ING Georgia Marathon - RunMarathon

Race started off great, my goal for this race was a 3:35. I always re-evaluate goals on race day, and once the race starts, but today, there was no change. I knew going for anything else was not wise, due to the heat, and for me, relatively insufficient training. I mean I trained, just not to BQ, which was the only other real option.

Miles 1-6.
Got off to a fast start, splits were in the low to mid 7's. I hit the 10k split at 45:58. I felt really good. Was not drinking enough, but expected to resolve that in the upcoming miles, Problem was, there were missing waterstops. That hurt, but not in a huge way. I did my 22 mile long run on 3/4ths bottle of water just three weeks earlier, but not in this heat. Anyway, the course was excellent to this point.

Miles 6 - 13.1
I had stomach issues at mile 8, and lost 1 min 45 seconds in a porta john. Once I hit the road again, I had goals to re-establish my original place. I hit the 13.1 mile mark at 1:39:17, which is one minute faster than I hit it in Chicago where I ran a 3:19. Still, I did not even entertain the idea of going for the BQ. With the heat really picking up, and a more difficult second half of the course, It was basic sense that it would not have been realistic to even attempt it.

Miles 13.1 - 20.
Not much to say here except that the course grew considerably more challenging. Still, I was running strong.

Miles 20 - 26.2
Ran through the highlands, and hit mile 22, where I really started to slow.. not dramatically, but relatively speaking. I passed the free "Cold Beer" stand and seriously entertained the idea of running back to it.. but I didn't. Ran through Piedmont Park which as it turns out, was so short I didn't even really remember doing it, but I do remember 10th street and the climb to Piedmont. I ran into more course support (H) at mile 24, and was both suprised, and happy to see her. Very greatfull for that as well. The course was pretty much uphill through 26 miles, and the final .2 were downhill.. but by that time, my legs were spent, and I was hot. No need to try to burst out any energy that I had already spent, so I essentially just did a "light jog" to the finish. Got my medal, and promptly dumped 2 bottles of water over my head.

Well, I hate to say it, but I was undertrained for the event. My training was good, up through about a month before the race, then I got sick, and it fell off and never quite recovered. If I run this again, which is pretty certain, then I will train the course as well as be more consistant with my hill repeats. I did these, just not often enough leading up to the event.

walked, and walked, and drank water, and pretzals, and felt weak, and yadda yadda. I mean not much else to say here. How many people truly warm down?


Not trained sufficiently for the course. Also, my mental game was much below where it normally is on race day. That helped trash me at Gulf Coast, but i overcame it here. Oh, the voices were telling me things like stop, walk, relax, slow down.. but I didn't listen. Maybe I just couldn't hear them, but that's another story.


I'm only going to give this an Average for now. I was worried about the water stops going into the race, and rightfully so. They did a horrid job on those. Record heat, or record cold, they were not well prepared in this area. The rest of the race was outstanding. Great course with amazing neighborhoods, excellent organization, and decent expo. I am sure each of these kinks will be dealt with next year. The bottom line, is that Atlanta finally has an awesome Marathon.