As the crowd started moving toward the start line I was totally ready. I took off and kept going. I wore my Garmin just to keep track of pacing, no HR monitor. Every time I looked down I was running about an 8 min. pace. I kept thinking I better take it easy or I'll never finish strong. The first 7 miles flew by. At that time, I looked at my Garmin and I was still averaging under a 9min. pace. I was ecstatic. I thought I was golden. As miles 8 and 9 came around, I began to remember the incline for last third of the race. By mile 11 I thought I was done. Hills are not my thing and after 3 miles up, I was ready to be done. I was feeling the pain and just wanted to stop. But I thought I was so close to my goal, I just pushed harder. Once I saw mile 12, I gave it a last push, and used every last ounce of energy in my body. As I crossed the finish, I knew without a doubt, that no matter what my time was, I would be happy because I knew I couldn't possibly have done any better. For the fisrt time in my life, I gave it everything I had for the entire race.

Not much. I executed this race perfectly for me. I wore a fuel belt for the first time. Worked alright, served it's purpose. I didn't stop once. I probably could have drank a little more, but when it's cold, it's harder to notice when you need to drink

Walked around, got a banana, had my recovery drink, sat and waited for Candace to finish. Then had to get back up. Oww.


Post race food left a little to be desired. Ok, a lot. A banana was the only thing I found that I could eat. Race was prety well organized. Lacking the fun spectators that ING had though. Packet pickup was ridiculous. I may skip this next year if it's set up the same. I can't be bothered with driving to Buckhead on a Tuesday night after work with 5000 other people just to pick up my number. Shirts were pretty nice though.