Dear L Train,
Congratulations! You are now registered for Philadelphia Marathon Weekend (November 16-18, 2012). Please check the event's official website for updates:
Circle North sign up here.
I'm registered too.
I'm in now too. Looking for some redemption and a better race here.
I'll see you all for some long runs once I get back from the Philippines in July. Train well and be safe all.
What was I chasing again?
As a newcomer here and possible partcipant in the upcoming marathon, I was just wondering how it all worked. Do you guys fly or drive? Is it difficult to get a hotel room nearby? On what day do you usually arrive? Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.
Well, we've really only done the big group thing once, in Chicago, 2009. For that, there must've been 12 or so of us. We all stayed in downtown Chicago, got limo service to Manchester to fly SW and shared shuttles to the hotel from the airport. We all shared 4 hotel rooms, I think. The whole thing was fun, fairly well organized, but expensive.
Philly feels different to me so far, or maybe just it's too early. Chicago we all had to be registered by April, so we KNEW who was in for sure. Now we have a few people that are registered, many more that aren't but say they might be, and that makes it tough to get a whole group effort thing going. BTW, from what I've gathered, I think most plan to drive.
Some people have talked about staying outside of Philly by the airport I think because the hotels ar cheap and there's shuttle service downtown. That saves everyone money, but also lessens the experience a bit, at least for me. And my family may or may not be coming, sort of depending on our personal finances, so that will throw a wrinkle in for me. If they do come, we (my family) will likely be staying in town so that we can more experience Philly while we are there. But we wouldn't ask everyone to make that financial committment.
I think what we need next is a stronger sense of who's in. Then we can send out emails (not all are on RA) with some hotel options, etc. and have that discussion. Then if we are all going to stay together, someone can book it. If we aren't, we can all do our own thing, and that's OK.
Great, that's helpful. It does sounds like a whole lotta fun. I'm just hoping that registration will still be open when I make a decision in a month or so.
Home Away From Home
Ditto to all L-Train said. Allycia and I are planning on going for sure, I just needed to get back to work to have the money to sign up so after pay day I will sign up. We will probably stay closer to town, i.e. the start line as we would prefer to see the sights around and be able to walk to the start, finish if possible and not have to worry as much about driving. We will also probably drive down since ti is relatively close by.
A group of rooms at a local hotel for us all to stay at would be great but seems to many poeple have different plans on this one and trying to nail people down does seem to be difficult.
MM#5768
"Anyone can do it in ideal conditions"- A quote from a true NE CN runner and friend.
I am in all, see you there one way or the other.
Your registration is complete!
You will receive an email in the next few minutes confirming your registration.
Purchased at: July 08, 2012 06:42 AMEvent Confirmation #: 29845698-070812064236
Thank you
Want some company? Invite a friend to participate!
Event Name: Philadelphia Marathon WeekendDate & Time: November 16, 2012 Location: 22nd Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway (Philadelphia Museum of Art area) (map)
Accomodations booked, 15th thru the 19th at a B&B down town. See you all there.
We're stongly considering an Embassy Suites. (it's not listed on the marathon website) that is very close to the start/finish. (Embassy Suites is also where we stayed in Chicago)
Embassy Suites is good for us because of the whole family thing, and may work for people who all want to share rooms. I know people are talking about staying out by the airport, but thought I'd throw it out there. It's $241/night so not cheap, plus I'm sure you pay for parking. I know Michelle was saying by the airport hotels were under $100/night and she said it's pretty easy to take a train into town or something.
We'll likely book within a week.
I believe we will be arriving Saturday AM around 10:30 and leaving Wednesday.
For those interested we got a B&B a few blocks away from the start, 3 rooms left I think, it is the Manayunk Terrace, we are arriving Thursday, leaving Monday
The friends and family contact I have with Marriott will be getting back to me tomorrow with what they may be able to do. It looks like some of the downtown hotels will also force you into a Fri / Sat booking for those hoping to just go down on Saturday.
I am finding it hard to justify an extra $150 or even more to stay downtown.
I am looking at these two options right near the Airport:
($140 or so) http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phlpa-residence-inn-philadelphia-airport/
or as Michelle suggested:
($110 or maybe less) http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/phlar-philadelphia-airport-marriott/
The Residence in I think I can get like $20 off of the lowest rate. Not sure they offer a discount on the other but my contact is finding out. I can get $10 off of each with AAA.
If I was to go downtown I think i would go to:
http://doubletree3.hilton.com/en/hotels/pennsylvania/doubletree-by-hilton-hotel-philadelphia-center-city-PHLBLDT/maps-directions/index.html
Would be more of the middle ground @ $185/night though parking will run an additional $25 a day.
If folks really want to stay downtown, we better get cracking and make a decision. Otherwise, I think it may be better just to pay for the cab or take public trans. The price difference is a lot beer.
If you are considering 185 a night check out the B&B I listed, close to the start and the next room over Allycia and mine is around that price.
sorry to interupt, but.....
i said i'd like to go to cheer on people and get drunk with the rest of the cheerleaders... um... looks like i'll be doing that from home.
carry on.
In order to see the truth, sometimes you have to loose an eye.
http://www.runningahead.com/groups/Utri/
Are we interested in shirts or something again like we did for Chicago? Just throwing it out there, we seemed to like the idea back then. Let me know, I MAY be able to come up with something.