Philadelphia Marathon Fueling Plan & Pace Chart

Philadelphia Fueling Strategy

Philadelphia reads flat on paper and mostly is, but the 650 feet of climbing is not spread evenly. Almost all of it lands between mile 7 and mile 16. Everything before that is one of the flattest opening stretches at any big American marathon, and everything after it is a long, exposed, quiet river road. Build your fueling plan around that shape rather than around the total.

The first 7 miles run down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, out to the Delaware waterfront on Columbus Boulevard, back past Independence Hall around mile 5, and west on Walnut Street through Rittenhouse Square. Net elevation change from mile 1 to mile 7 is close to nothing. Combine that with a 7 a.m. late-November gun and you get the classic Philadelphia mistake: cold hands, effortless legs, and no gels consumed. Take your first gel at mile 3 and your second before mile 6. There are aid stations at 2.3, 3.7, 5.1 and 7.1, which is four chances to wash them down before the course turns hard.

The climbing starts the instant you cross the Walnut Street Bridge into University City just past mile 7. The course gains close to 80 feet up 34th Street through Drexel and Penn to a local peak at mile 8.2, then gives 45 of it back on the drop past the Philadelphia Zoo. Take a gel at mile 7 on the flat before the bridge. Do not take one on the 34th Street climb.

Miles 9 through 11 are the hardest twenty minutes of the race. The steepest pitch on the course runs from roughly 9.3 to 9.6 and gains about 75 feet at a 4.7 percent grade, and the climbing keeps going through West Fairmount Park past Memorial Hall to the course high point of about 135 feet near mile 10.8. Your heart rate will be 10 beats above where it was at mile 8 and your stomach will be the least cooperative it has been all day. Fuel in the dip at mile 9 before the climb starts, then again at the Lansdowne Drive station at 11.8, which is also the first e-Gel table.

Miles 12 through 15.5 are the section runners forget exists. The course drops about 65 feet off Lansdowne Drive, crosses the Schuylkill on the Girard Avenue Bridge near 12.6, then climbs roughly 80 feet back up into East Fairmount Park and stays on that high ground along Reservoir Drive and Edgley Drive through mile 15.4. Halfway happens up there at about 100 feet of elevation, not down at the Art Museum, which is what most older course guides tell you. Use the 13.1 marker as your audit point. If you are running 75 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour you should have four or five gels in by then. If you are behind, the flat 8 miles ahead are your only chance to catch up.

The largest single descent on the course comes between 15.4 and 15.8, roughly 75 to 90 feet in a third of a mile, dropping you onto Kelly Drive. Take the free speed and let your legs turn over, but do not try to swallow a gel while pounding downhill. Wait for the John B. Kelly statue station at 16.2 and fuel on the flat.

Miles 16 to 20 are the Kelly Drive out. Dead flat, fully exposed along the Schuylkill, and the wind is in your face in one direction or the other. Flat and windy burns more energy than flat and calm without feeling harder, which makes this the easiest place on the course to under-fuel by accident. Fuel at 17.8, which is the second e-Gel table. You cross onto Main Street in Manayunk around 18.6, hit the loudest crowds of the day at 18.9, climb about 25 feet up Main Street, and turn around just past mile 20. The stations at 19.8 and 20.2 sit 0.4 miles apart on either side of that turnaround, which is a rare gift late in a marathon. Use both.

The last 6 miles are where Philadelphia is honest. Back down Main Street, onto Kelly Drive at 21.4, then four and a half flat miles of river road with thin crowds and nothing to look at. Take your final gel by mile 22 or 23, using the 22.3 station if you are running on-course product. Past mile 25.3 the road tilts up about 35 feet past Boathouse Row, the Art Museum and the Rocky Steps before the Parkway finish. It is a small climb that arrives at exactly the wrong time, and the runners who kept eating through the quiet Kelly Drive miles are the ones who run it.

Cold changes the math here more than any hill does. Mean race-day temperature is around 43 degrees with an average low of 34, and a 7 a.m. start means the first hour is the coldest part of your day. Cold blunts thirst, so drink on a schedule rather than on feel. Cold thickens gels, so carry yours against your skin under a layer rather than in an outer pocket. Cold plus gloves means you should pre-tear or pre-fold every gel tab before the gun. The upside is that gut absorption is meaningfully better in cool conditions than in heat, so Philadelphia is a course to run at the top of the 75 to 90 gram per hour range rather than the bottom. If the forecast comes in below freezing at the start, add a throwaway pair of thin gloves you can discard at mile 8, because fumbling a gel at mile 20 with numb fingers is a real way to lose four minutes.

One note on the on-course product. The gel Philadelphia serves is e-Gel by Crank Sports at three tables, and it is a big one: 37 grams of carbohydrate and 230 milligrams of sodium per packet, which is roughly one and a half times the carbs and three times the sodium of a standard gel. That is useful if you have trained on it and a genuine GI risk at mile 22 if you have not. Carry your own if you have not practiced with it, and treat the on-course gels as backup only.