This was an inaugural event. The course management was amazing. I give props to the Alpharetta and Roswell police and fire departments, and to the contingent from Gwinnett county. The race was boring, hilly, windy and cold. I was running this as a training run for my upcoming marathon and was really only worried about completing the first 20 miles, but once you've run 20 miles, running another 6 to get to a warm bus to take you back to your car doesn't seem to hard. The wind and cold got to me after mile 18, when the hills started to impact my pace. Because I was doing the run as a training run, I was watching my heart rate closely and keeping the run in zone 2 and only going into zone 3 during the hills. The fluid stations on the course were ample and the volunteers did a great job. I was disappointed that the race didn't provide any energy gels, even though it was advertised that they'd be available. I had packed my own gels and did a good job with nutrition; taking a gel at miles 7, 14, and 21. The race was small with only about 1,200 participants with most of those running the 1/2 Marathon and not the full. The race course got very quiet at the 13 mile mark when the 1/2 marathoners went to the finishline, especially because the man pushing his disabled son was only doing the half. I was running a pretty even pace with him for the first 13 miles and chatted with him for a few minutes. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a mother or just a woman, but the site of that man and his son was inspiring and a bit of a tear-jerker. I wore a headset and had music the entire run which is probably the only thing that kept me from cursing the wind, cold, and hills the entire way.

Nothing. I went into this race just thinking of it as another slow training run and that's how I kept it during the race. I was sad that the hills slowed down my pace from mile 18 to 25 because up to that point I was running a fairly consistent pace.

Crossed the finish line. Grabbed a water and a medal and walked to the post race food area where I took in some food and then walked around for a bit longer. I was planning on staying to watch the drawing (they were giving away some nice prizes and it didn't seem like many runners stuck around, possibly increasing ones chances of winning) but I was cold and didn't feel like battling the wind any longer. The race didn't provide any mylar blankets at the finish so the wind and cold were cutting right into my legs.


Nothing really. I ran the race as I wanted.


I was disappointed about the lack of gels on the course, and no mylar blankets at the finish. I'm not sure the race management company thought it would be in the 30s and windy. I've run some warm weather marathons and still received the mylar at the finish though. On a day like today, I was actually looking forward to the mylar to block some of the wind at the post race events. The race company marked the course really well, and the police and fire departments did an amazing job keeping the runners safe on the course. The course was hilly and boring. Although, I'm not sure a race can be run in Alpharetta that wouldn't be hilly and boring. I'm not a big fan of running through business complexes and near the local shopping mecca, but because this was a "training" run it was great to have traffic blocked and manned aid stations along the way; but I'd honestly be hesitant to run this race again. With the inaugural Georgia Marathon in a few weeks, I'm thinking it'd be smarter for this race to move to a fall marathon so it's not having to compete for runners with the Georgia Marathon, and could provide a local fall marathon option that isn't on a holiday.