Publix Georgia Marathon - RunMarathon


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Atlanta, Georgia
United States
US Road Sports -- Georgia
50F / 10C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 4h 43m 15s
Overall Rank = 1065/1835
Age Group = F50-55
Age Group Rank = 7/30
Pre-race routine:

Up early, coffee and a Clif bar. Since this was my first marathon, lots of pre-race jitters.
Event warmup:

Hubby dropped me off, I wandered around a bit, then stood in a parking pay area close to my corral to stay warm.
Run
  • 4h 43m 15s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 10m 49s  min/mile
Comments:

This was my first marathon, so my goal was to finish with a smile on my face. I used the same strategy as I trained with, running 4 minutes then walking 1 minute. I kept this up through the entire race, regardless of whether I was climbing or descending. The only time I deviated was when I came to a hydration station, where I walked just long enough to drink water. Amazingly, my pace at 10K, 13.1, 22 miles, and the finish were all within seconds of each other, and I ended up with an overall pace of 10:49 (actually my Garmin recorded 26.38 miles and the pace was 10:44).
What would you do differently?:

This was probably not the best choice for a first marathon. The hills were faily daunting, and it is very hard to train for those kind of hills in Florida. I may have been faster if the course had been flatter, but who knows? Overall, I'm happy with the results. It was all about finishing with a smile on my face, so mission accomplished! And the bonus was I was still running at the end while everyone around me looked like the extras in one of those zombie apocalypse movies.
Post race
Warm down:

Walk a little, then a little sit. It was hard to get back up again!!!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Hills, hills, hills!!

Event comments:

A few observations:

1. There were quite a few spectators on the course, and they were inspiring.
2. The volunteers everywhere were also amazing.
3. I've never seen so many orange cones in my life.
4. I'd been warned about a very long hill that was supposed to occur at mile 18. I ran a long uphill at mile 17, but since I was expecting the worse to still come, that hill didn't seem too bad. Turns out that I was misinformed, the bad hill really was during mile 17, and it ended up not being catastrophic!




Last updated: 2012-12-28 12:00 AM
Running
04:43:15 | 26.2 miles | 10m 49s  min/mile
Age Group: 7/30
Overall: 1065/1835
Performance: Good
1 - 10:43(134) 2 - 10:59(141) 3 - 10:24(144) 4 - 11:13(145) 5 - 10:32(143) 6 - 11:12(140) 7 - 10:32(147) 8 - 10:33(144) 9 - 10:42(144) 10 - 10:53(144) 11 - 10:45(148) 12 - 10:44(143) 13 - 11:01(141) 14 - 10:14(145) 15 - 10:31(144) 16 - 10:17(145) 17 - 10:58(148) 18 - 10:23(152) 19 - 10:30(148) 20 - 11:12(151) 21 - 11:21(152) 22 - 10:30(148) 23 - 11:13(154) 24 - 10:25(154) 25 - 10:56(158) 26 - 10:51(160) 0.2 - 1:59(9:58, 161) 0.18 - 1:31(8:30, 170)
Course: The course was advertised as hilly, and they didn't lie! It started out somewhat flat at the beginning, but all of the half and full marathoners were running together so it was a bunched up mess. There were some rolling hills until the half and full runners split off, about mile 7. It was easy manuevering from there, but that's when the serious hills also started. And it was constant up and down from that point on. My Garmin 910xt has a baro altimeter, and it said nearly 1800 ft of elevation gain on the course.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]