By David Block
For MediaNews Group
Archbishop Carroll High School alum Katie Florio won the 2024 Philadelphia Marathon Nov. 24 with a new personal best of 2 hours 32 minutes 42 seconds. Her previous PR was 2:35:07, which she ran at the 2022 California International Marathon.
“I wasn’t expecting to do that well today (at this year’s Philly Marathon) because I had a baby last fall,” said Florio, who was Katie Rodden when she attended Archbishop Carroll. “I didn’t know how fast I could run.”
Florio, who finished third at the 2019 Philadelphia Marathon with a considerably slower finishing time of 2:40:47, remembered a problem that she had to contend with at that race. From the five- to seven-mile mark on Chestnut Street, huge crowds cheered for her and the other marathoners for nearly that whole stretch. The cheers compelled her to run at a faster pace than she intended. Unfortunately for Florio, the cheers made her pay less attention to the fact that that during that two-mile stretch, she was steadily running uphill. By mile seven, after turning onto 34th Street, the hill suddenly became incredibly steep. Moreover, the streets were no longer lined with cheering spectators.
Despite that inconvenience, Florio was still happy with her performance that day, and told a writer that she would be more careful the next time that she would run the Philadelphia Marathon.
Midway through the race Nov. 24, Florio and second place woman finisher Aberu Mekuria Zennebe of Ethiopia (2:33:26) kept battling for the lead. They kept taking the lead from each other up until they hit the 22-mile mark on Kelly Drive.
“I knew that I had to get away from her before the end because she has a strong finishing kick,” said Florio. After passing Zennebe at 22 miles, Florio did not look back, not even once, to see if Zennebe was gaining on her. Had she looked back, she would not have seen Zennebe. Florio beat Zennebe by 44 seconds.
After Florio crossed the finish line, she had to sit down for several minutes, as she was utterly exhausted.
Florio received a total of $11,000 after winning the marathon — $10,000 for finishing first and $1,000 for being the first female Philadelphia resident to finish. Florio said that that money will go toward a huge family vacation.