Day 1,539: Publix Georgia Half Marathon

For several years now, this course has been a big monkey on my back. When I ran in the inaugural ING Georgia Half Marathon in 2007, it heralded a return for me to half marathons. It was my first one in nearly a decade.

As I came over the Peachtree/Ellis hill, I had a chance to break two hours. I finished in two hours, three seconds.

In 2008, my running shape wasn't enough for me to tackle this race again. The course had changed from Peachtree to back behind Georgia Tech and starting and finishing in Centennial Olympic Park downtown.

When 2009 rolled around, I had just enough fitness to run in the half marathon but not enough to run solidly. I finished in 2:03.

Last year, I decided at the last moment to tackle the full marathon. With my training, I wondered how I would have done in the half marathon.

This year, I finally had my chance and had several nice things going for me -- I ran under 1:47 in the Run the Reagan Half Marathon last month in Snellville. Then I went on about a week later to break a PR in the 10K with the Charles Harris Run that had stood for 13 years. Last weekend, I placed first in my age group -- something I'd never done before -- in the O'Highlands Jig and Jog 5K.

The start was nice -- it was about 61 degrees and overcast. It seemed a little fast for me but I decided to go with it.

By mile 3, my fiancee had a six second lead on me and by mile 5 this grew to 46 seconds. I decided to run my race.

Unlike other races in the past, however, I never found that extra gear to accelerate. I had no mile splits in this race under eight minutes. Although it felt comforting to pass a lot of people in the last mile, this wasn't going to be a fireworks kind of race for me.

In the end I finished in 1:51:23, which is way better than the last time I tackled this half marathon and is keeping in par with other halfs I've done recently.

My mileage hasn't been as good lately as I've chosen to taper for races and the races have come one after another. I'll have to get back on track soon.

It's a good barometer for me to make sure I keep my training in check as I pursue other hobbies at the same time.

Time: 7 a.m.
Temp: 61 degrees
Gear: Tech T, short (North Carolina), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 27.