This Sunday, we ran in the Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. This is the first year that Philly has been a part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll series…usually the race is called the “Distance Run”. This was also Christina’s first half marathon and Mary’s second! Although this is not the race we are both training for/working towards (we are training for the Philly Marathon in Novemeber and the Boston Marathon in April- this run was just part of our training for that and we didn’t want to go “all out” for it)…we were both very happy with our results! Christina hasn’t been able to run as much or as fast as she’d like to lately (due to an IT Band problem. Question: Have you ever had IT Band problems…if so, how did you handle it?) so she was pretty nervous for the race and was planning on taking it easy and even stopping at certain points to stretch the IT band out but to her surprise things went smoothly and there was no need for any of that nonsense!
We both held back a little (forcibly slowing down at times) and felt that there was definitely something “left in the tank” after the race was over…which is definitely a good feeling. But even still— we were both VERY happy and pleasantly surprised with the results of the race! Running felt almost effortless- which is definitely not what it always feels like for us on a day-to-day basis! Check out the results…
Christina: Overall: 1769 out of 15411 Division: 56 out of 966 · Gender: 385 out of 8641 Pace: 7:50
Mary: Overall: 1676 out of 15411 · Division: 52 out of 966 · Gender: 362 out of 8641 Pace: 7:47
On Saturday we headed to the Expo at the convention center to pick up our race T-shirts (Brooks sponsored the event!), swag bags, and Bib numbers. The expo was really awesome- lots of free goodies and cool merchandise! We managed to snag a bunch of LaraBars…including the new flavors!!!
Amongst the merchandise at the expo was Power Balance. We have seen a ton of people wearing these bands so decided to check out the Power Balance stand at the expo and yes, we got suckered into buying a band. What is Power Balance you say? Well..
Power Balance is Performance Technology designed to work with your body’s natural energy field. Power Balance is based on the idea of optimizing the body’s natural energy flow, similar to concepts behind many Eastern philosophies. The hologram in Power Balance is designed to resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body.
The guy who worked for Power Balance did “tests” on us. They had us stand on one foot with our arms out forming the letter “T”. The guy would push down on our arm and tell us to resist the force. We would then lose our balance. Then he had us wear the bracelet and he performed the same test. Somehow, we were able to resist the force better and maintain balance. Then he had us twist our arm behind our back as far as we could go. He marked the point where we were able to bring our arm and then asked us to put the band on and twist again. We were able to move our arm a good 8 inches more.
We were both pretty skeptical of all of this. And so was another customer who was with us. He made them do “blind tests” and we questioned the company for a good thirty minutes! They must have hated us! Then another customer came up and said how much it has helped his running. It basically compensates for inbalance in the stride and helps you have an energy efficient, strong stride. The man claimed he now has better runs because of it too. Who knows. Could it be psychological?
The funny thing is, during our run we both were both thinking the same thing- that our stride felt powerful and running felt almost effortless; at some points we were running 7:30 splits without almost any effort. Could it be the POWER BALANCE bands!? possibly. or it could be in our minds… either way, we wore it and had a good run. plus its kind of cute to wear…if that is the kind of “jewelry” you are into!
Q: Do you have the power balance band?
this is the customer who was raving about the Power Balance bands… he was coming back to buy new ones.
Rocking out at the expo…
They had a “finish line” at the expo…very cool! The finish line ribbon was a little tall for us short people!
This is us in our apartment in Philly after the race…
We had a great time at the race! Running definitely has its highs and lows but the feeling you are left with after race day is exactly why we race. You do not question why you run, why you train, why you put yourself through agony at times…and most of all…you feel absolutely amazing!
After the race, we walked back to the apartment to shower and then walked to Sabrina’s Cafe in South Philly for brunch with friends (Todd-Mary’s boyfriend, Evan- Todd’s brother, Tina-Evan’s GF, and Lauren-all of our best friends!). Sabrina’s was absolutely delicious and we all had a great time together!! Forgot how great that place was…
We are still waiting for the official race photos…hope they come out good!
Question: Did you race in the Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon this weekend? If not, did you race in another race?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
you guys are so speedy! congrats on running great races! i ran a 5k which was interesting considering how i think of myself as such a long distance runner.
as for the power balance. i used to be a HECK NO to anything that wasn’t “real”, or I guess the better way of saying it is tangible. but I feel like I’ve become more open minded to that stuff and it’s definitely intriguing! thanks for sharing
thats great karyn…good to shake things up a bit every once in awhile… I saw your write up on your blog about the race- sub 20… congrats!!!! how did it feel? and who knows if that power balance band is legit or not— we definitely got “suckered” into the whole thing– impulse buy for sure haha but you never know! ill do anything to get faster! hahah hope you had a nice weekend
in San Diego I did the test with EFX Bands! I bought the ones you stick in your shoes and hey it works (even if its all in my head it stuff works!) and about the ITBS-ouch. It plagued me during marathon training but with disciplined foam rolling (and lots of it), icing after every run, and doing abductor and hip flexor exercises I was able to get it back under control. hasn’t bothered me in the last few months!
You guys are amazing! I hope to run in a half one day. I just finished my first 5k, so I have to work my way up
Your times were so fast – you should be extremely proud! 
Thanks for your comment and Congratulations on finishing your first 5k!! Races are so exciting no matter what the distance.
Congrats on the half marathon! You guys look like you had a lot of fun!
Sorry about the IT band issues, Christina. That does not sound fun. I’ve never dealt with them myself, but I’m sure I will in the future. I’ve read a lot of blogs who have had IT band troubles, I remember that its common in ‘experienced runners’ and foam rolling helps
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