Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon - RunMarathon

I got in the starting line-up right before the National Anthem played. This was a small race (about 800 runners for both the half and full marathons) so I was able to position myself close to the timing mats. I positioned myself somewhere in the middle of the runners and it only took me about 5-6 seconds to cross the mats. I didn't really have a race plan going into the race. I was undecided pretty much even as the race was unfolding. In the back of my mind, I was worried because I needed to be on a cross country flight the day after the run and I didn't want that to be too painful and I also had visions of injuring myself and screwing up my bigger goal this year - Ironman. But also in the back of my mind was wanting to prove I could still go sub 3:40 even with what I felt was inconsistent training for this race. I was easily clipping away the early miles and thought the scenery in the early miles was great. I talked to a few runners but never found the right runner to stick with. By mile four I started having some intestinal distress and took my first port-a-potty break. I had no problem resuming my pace, and actually picked up the pace so I could get back to the runners that dropped me when I stopped. Somewhere around the time I took my first GU and started alternating between gatorade and water (mile 6 or so), I realized my stomach was going to be a problem for longer than the one stop I took. I hit my second port-a-potty stop by mile 7. Again, after the stop I'd have no problem getting back into motion and stomach would be settled for a mile or so. I think it was somewhere around mile 8 that a woman standing on the side of the run course was saying something about better scenery coming up and that got me excited until I realized the better scenery she was referring to was neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood. Running a race through neighborhoods is boring to me so I was upset that was my better scenery and I spent way to much mental energy complaining to myself about the scenery. I kept trucking along through the neighborhoods but as each house went by I was mentally losing the battle to stay focused and on race pace. Every time we'd come to a turn I was hoping that we'd be turning onto a street that would bring me out of the neighborhoods and I'd get even more mental after making the turn and realizing it was just more of the same. By mile 16, my mental game was lost and I was focusing only on my boredom, the aches and pains of running marathons, and my stomach that just wouldn't let up. Somewhere later in the race we came to a section that went around a park that would have been great scenery if I wasn't already mentally over this run. I made another port-a-potty stop at about mile 21 and seriously debated turning in my chip. I got over myself enough to leave the stall, grab some water at the aid station and get on with the race - it was a slow getting on but at least I got on with it. The last 5 miles of the race were difficult as my legs started cramping along with my stomach. I don't think I even realized I was still going to go sub 4 as I thought my pace had dropped to a turtle's pace and my breaks were longer than the actually proved to be. I got extremely frustrated over the last mile of the course because the GPS was making it clear that it thought this race was longer than 26.2 and I wanted nothing to do with running a step farther than 26.2. I crossed the finish line upset that I let the mental aspect of running defeat me. I was bitter about the race course, bitter about my stomach, bitter about my lack of a race plan, bitter about a lot of things - but I was very happy that I was no longer running.

Not eat fast food the night before. Not depart from my usual pre-race meal. Go into the race with a better plan and less brain chatter.

I walked, and walked, and walked. I was trying to shake off the lower leg cramping. Once I realized walking wasn't helping I laid down on my back and raised my legs in the air trying to drain some blood and fluids out of them. I ate a banana and drank a little bit of water and made it back to the hotel in time to shower and check out.


Mental weakness. Stomach issues.


This race is well put on. It is very organized with lots of aid stations, volunteers and traffic control. It is a flat course. If you like flat courses and smaller races, this marathon is a great one to consider doing. There were some other events going on in town that weekend, including a Georgia Cup race. I drove in with only enough time to pick up race number and left as soon as I felt I could stand sitting in the car for the 3.5 hour ride back to Atlanta so I never really checked out the town or the events. As much as I didn't enjoy this race, I would consider doing this race again if I wasn't going solo. It is definitely a flat, "easy" course and with the right attitude and support it could be a great course to try and break or set some PRs.