1/2 Sauer 1/2 Kraut Marathon & Half Marathon

This is a German themed half or full marathon produced by Uberendurance Sports in Pennypack park in Philadelphia. This is always held in June and is known to often be a very hot race. I had my eye on this race when looking for half marathons in driving distance this weekend and on almost the same day that Philadelphia announced allowing outdoor events making this race likely to happen, the nearby Delaware Running Festival that I was already registered for moved to the day after this race and I couldn’t resist the opportunity for two halves less than an hour apart in one weekend. This is a very cheap race ($60-$70) for a race in a bigger city. However it does not have a big city feel so if you wanted a high energy, big city race where you see all the sights of Philadelphia, this is not the race for you. If you want a more laid back, smaller race with easy logistics and a cheap price tag then sign up for this one. There wasn’t as much pre-race communication as some races but the week before you are sent a helpful (and very funny) race guide. Logistics were very easy and smooth. Packet pick-up is either the day before or the morning of which is great since its a Saturday race so I don’t need to take off Friday or find someone to pick up my packet. If you are doing race day packet pickup you have to park at the German club and then take a shuttle to the park. If you picked it up early you can park at the park. It is stressed a lot that for same day packet pick up you must go to German club first. This is a smaller race with about 500 participants so packet pickup was smooth and it was the perfect sized race for right now as it was small enough to pretty much be a normal race. I don’t think there were any special protocols except wear a mask on the shuttle. Packet included a long sleeved zipped jacket with a patch of the race logo. It’s pretty nice but kind of weird for summer swag as I doubt I will use it for several months. The shuttle was super smooth and easy. The start of the race was festive with an accordion player and there were enough porta potties that the lines weren’t too long. Weather was actually pretty good today in the mid 70s. We were lucky we didn’t have last week’s weather. The start of the race was just a normal mass start. It was a big enough race I think some self seeded corrals or at least signs to line up for pace may have helped but the race thinned out pretty quickly. As I said the course is through a park. The park is quite pretty but nothing special. It is as pretty but not prettier than parks we have here in Rochester. The course is a lollipop with 5.5 miles of paved road through the park followed by a loop that is mostly trail then you repeat the same 5.5 miles. The first 3 miles are pretty easy just some minor hills. None of them had to be walked though I did walk a few of them to save energy since I was doing two halves this weekend. The next 3 miles are paved and hilly. I definitely walked these hills and would have walked them even if I didn’t have a half the next day but if you actually hill train and don’t just walk hills like me you could run them. The next mile is bonkers. There is a short portion on grass. Gross I walked this since I didn’t want to get injured and don’t like grass and then a quite technical hill section up to “Mount Cuckoo”. I’ve done worse trails but this was harder than I expected. Not so hard that you need to do trail training or wear trail shoes for just this mile but hard enough to prevent you from reaching your time goals. Mount cuckoo was both my favorite and least favorite part of the course and definitely added to the quirkiness and charm of the race. You then finish the loop and do the steep hills and then the flatter section. The race was pretty well stocked with aid stations but given the potential heat and humidity I would recommend carrying water. It was nice to have normal aid stations with cups of water and gatorade handed to you. One aid station in the middle that you pass twice also had snacks and gels. Half marathoners go through the finish line while marathoners do it again. If you are on the fence about the marathon you are able to chicken out and get an official time and potential age group award for the half marathon (the age group awards are really cool but I’m way too slow a turtle to have a chance). At the finish line you get your medal and there is a nice selection of snacks before you take the bus back to the German club to celebrate. I was aiming for a 2:45 finishing time since I wanted to save energy for my half the next day. I was about a minute and a half slower than my goal. Mount Cuckoo….man. Despite just missing my goal I was super excited to see at the post-race refreshment table there were both twizzlers and granola bars, my two favorite post race snacks. There was also some delicious and refreshing watermelon slices. I think there was other stuff but I got too excited by the twizzlers to remember the rest. The medal is fine. It is on the smaller side for a half marathon medal but not tiny. It has a plain ribbon. It is not distance specific but does have the date. After I ate my granola bar and twizzlers, I took the shuttle back to the German club. There runners can go to the beer garden to redeem their two tickets they got at packet pick up for a beer and a brat (or a diet coke and an impossible burger in my case). Overall I thought this was a fun, solid race and a good price. It wasn’t the most exciting scenery or swag but especially if you are used to big city races this would be a nice break. I’m not sure I would drive down to Philadelphia for this race alone but I’m very happy I did it this weekend when I was practically in town anyways and would do it again if I were in Philadelphia for another reason and would definitely recommend it to locals.