Day 1,425: Atlanta Half Marathon

Nice weather greeted us today for the Atlanta Half Marathon. After the Atlanta Track Club ditched the full marathon for this year (it'll be back with a new course at Atlantic Station on Oct. 30), the half started and ended at Turner Field with a new course.

Because I didn't get out of my car until about 15 minutes before the race start, I ended up at the very back of my corral, which left second at 7:34 a.m. It was extremely congested at the start and maybe well past the first mile, which was 9 minutes for me.

Because of that, and the humid weather, I mentally discounted the thought of going for any record pace. But in the end, I ran my fastest half marathon in Georgia, and my third fastest half marathon time (I ran in the Aug. 1 Rock'n'roll Chicago Half Marathon three seconds faster).

Early on the course was pretty gentle and it was a nice boost to be running on home court surfaces, passing my office building, running along Marietta Street in the opposite direction of the Georgia Marathon/Half Marathon course (which is identical to my marathon training).

Then came 17th Street in Atlantic Station, also along the marathon training course. In Midtown, I took the 14th Street hill (which I ran up in the 2009 Four Seasons Race for Research 10K run) at an extremely good pace and then followed that course into Piedmont Park.

When the 10th Street hills came and later when the course turned down Juniper's rolling hills (that I raced on during the 2008 Peachtree Road Race's variant course end at Juniper and Ponce de Leon because of drought restrictions in Piedmont Park), I no longer had the decent acceleration that I had and basically just tried to keep a good pace.

For whatever reason the second part of Juniper that runs downtown always seems to suck the life out of me (as it did earlier this month in the Strong Legs 10K). But I tried to maintain a good pace and prepped myself for what I thought would be the last major hill on the course, up Auburn Avenue past the Martin Luther King Center.

Unlike in the Strong Legs run, I had no acceleration up this hill. I was thankful we turned down Boulevard but not real happy that the intersection with Memorial also is a hill. (It's funny the stuff you never notice in a car).

But around mile 11 I got a second wind and started to regain my pace. I still held back a little for the double hill at Mitchell Street next to the state Capitol and the I-20 overpass that I usually dread going.

But there weren't any fast kickers at the end here and I developed a nice kick of my own to the end. I was soaked in sweat and pretty tired but happy to do this race for the third time.

I think it's the first time I've had a pair of shoes that I've run a 5K, 10K, half-marathon and a full marathon in.

Time: 7:34 a.m.
Temp: 54 degrees
Gear: Tech T (CS yellow), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 26/D.