Back in September 2025, my wife and I ran the Philadelphia Distance Run. This race has a long history (kind of). There used to be a race called the Philadelphia Distance Run which dated back to 1978. This was rebranded as the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half Marathon back in 2010 which I ran in 2011 through 2018. It was relaunched as the Philadelphia Distance Run in 2021 and this was the first year my wife and I decided to run it again. I was in the middle of a marathon training plan for the upcoming Harrisburg Marathon and Philadelphia Marathon so this distance fit perfectly into my training plan.

The race is being run by a local Philadelphia group now and is very much a lower key but still well run event taking place at the same time of the year as it had been in the past. Having not run this race for a few years the logistics around the race were the most noticeable for me. In past years the expo for the race was a good sized event and was held at the Philadelphia Convention Center with big sponsors and a large expo. This year’s packet pickup and expo was much lower key (I cannot speak for 2021-2024). This year, packet pickup was held at Lloyd Hall which is behind the Philadelphia Art Museum on Boathouse Row.

Honestly, the expo was quick and efficient thanks to the volunteers. I probably spent more time waiting for a parking space to open up than I spent inside the expo getting our bibs and t-shirts. Everyone there was really helpful and made the process easy. All left to do was to set up my ‘Flat Ian’ for the morning and get a good nights sleep.

We traveled down to Philadelphia in the morning. The weather was in the 50s that morning, good conditions for running. We made our way to the starting area at Eakins Oval to drop off our bags and headed to the start line area.

We both set off together and followed the crowd in our corral. We settled into a steady rhythm and we seemed to be holding a good pace for the first 10K. The course ran us down from the start line on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to Logan Circle before looping us back up the Parkway and onto Kelly Drive before crossing over to Martin Luther King Drive before a turn around brought us back to Kelly Drive to finish at the Art Museum steps, essentially running an out and back on both sides of the river.

I had noticed the day before, when I drove down Kelly Drive to Lloyd Hall for the expo, that they were repairing the road so there were some rough patches with raised manhole covers. That would be something to keep an eye on running back to the finish on tired legs, but for now we were making good time and keeping an even pace with each other. Funnily I thought I was running to keep up with my wife and she thought the exact same thing, that she was running to keep up with me, so eventually she asked if we could slow down and take a quick walk break. 

The race describes this course as the flattest half marathon and Philadelphia, and from experience they were correct. It was a nice change and allowed us to keep a steady pace. We settled in for the out and back across the bridge. It was pretty uneventful, which in some ways is a good thing, and the volunteers at the aid stations were encouraging as we passed. As we approached the Falls Bridge to cross over the river around the 6 mile/10K distance, it was definitely warming up so reaching the water station became more of a priority on the back half of the race. Once over the bridge it was an out and back to the turnaround at mile 8.5. I will admit, that it seemed forever to reach the turnaround…it always seems closer on the course map!!

The water stations were manned by various groups including some of the local high school teams which made them fun to run past and see how different they each were.

We slowed down a bit on the second half of the course as it was warming up and we were on the back end of our run, but we were pretty consistent making our way back to the finish line.

We approached the Art Museum and the crowd support started to ramp up. It was a fun last mile in with everyone cheering us on. The finish line was in front of the Art Museum steps so as we rounded the corner of the Art Museum it was a quick dash up to the line. Once through the line we were given our medals and ushered out the finish chute. We were handed ‘cans’ of water as we walked on which is a first for me at a race. I think many people did not know what this was as they were questioning the cans.

We walked back to the bag drop to get our possessions before making it back into Eakins Oval to sample some of the post race refreshments and treats. We enjoyed the cans of ice coffee. Very refreshing.

We liked the medals. They were on point with the color scheme of the day and the Keystone State shape of the medal.

We enjoyed our time at the race. I would definitely recommend it as it is flat and fast and the views cannot be beat when running along both sides of the river. The race was low key and well put on by the organizers. If you are only going to do one half marathon in Philadelphia this is a good time of year providing it is not too hot (we have ran the old Rock and Roll races in hot and humid conditions). Give it a go and have fun.

Thank you for reading.