Jason Bosslett's Staging Area

The Good – Philly is always a great *race*. The actual course and support is top notch. A bit of a quiet area during some critical areas (22-24) but the scenery along the river is great. Once you hit mile 25, the crowd definitely brings it.

The bad – On the course, aid stations were very inconsistent. Some had Gatorade up front, others had Gatorade after water. Some aid stations had porta-lavs – others didn’t. Not a deal breaker but something that could be fixed very easily with a little better co-ordination. It did cause a lot of confusion with runners at times.

The ugly — The start village! UGH!!! And not the first time – I remember similar issues in 2017 when I ran. There are three major things they can improve. Getting there is awesome – 100% great experience. The race has busses that pick up runners from affiliated hotels and drop you off outside the village.

Then, you get to stand in line for security. We waited almost 25 minutes (being dropped off at 5:45am for 7:00am start). I get the need for security and 100% support it – it’s just the backup sets in motion a whole downward spiral of problems once inside.

Porta-a-Johns — This! The lines for the porta-johns are ridiculous. The humorous thing is that there are dozens outside the secure area (for those waiting to come inside) that aren’t being used. Meanwhile, inside, the average wait for a porta-john is 30 minutes or more. Any experienced marathoner knows that there is a “timing” required – go too early, and you’ll be looking to get in line again which is futile. At the race start, each line was a minimum of 20 racers long.

Bag drop-off — Philly implemented a new system of bag drop off that requires each bag to be re-tagged. This, also, resulted in lines for 25+ minutes to drop off a bag. The re-tagging is done for no good reason since each bib comes with a race number tag to affix to the bag. Combine this with the impossible lines for the porta-johns and you can see the issue.

Post-race – Race finish was fantastic; at least when I got there. A runner that finished about an hour later complained of backups getting through the food tent. However, I had no problems other than trying to claim my bag (since I had to give it to another runner as my corral was under 5 minutes from starting).