Mass start, but it was smaller than the wave starts I've been in. We started by the Albany Civic Center, ran through downtown, over Slappey and down by the YMCA. I was just under 10-min. miles for the first few miles. Albany is wonderfully flat, and the few hills felt more like slight inclines.
Got passed by some hand bikers about mile 3. They were awesome. I can't imagine doing 13.1 or 26.2 miles with my arms.
Mom, Dad, J and Amanda were supposed to meet us near mile four, but I calculated the map wrong and they didn't get there until well after we already passed.
About mile five, Alex and I started running with Joe Bishop, a lawyer from Albany who apparently knows everybody. He was awesome entertainment and ran in with Alex. We were running through the neighborhood he grew up in and he told us stories about playing football in his friends' front yards. And of his first and last encounter with taking Gu during a marathon.
About mile eight, just as we passed Palmyra Hospital, Alex started really struggling (which is barely struggling for the rest of us). And my right hip started hurting a lot more than usual. So, I picked up the pace. Changing my stride usually helps take care of the pain, and it worked again this time.
About mile 9 I caught up with some girls from Macon. I ran in with Rachel, who had a baby four months ago and who goes to a Presbyterian church in Macon and whose husband is an RUF (reformed university fellowship) campus minister there. I know the RUF people in Athens and go to Redeemer, in the same denomination. Elizabeth, the other girl, has a brother and sis-in-law at Redeemer, and I met her SIL last weekend at our church's women's retreat. Anyway, all that to say it's an incredibly small world. It was great to talk to them and we ran in together.
Saw the family about mile 12 back near downtown Albany. It was cool to finally see them and to almost be done. The marathoners were slated to finish on the same course we were on, so it was fun to see the 26 mile marker and then the 12 mile marker right after it.
I finished hard and didn't have hardly any left for a last sprint, unlike VA Beach, which meant I actually budgeted time better throughout the race. That was one of my big goals.
We ended the last .2 mile by running through the Thronateeska Heritage Center, an old railroad depot where J and I had our wedding reception (and I when I say "through" I mean literally. They covered the few steps inside with a ramp and through the breezeway we went). Then it was down a sidewalk and then out by the river. It was a beautiful place to finish a race.

Do more long runs before race day, and not get sick (like I can control that) a month before the race. Other than that, I was so happy with this race. I PRed, so that was huge. I was just over three minutes faster than my first half marathon a year earlier.

Walked around a bit, ate a banana and orange slice, got wrapped in milar (it was way too warm for that), drank water, had photos taken with the girls from Macon, cheered Alex in. Watched the time trial at the Maxxis Cup. The first stage of that bike race tour started a few hours after we did Saturday. There were some SWEET bikes over there. Alex asked me if I'd ever do that, and I told him that pure cyclists are a bit off. ;)


Maybe I should have taken that second gu. Or carry some clif bloks or jellybeans with me to take about mile 9. And I need to run more, true, but I was proud of my performance.


This was the first Snickers Marathon Bar marathon/half in Albany, and I was very impressed. There wasn't the crowd coverage like in VA Beach and Nashville, but that's a good thing (you don't miss it when there's an empty mile). Plus, the neighborhoods we ran through are very pretty, the runners were really nice (for the most part), the sponsored drink stations were well-manned and the volunteers were awesome. I plan to do it again next year. I would highly suggest this as a first half or full marathon.