Atlanta Half Marathon - Run


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Atlanta, Georgia
United States
Atlanta Track Club
49F / 9C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 48m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = Female 25-29
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Got up WAY too early and met friend down at Turner Field to drop a car off. Then took my car up to Brookhaven Marta station and took train one stop up to Chamblee. Ate marathon bar 45 minutes ahead of race, drank bottle of water and took 1/3 of this vitamin Energy mixture that above friend wanted to try out (it tasted like ass and affected my intestines for the rest of the day). But at least I tried it! Met up with other group of friends on bridge at the half-marathon start.
Event warmup:

Shivered. And stood around waiting for race to start.
Run
  • 1h 48m
  • 13.1 miles
  • 08m 14s  min/mile
Comments:

Felt really good first 5 miles. Knew that I would probably drop off once the hillage picked up, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the drop-off only took me down to my marathon mile pace (perfect). Nutrition was good until about mile 10 when I think the Energy substance I had taken kicked in and wanted to wipe out my system. Not a terrible problem. I tried to take as much water as possible and was able to run the entire time. It was fun to run through every part of Atlanta.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. A Thanksgiving Day run should be done all in fun. And this one was.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around the parking lot looking for my friend's tailgate. Finally found guy who's car contained my warm, dry clothing and he knew where the others were. Went to tailgate and waited for other half-marathoners and one full one to finish.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I didn't really want to take this as a race race. I was using it more as a training run to pace myself for next week's marathon. So I held back a little. Was also a little concerned about burning out my legs on the hills. I did exactly what I wanted to do.

Event comments:

This race is just hard to have on Thanksgiving. There is virtually no crowd support and you are really only out there for yourself. Well, you and 8000 other half-marathoners. Having it in late November can warrant pretty nasty days in some years. Today, I was lucky to experience my virginal ATL halfer in almost perfect weather. Maybe that's why I don't mind it so much. I just don't know if I would want to crawl out of bed on a holiday if it were cold and rainy. I will definitely do it again - just so that I can have extra helpings at dinner without feeling guilty.




Last updated: 2005-11-24 12:00 AM
Running
01:48:00 | 13.1 miles | 08m 14s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
8:40, 8:11, 7:53, 7:49, 8:25, 7:31, 7:41, 8:22, 8:20, 8:46, 8:48, 8:33, 8:07, :46
Course: Straight down Peachtree from North Atlanta to Turner Field. Cardiac Hill (infamous from the Peachtree Road Race) at mile 7ish. And then the last five miles are basically an uphill elevation.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? No
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3