ING Georgia Half-Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

This was the first race I have actually seeded myself appropriately. I got in my corral and found the 3:40 and 3:50 pace groups. I asked them their paces and put myself WAY behind the 3:40/8:20 folks just behind the 3:50 folks who were going to run an 8:45 pace. Perfect.

My plan was to do the first mile in 9:15, then settle in for 9:00 miles until the halfway mark and then turn it up for the last half. We started and I got the usual race-day adrenaline. First mile was 8:13. oops. I tried to slow it down, but people were passing me like I was standing still. Second mile was 8:24. I rationalized this with the fact that this was the downhill part of the race. By mile 3 (8:25), I decided to just try to slow down a little and keep it under 9:00 until the last 5K. People were still zooming past me constantly. It was very hard to stick with my race.

It was wonderful running past all of the cool stuff in town. I'd never seen the King Center up close and it was really neat. The Lupus foundation had a water station in the Sweet Auburn area and they were blasting the Rocky song and having a blast. That nearly made me cry too.

About mile 4, my tummy started to complain. There were porto potties about every mile or 1/2 mile but there were lines at all of them. "Suck it up buttercup," I told myself. No dice, I had to stop at the split where the marathoners and halfers parted ways. My chip time includes this line-waiting and potty-using. My IT bands really started to hurt in mile 5, so the short break at this point (and the mint-choc GU I ate) were helpful. Miles 6-9 were really tough for me mentally. I lost my smile for a while there. My knees ached and I was lonely. It was way more fun to run with Joe last year. Still, despite the pain, I was itching to turn it up.

Once I hit the 10 mile marker, I let it go. My knees still hurt but releasing the controlled pace seemed to make it less. I flew past people all the way in to the finish area. I don't mean to say it was easy. I struggled thru the GA Tech part but it hurt less than before and I wasn't blowing up. Best sign of the day: "Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much a$$." This was the Team 65 Roses folks on Marietta Street. The sign made me smile but then the girls there cheered for me, so that made it a huge boost.

The finish line included a skip up onto the sidewalk and some twisting thru plastic fencing. I dodged a wheelchair guy in this part and we were both having difficulties. I think this part was changed because of the tornado damage so it will be better next year.

The results say my clock time was 1:56 but I could swear it was 1:58. No matter. The chip time (1:51) is still a big PR for me despite not breaking 1:50 (the super-secret goal). Overall, I had a stronger race than last year by time and perceived effort so that is a win, regardless.

Make a realistic goal and game plan and stick with it instead of making one plan and then pursuing my super-secret goal to the detriment of the original plan.

Run with a buddy. Regardless of pace. I have a better time when I'm with a friend. Wasn't able to meet anyone to talk to.

Drank some water and hit the potties, got my bag, and headed to my appointed viewing spot. Oops, the road that I planned to take was missing. Instead, I went to Baker St/Marietta St. I missed two of my friends (they finished in the 2hr 20 min zone) and was texting my location to Jerry when he ran by and yelled at me. It was his first 1/2 and he looked great - happy and strong. We were all running with Team 65 Roses to honor his wife, who passed away from cystic fibrosis in Nov. and this was his first running race. The neighborhood gals came by shortly after that. Jerry met me, then Joe, and we waited until the 3 hour marathoners came by. Sarah (atl runner grl) came and said hello (Hi Sarah!) and then Nat sped by at about 3 hrs 30 mins. We went to the Carvel store for more hot chocolate until it was time for Doug to come by. The live-tracker worked great - even on Joe's phone, so it estimated that Doug would be at about 4:24. And he did! He came by right at the appointed time. I had a blast cheering for everyone after the finish, even if it was freezing.


My own stupidity. I ate homemade meat-based spaghetti sauce for dinner the night before the race, I failed to wear tights AGAIN and I didn't stick to my plan.


This race was still not the best-organized race but it was so much better than last year. It is really neat to run through Atlanta and the improved water stops were great and neighborhood cheering areas were a real boost. The new course was also a big improvement and the finish was more pleasant.