Philadelphia Marathon Changes Race Date, Runners Confused (and Frustrated)

If you marked your calendar for the 2013 Philadelphia Marathon and drew a big red circle around November 24th, I hope you have some Wite-Out handy. Organizers posted a message on Facebook earlier this week with new dates for this year’s race, bumping it up a week to November 17th—without any explanation. As early as last September, the 24th had already been publicized as the 2013 race date. So why the change?

I reached out to Philly Marathon spokesperson Reginald Hall, who explained in an email, “We moved the original date to a week earlier to create the best possible customer-service experience for our race participants. This allows us to hold our Health & Fitness Expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where our key pre-race activities traditionally take place. For the convenience of our runners, the Health & Fitness Expo will stay at its centralized and walkable location in Center City Philadelphia in 2013. The times of all the weekend activities will remain the same.” (This same message has since been posted on the race’s Facebook page.)

Of course, not everyone is super happy about the switch up:

For your planning purposes, here’s the new lineup for race weekend:

Friday, November 15th, and Saturday, November 16th: Health & Fitness Expo
Noon to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, and 10:00 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday; Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1201 Arch St.

Saturday, November 16th: 8K Race
7:30 a.m., 22nd Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Saturday, November 16th: Kids Fun Run
Onsite registration begins at 9:00 a.m., race at 10:30; 22nd Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Sunday, November 17th: Philadelphia Half Marathon and Philadelphia Marathon
7 a.m., 22nd Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.