CHAMBLEE, Ga. -- There were new wrinkles to my second running of the Atlanta Half Marathon today but in the end, only two things mattered: I ran my fastest half-marathon out of five races I've run in Georgia and finished nearly 40 minutes faster than last year's race, lol.
This year my folks were in town and I also had to get a race number before the start to a cousin I hadn't seen since she was 9 years old (14 years ago). I even missed the first MARTA train from Five Points Station (and dropped and lost my MARTA Breeze card at Chamblee Station).
But everything went smoothly. I got there with enough time to reconnect with my cousin. We got up to the start line 3 minutes before the start.
This year was a slightly warmer morning (40 degrees) than last year's race. The only thing was it seemed it was much colder in Chamblee than in downtown Atlanta where I parked my car.
No matter. I was ready to run. Besides having run the course once already, I've participated in the following races that overlap the beginning, middle and end of the course:
Beginning of Course: Big Peach Sizzler 10K, 13.1 Marathon
Middle of Course: Peachtree 10K -- 5 times
End of Course: ING Georgia Half Marathon (inaugural course), Strong Legs 10K -- 2 times
So I'd had a lot of experience with various parts. The main thing though was getting a good pace for the first seven miles right up to Cardiac Hill and making sure that I ran strongly on the last rolling 6 miles. At this point I did take a bag of Sport beans because last year I ran the race so slow they were completely out when I crossed this point in the race.
The first test was Cardiac Hill and I zipped up the double hill up to Piedmont Hospital without using burners at all. It would not be a gross estimation to say I passed about 200 people in this phase of the race. The steepest part of this hill is nothing compared to the Piedmont hill on my gf's course.
Every hill that I mentioned in last year's race was of no consequence. I kept my split times pretty consistent from mile to mile. I didn't really have a kick at the end but at the same time I wasn't trying to turn it on because I felt my race was solid throughout.
I did notice a few strange things. My left calf cramped up a little bit at mile 11.90 on my watch and my right did the same right before the finish line at 13.05 (I ran 13.30 miles according to my watch). I didn't have any water at all during the race so this could be a factor, although it likely is more that I didn't run more than nine miles in preparation for the race (unless you count the 13.1 Marathon in October).
Still, I'm happy to close out the year on a positive note. It's nice to know I can run every day and still have enough to best some of my best race times when it counts.
Time: 7:00 a.m.
Temp: 40 degrees
Gear: CFLST (Atlanta Half '08), SST (Atlanta Braves gray), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus/D5.
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