The History of Philly Runners

2002

Philly Runners  was founded March 27 2002 by friends Dara and Kevin. They decided on group runs from Philadelphia Museum of Art on Sat morning & Tue evening, for runners of all skill levels. They have never been cancelled! The 1st post-run dinner was on a very rainy July 23 @ Cherry Street Tavern, w/ about 10 of us. The 2nd was Aug 13 @ Bishop's Collar; 3rd @ Little Pete's.  Our 1st pre-race pasta party was in September for PDR, with our 1st lunch celebration the next day at Nodding Head.

2003

We had our 1st celebration of last year's running accomplishments. Jan 18 was our coldest run, 14 degrees (14 runners!). Our 1st anniversary was Mar 27.  We decided on our current name. We made a better website, & then our waiver.  We had our 1st race volunteering @ Philly Marathon. On Dec 7, we entered our 1st team, with Steve M (our new race coordinator), Michelle T, Seth.

2004

Jan 10 was the coldest day in 8-10 years, 6-F degrees (+ 15mph winds, to feel like -12), but we had twice as many PRs as degrees! We had our first not-quite annual ski trip at Blue Mountain. Our 2nd celebration of previous year's running deeds was Jan 31 at La Creperie Cafe. We got our 1st coolmax shirts, white and blue, with our new logo, in time for our 2nd anniversary, March 27. We had our 2nd team (1st men's), winning Caesar Rodney Half. Our next team won Clean Air 5K. We had teams in Broad Street, Philly Distance Run, & Parkway Run 5K (our men's & first women's team took 1st). Around 50 PRs raced Broad Street! We volunteered @ Penn Relays 20K & Philly Marathon. Our last Tue run in September was in Hurricane Jeanne, as 5 hardy PRs proved again that our runs are never cancelled!

2005

We had our 2nd not-quite annual ski trip, annual awards dinner (at Wok) during THE snowstorm of 2005 + a snowball fight after, 2nd & 3rd times we had more runners than degrees (18+ & 15, 16 & 14), 1st snow football game, & ice-skating @ Penn's Landing. We had many teams & individuals in races: Caesar Rodney Half (3, 20+), Run For Clean Air 5K (3, 25+), Broad Street (3, 50+), Media 5-miler (2, 10+); 5 teams took 1st!

2006

In 2006, our once a month dinners turned into weekly dinners after every Tuesday evening run. We also started the tradition of going out for coffee after the Saturday morning runs. We volunteered at the mile 14 relay exchange point for the marathon had lots of runners run the Philly Marathon, other marathons and other races throughout the year.

2007

The highlight of 2007 had to be the Ugly Mudder in February.  Seven brave Philly Runners drove out to Reading for a race that turned out to have no mud, but plenty of ice! We fielded five teams for Caesar Rodney and club member, Chris N, in his half-marathon debut, won Caesar Rodney.

2008

2008 saw the return of the not-quite annual ski trip to Blue Mountain and a wonderful annual dinner at Mexican Post. Chris won Caesar Rodney again, in weather that was much less pleasant than last year's.

2009

Philly Runners is now headed up by Seth, Mallory, Shanley and Brian.  We have yet to cancel a run and we never will!  Our members have raced in Caesar Rodney half-marathon, Clean Air 5K, Boston Marathon, Nashville Marathon and Broad Street 10 miler.  We also started the tradition of doing a set of stairs at the art museum after every run and then taking in the million dollar view once we get to the top. The ski trip appears, finally, to be an annual occurrence.