ING Georgia Marathon - RunMarathon


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Atlanta, Georgia
United States
The ING Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon
 		Total Time = 2h 00m 34s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Met up with some friends to drive down to the Brookhaven Marta station. Rode the train down to the stop just befor Five Points, when the train broken down.

Mass exodus off the train led to overcorwding on the escalator, which then broken down and started to go in reverse. Saw the crowd teeter on mass panic ... but then settled down.

Bummer for MARTA as I am sure this is one of the few times folks got a chance to experience them ... and we all know how gross the ride home on MARTA is after a race :)
Event warmup:

Urinated in the bushes ... along with 5000+ other friends (the other 10,000 was waiting in the port-o-let line).
Run
  • 2h 00m 34s
  • 13.12 miles
  • 09m 11s  min/mile
Comments:

The start was crowded to say the least. There were no corals, just wall to wall people lined up for city blocks. Took a full 12-15 minutes to reach the timing mat.

The crowd did not disperse for quite some time and had to spend a considerable amount of time duck and weaving to keep pace.

Glad that I ran with a bottle because the water stops were a mess. Thank goodness for the "bandit stops" where folks were giving out bottles of water. (Also for the folks that handed out shots of Pabst Blue Ribbon ... amazing how good a shot of beer taste at 9:00 am on a Sunday morning when you are in the middle of a race!)

M1 8:48 139 bpm
M2 9:46 141
M3 9:44 146
M4 10:14 144
M5 9:13 148
M6 10:10 148
M7 9:23 147
M8 8:50 152
M9 8:17 153
M10 8:54 153
M11 10:26 158 (WTF? must have been a nasty climb?)
M12 8:15 167
M13 8:03 178 (Hit 190 bpm on the false flat at the beginning of this mile/crossing over the Downtown Connector)
What would you do differently?:

Stick to my HR zones, stick to my HR zones, stick to my HR zones. Sure I negative split the second half (and hit my HR max on that last mile), but am feeling the effects of it.
Post race
Warm down:

Ice, ice baby ... went to the med tent to get a bag of ice to immediately rub down the shin.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

My taper ... did 80+ miles yesterday afternoon on the bike through rolling hills and finished that with legs that felt semi-trashed. Also shin splints prohibited me from logging running miles over the past two weeks.

Event comments:

Great inaugural race even though there are a couple things the race organization needs to iron out:

- Mile markers?
- Cones for road hazards (those white round traffic control things? Saw a lad take a header after tripping on one ... course was so crowded she couldn't see it)
- Water stations (Race Director, please see how the Peachtree Road Race handles water stops efficiently and effectively for 5x the amount of runners)
- Course nutrition - one gel station for the entire course?
- Post race activities = not so much ... the city had the opportunity to get tens of thousands of people downtown, they should have taken advantage of the opportunity to show case that Underground Atlanta and Woodruff Park are places people should come down to from the suburbs and after sporting events (Braves games, Georgia Dome and so forth).





Last updated: 2006-12-07 12:00 AM
Running
02:00:34 | 13.12 miles | 09m 11s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Below average
Course: Tougher than I thought ... more hills than originally billed - some of the hills were the long, gradual and grind it variety.
Keeping cool Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4