Mile 1: Beignets and coffee. Grabbed a bottle of water from someone handing them out on the sidelines. Colder than the cups the volunteers were distributing.

Mile 2: An orange popsicle to eat, and blessed with holy water from the Catholic church. No need for headphones in this race, the music is constant and party is rocking.

Mile 3: Grabbed a cupcake, but only ate the icing off the top, and finally found some beer. Runners and the crowd doing the motions to YMCA blaring over the speakers here.

Mile 4: Probably the highlight of the race as the patients from the Shepherd's Center line the street going up the first big hill. So uplifting to see them. High fives and cheers from them made that hill a breeze. Drank some pinkish-orange concoction from the 99X tent and followed it with more water.

Mile 5: The Olympic Mile. A couple of long, slow climbs and fairly uneventful.

Mile 6: Great representation from several hundred Bank of America volunteers. This stretch contained the heaviest and loudest crowds as we made the turn off of Peachtree and headed downhill to the finish in the park.



Ha! Nothing. I had a blast!

Picked up my finisher's shirt then headed to the sponsors' tents. Ate two Georgia peaches and another popscicle. I grabbed a Powerade and a Coke and headed back up the hill to Marta for the train ride back.


Effort, dodging other runners, beer, beignets, popsicles, hills and gravity. Honestly, I was in no hurry and just enjoyed this one from start to finish.


Long walk back up the hill to Marta sux. Otherwise, this event is great from start to finish and an awesome way to kick off the 4th!