Day 3,199: Michelob ULTRA 13.1 atlanta Half Marathon

Wearing the Team BEEF shirt for my second race!

There was one thing I knew coming into this race -- if it was raining hard before it started I would stay at home nice and dry.

But when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. it wasn't raining. So I decided to get my gear ready -- a poncho that folds up into a square, a hat, a ziploc bag for my cell phone -- and drove over near the Cobb Energy Centre to get ready to race.

This race was one of the few times in which I didn't feel 100 percent -- my left glute/hamstring was slightly sore coming into race day and I wasn't sure if running 13 miles would aggravate it.

It was still dark when I got to the race start and there wasn't really much places to do a warmup (I decided I wasn't going to do too much of one anyway because of the distance) and when I did it was disconcerting to be running against the stream of people headed to the starting line.

When the race started it was cool and a little misty, nearly perfect conditions. I actually felt like I needed to use the bathroom during the first mile but I told myself to just wait. Usually in hot races by Mile 3 the urge would go away, perhaps by dehydration? There were portapotties at nearly every water stop and by the time I reached the first one I didn't need to stop.

The hills in this race were no joke.

I didn't get too fast of a start in the race and by Mile 2 I could see that this would be a long race, so I just decided to stick to running by feel instead of any particular pace.

Just after Mile 7 thankfully my hamstring wasn't sore anymore. It also started to mist hard enough that I pulled out my hat, and then put it away just after Mile 8. At that point my legs started to feel a little sore so I ate a gel (this one was a green tea Clif Shot that I got in last year's Honolulu Marathon) and it tided me over the rest of the race. I also drank a cup of Powerade at the Mile 6 station.

Although the hills were monstrous, I knew I had a bunch of energy left in me since I was running slower than my typical pace so I started to pick it up at Mile 12. Only I dropped my hat at Mile 12.7! I was able to kick it in front of me then stoop to pick it up.

I made it over the final hill and thankfully it was downhill to the finish! My time was probably typical for hilly races but like the Hotlanta Half Marathon I felt pretty good afterward. In both races I felt like I probably could race three more miles beyond the finish.

It was a nice race with dedicated volunteers but the insane hilliness of it probably will make this a one-and-done race for me.

Time: 7 a.m.
Temp: 64 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (Team BEEF), shorts, cep compression socks, Skechers Go Run 3.