from the Quinte area this past weekend at the 16th Annual Philadelphia Marathon, Half Marathon and 8k runs. While the group converged on downtown Philly on Friday with the main purpose of running their races, they had the added benefit of extra time to tour the city and learn about its rich history prior to race day and then enjoy the Irish Pubs afterwards.
The City of Brotherly Love was generous to Quinte runners with many of them running personal records (PR) on the ?not flat but fast? course. The marathon had 7480 finishers, 4367 men and 3113 women. The top woman was our very own Jutta Merilainen of Batawa finishing first woman in a PR of 2:46:44. Close behind was Jeff Walsh in a PR of 2:56:35 and newbie marathoner Tony Nelson in 3:27:40; all qualifying for Boston. Other marathoners enjoying the hospitality of Philly were Cathy Warren (5:18:55 PR), Petra Austin (4:19:57 PR), Janet Allaire (4:57:43), Jerry DiRocco (5:00:33) and Chris Berneche (3:47:40).
In the half marathon newbie half marathoner Jennifer Tretina ran an even race to finish her first half in 1:47:41 placing her in the top 900 runners out of over 7000, 53 out of 4654 women. Running with Jenn were Jeff Musson (1:54:15 PR), Patti Teske (2:34:31), Jane Clement (2:34:27), Jerry Vickers (2:34:21) and newbie Mark Allaire (2:17:28). Running with 1573 8kers; 573 men and 1000 women was Nancy Cooper who completed the 8k in 1:07:56.
Philadelphia was a positive experience for our local runners, all commenting on great race organization, beautiful and challenging course and tons of spectators. The locals were friendly and helpful and the downtown atmosphere was party like and welcoming. If you are thinking of doing this race in 2010, sign up early as all distances sold out this year. If you would like to participate in a group offering from Tri & Run Sports our next tour will be Disney 2011 for the half, the full or if you?re a little Goofy you can do both! Registration in January 2010 is recommended as this popular destination race fills quickly.
In a PS to this topic I was registered to race but was unable to attend due to work obligations. So what is a runner to do when you have spent four months training for an event that life gets in the way of? Well you could pout (which I did), you could get mad (which I did) and then you could go running...WHICH I DID! I was privileged to run with some great friends on a beautiful day in the woods, stomping through the water and getting muddy. While we ran we got updates on all the Philly runners, watching their races unfold. So while I didn?t get to share in person, we revelled in their accomplishments which made our day brighter and our run more joyful. As Jutta said regarding her win, "shared joy is double joy"!