Day 1,357: Kennesaw Locomotive Half Marathon

KENNESAW, Ga. -- This was supposed to be a tuneup race for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

Instead, the Kennesaw Locomotive Half Marathon's hilly course turned into a great run, my fastest half marathon in Georgia and my third fastest half marathon time.

I got up early in the morning and got out there pretty early. But I didn't find it at first, because I turned down Cobb Place thinking I would easily find it. I didn't. It was just dark and there weren't many cars out.

So I turned around and turned back on to Barrett Parkway and turned into the next shopping center. There a few cars were turning into it and I followed them -- I found the place. I had plenty of time before the race started, maybe 30 minutes or so.

I started out slowly, not wanting to get out too fast because the 5K race started at the same time. When the two races split at 1.9 miles, I found that the course was heavily rolling.

The race director warned of the "hill" in between miles 5 and 6. This was true, there was a hill. It wasn't bad to plan for and climb. But there was another, steeper hill between miles 6 and 7.

In doing my training for the Chicago Marathon, I've tried to stay away from lots of hill climbs. But everything seemed ok today. After about three miles I found myself able to accelerate on them at will. I started at the back and passed person after person in the race. I thought I would pay for this at about mile 10 but I was able to keep on going.

The end of the race goes back into the shopping center. I made a bad mistake when I came close to the finish. You have to do a full loop of the shopping center before turning into the finish. I started my kick early and then realized that I couldn't yet turn into the finish -- I still had a whole lap to go!

This was ok though, although I didn't really have any kind of kick at the end.

All in all, it was a great community race and maybe a nice race for someone doing their first half marathon.

Time: 7:08 a.m.
Temp: 61 degrees (?)
Gear: CFSST (Patagonia Red), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 26/C.