Atlanta Marathon - DONE!

Wow... was that ever cruel. There is only one word to describe the experience of the inaugural Georgia Marathon in Atlanta, GA: cruel. Less than one week before the race, I ran my last training run of 10 miles up in Ann Arbor, MI - where it was SNOWING on me. Then, I traveled to Atlanta were the high temperatures were expected to reach 87 on race day!!!! Talk about a shock to my system. I'm sure it was hotter than that anyways. I think the weather man and the race director were in cahoots so as not to depress the runners any more than absolutely necessary.

If the heat wasn't bad enough (and it clearly was more than bad enough), there was not one flat spot on the entire course. The elevation maps were truly misleading - they must have used a much different scale! It was either UP or DOWN the whole way and since it seemed most of the downhill stretches were shorter and steeper, that meant most of the race was spent running uphill. Thank GOD the scenery was gorgeous! It was a welcome distraction from the mountain trails of Atlanta. Who would have thought?

One more drawback: the port-o-let I visited on the course had run out of t.p. Thankfully, one of my fellow runners learned this lesson the hard way and brought some of her own. I will now pack t.p. alongside my Gu in future marathons.

Favorite Crowd Support Signs in Atlanta:

Honorable Mention: You are all Kenyans!
Runner Up: "Free Beer Here" (found at about Mile 19)
First Place Winner: "Your feet HURT because you are kicking so much ASS!"

One of the highlights is a vision I hope I don't forget any time soon. I couldn't tell you what mile we were at, but I think it was somewhere around 11. There was a part of the course that came back the other direction and we saw the group of Kenyans in first place running together. They were all the way on the other side of the road - we were headed up into a park - but they were all running together in unison. They were so graceful, I wanted to just stop and watch them (but they passed by entirely too quickly). They were just really neat to see.

As cruel and brutal as the Georgia Marathon was, I was in surprisingly great shape at the end of it. Aside from sore feet and two blisters, I had no joint pains, no aches, no tendonitis issues, no cramps, nothing! In fact, two days later, I ran 5 miles and felt absolutely 100%!

Bring on Nashville!!!!

Finish strong,
K