Only 26.2 miles to the finish line

Not many students can claim to have felt the emotional rush and physical drain of a marathon. After yesterday, Wharton senior Kristin Moore can declare a total of four marathon experiences.

Moore joined dozens of Penn students and 18,000 other runners yesterday morning to participate in the 15th annual Philadelphia Marathon. With a 30-percent increase in registration, the marathon sold out two weeks ago with the highest participation rate in its history.

The event kicked off at 7 a.m. at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and runners had seven hours to complete the 26.2-mile race, or for those like Moore, the 13.1-mile half marathon. For most participants, though, the experience meant more than crossing the finish line.

"I love setting goals and trying to push yourself to meet them," said participant and College sophomore Noam Pratzer, who ran in the New York City Marathon five years ago.

For Moore, who ran in two past Philly races as well as one in Barcelona while abroad, running is a lifestyle. She plans to participate in the New York race next year and hopes to ultimately qualify for the Boston Marathon.

To train for the race, most participants followed an online guide and ran increasing distances, three to six days a week, before tapering down the month before the event.

"Once you get up to these distances it's kind of painful," said College senior and former Daily Pennsylvanian editor Jared Miller, who was inspired to run after watching the Paris Marathon last spring while abroad.

Other participants chose to run on a whim. Though Wharton and Nursing senior Carol Hanselman has done the Philly Half-Marathon and a half-marathon in Israel, she decided to run in yesterday's race only after a registered friend injured her knee in early November and offered Hanselman her spot.

"I'd always wanted to do a marathon but I didn't think I started training in time for this one," said Hanselman, who cited starting late as one of the obstacles she faced.

Other difficulties range from finding time to train to discovering the perfect eating strategy.

"I'm cooking a big pasta meal and trying not to drink alcohol," said Miller on the eve of the race.

And then there's the music.

"I got bored of all my up-tempo songs and had to replace my iPod music," said College senior and former 34th Street editor Vince Levy.

Crossing the finish line, of course, was the biggest challenge.

"So much of it is in your head to motivate yourself to keep going," said Pratzer. "I remember running past the half-point line in New York and thinking there's no way I can finish, but then I saw all these people cheering and it really motivated me to go on."

Despite the challenges, most of the Penn runners plan to continue running in one way or another, whether it's future marathons or, in Pratzer's case, triathlons because "the running has taken a toll on my knees."

"I like running itself as an activity - you have a lot of quiet time when you can just not think about anything," said Moore, who added that running with friends is "a great time to catch up."

"It's really given me something to structure my week around . and an excuse to eat a lot of carbs," said Levy.

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