the philly marathon is soon...really, really soon. a few minutes ago it was 8 days, 19 hours, 54 minutes, and 8 seconds ago...and now it's even closer than that! i'm totally excited to finish my last big event before the Ironman Team training officially kicks off. and i'm totally excited to be running through my old neighborhoods. seriously, this run is going to be like a run through memory lane...and did i mention that i'm really glad that tour is super flat (minus that long slog out to west philly that looks flat but from a year of riding a junky bmx bike from class to "the big house" i can tell you it is totally not flat at all)
Here's a look at the full map. The first half is going to be lots of familiar territory. The second half is going to be a nice long run out from the art museum down kelly drive where there are a lot of trees, the river, and beautiful views. it doesn't feel like the city at all, which is probably why when i lived there i didn't go out there much...with the exception of two really fun times. First the day I got my first serious bike. I bought it at a shop in north jersey because it meant we could make a stop to eat a singing cowboy at the awesome vegan resturaunt up in some beach town that i've long forgotten the name of, and it meant no tax. it was an area with a poor economy so the state had removed sales tax in a hopes that it would pull in visitors and shoppers. fortunately for me it meant that my very first big purchase, a bike that cost about $1,400 at the time, was tax free. woohoo! the evening we got back from the beach me, the bf at the time, and his bff went for a ride along the bike path on kelly drive. in the pitch black. it was my first time in clipless pedals and i said lets go slow. they laughed at me because i ended up blowing them out of the water and wanted to ride fast. you know when you go from riding a junky tank of a mountain bike to a real deal road bike you instantly get like 8x faster. the second memory i'll have while running down kelly drive is going to be about mr. cossman. this one year i really wanted to go up to coney island for the mermaid day parade but i ended up having to go to work because the gal who shared weekends with me didn't really share the weekends with me. i had my rollerskating mermaid outfit all set up and ready to go (a 50s style bathingsuit with skirt, a green sequin belt, and rollerskates covered in green sequins). since i was so bummed about having to work, steve and i went out for our own mermaid day parade along kelly drive. i skated and he skated boarded while wearing a tshirt that said i (heart) mermaids. how fun!
on closer inspection you can start to see all the place i've lived that fall so close to the course. we'll be starting right near x806x "we have more friends than you" apartment on the parkway where i had amazing roommates pojo & michelle from the g*hetto. they were the two most different girls ever but we had the most fun living in the apartment together. we'll run down the parkway to LOVE park where i remember watching Marc skateboard when i first moved to the city & remember going there so early in the morning one day when we had all stayed up all night long. not a soul was stirring, a rare sight to see in smack dab middle of town. then past the PNB building where i had my first job in the city and loved what i did and didn't realize how great it was until years later. then past the troc where we went to a million shows while in highschool and then years later i dated the sound guy and got to go to loads of shows and sit at the boards or the boards on stage (how fun!) . we'll run down columbus boulevard which i distinctively remember avoiding at all cost because of the meat market clubs, but there were a few rare occassions where folks i knew put on shows or events down there and it would be a funny mix of the usual crowd for the area and the punk rock kids showing up.
we'll run past the big old cruise ship that had been the spot all the celebs went in its heyday but is now sitting and costing thousands of dollars a day to dock (the story in the city paper years ago shocked me!). Then up front street which I think is where hodges and lori once lived with a gal we had worked with at kinkos. there were some exciting stories that came out of that terrible job and experience, but i'll try to forget that memory and remember how awesome hodge's hamburber phone was! 
then down south street...i've heard it's nothing like it had once been. even when i worked there and it was a really close knit community of folks from the shops it had even started to stray from the days of when this awesome punk rock shop named Veem had been the spot my friends and i loved to go and we were always amazed by the guy who worked there with the biggest liberty spikes you've ever seen. i'll pass by the spot that had been zipperhead and remember my friends there and will liekly sing a bit of the dead milkmen's punkrock girl in my head.then we'll pass tattooed mom's my favorite bar in the city for how divey it is and how it has perogi tuesdays and the world's best grilled cheese ever. then passed the spot that had been time zone, where i had worked for years and the write up online about how the people who worked there were too totally cool always made me laugh. we'll head back up to chestnut and through the gayborhood. i'll like about the time i was sitting on my stoop and the nightwalker asked me what name she should go by that night and then seeing her later talking to some guy by the corner store that i'm sure didn't realize she was a man. then it'll be out over the bridge to west philly. up 34th street and go right past my first living situation in the city - the drexel dorms on race street. i'll probably remember the fun show i put on with wkdu in the quad or the feeling i had looking at the dorm, being totally sick, and seeing a film crew shooting our building. i didn't know it at the time but my upstairs neighbor had passed away from menengitus which will remind me of that time i went to a party and left before ed kissed like every girl there and became known as edengitus because he came down with menengitus within 24 hours. which will remind me of slegel and then of that awesome zombie ball i threw at 11th and ellesworth where slegel was the best zombie business man i ever met.
anyway, it'll be tons of fun and even as i sit here thinking about all the memories i'm sure to during my run i'm getting home sick. i love california, but philly does really feel like it is where i became me. there are lots of fun things i miss about the city but the biggest one is being close to my family and easily being able to jump on the high speed line and be home to visit.
i'm looking forward to running and then doing my best rocky impression. you know, in all the years i lived in philly i never once ran up the the steps but i have seen the footprint plaque & have definately enjoyed the view from the top of the steps at the art museum over looking the city. i'm pretty sure there will be no more run after the marathon, but maybe i'll move quickly up those steps and go for the rocky pose.
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