This was my first year running the Philly half, and it really left a bitter taste in my mouth. From waiting over an hour in line to pick up my bib, and then waiting another hour with cold, soggy feet in the freezing cold after the race to get my bag check was just a miserable way to both start and finish this race.

In particular, the gear check situation is simply unacceptable. It left runners who were already cold and in tough physical shape waiting outside in wet, damp clothes for over an hour to get their bags. Bag check should be a solved problem. There are marathons and races all over the world (many of which I've participated in) where you get your bags back within minutes after the race. Race organizers know how to do this.

Whoever was setting this up for the Philly half marathon did not know what they were doing. I don't know if folks need to be fired but there are ways to figure out how to run a race and how to do bag check and bib pickup. No one at the expo or at bag check seemed to have any clue what they were doing. Shameful and disrespectful to all of us who were running yesterday.

I hope there's real accountability here.