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| My eighth running of this race in the last 10 years. |
It turned out to be a race in which I was snakebit in all kinds of ways. But I was able to power through and probably ran one of the fastest times I've run this race -- if you take out the delays I had.
First, I thought I would be able to leave home and arrive with as little time as possible. I used my sneaky route up Georgia Avenue from Grant Park to get to the Gold Lot. Unfortunately, when I got here about 7:15 a.m. -- 15 minutes before the race start -- the lot was packed! I wasn't sure I would get a space but I ultimately did. Parking was kind of at a premium.
Then I waited in my car until five minutes before the race started. Where I parked was a little further from the start than I thought so no problem, I started trotting ahead and saw the Wave A sign, getting there with a few seconds to spare.
The only thing was on my side of the road, the corral was fenced off! I went to the sign thinking I could just enter there, but no!
Wave A started and I had a choice. I knew it wasn't kosher to hop the fence, but that's what I did and immediately started running ... for a bit. At .41 miles, the shoelace in my left shoe became untied so I stopped off to the side and tied it before continuing.
Just after 1.5 miles I really felt like I needed to stop and use the bathroom. This really hasn't happened to me since I ran the Portland Marathon in 2000. I saw a private lot with two porta-potties so I went over to those. But they were zip-tied! So I crossed back over the course and went over to CNN Center, where I have had bathroom stops on long runs in the past. But at first the guard didn't think it was open. Another guard said it was, so I went in.
This whole exchange cost me about eight minutes and an extra half mile to my half marathon. When I came back to the race (I made sure I entered at exactly the spot I left), I was running with the 2:15 pace group!
I decided that I would treat this as a fun run but I also wanted to run as steadily as I could. I eventually started catching up with the 2-hour pace group (I was passing pacers in this group from Mile 4 to Mile 10) and I wondered if I would break 2 hours because of my detour.
But I continued. I felt great, churning away the miles into Piedmont Park. Just before Mile 7, the shoelace in my right shoe became untied so I stopped on the side of the course (just under the basketball courts) and tied my shoe and went on. It was great to be running on my home turf and I didn't have any signs of slowing like I did in the past.
When we exited the park I made sure I ran carefully up the hills on 10th Street and Juniper. In the past running on Courtland Street back into downtown would wear me down but I ran one of my fastest miles of the race here in 8:05 for Mile 9.
We continued up the steep hill right when you get on John Wesley Dobbs and onto Irwin Street. Right before Mile 10 I decided to take off my long-sleeved technical shirt and just wear my short sleeve Team Beef technical shirt. I'd never done this in a race but I was starting to get uncomfortable wearing the layers.
It resulted in me juggling my Headsweats visor, my sunglasses, my wireless headphones, my short sleeve shirt and then my long-sleeved one. It actually felt great to be wearing no shirt at all for the short segment that I didn't have it on. Then I finally figured out the right way to put on my red shirt and for a few seconds I couldn't see anything around me! Luckily I didn't run into anyone or anything.
At Mile 10 I decided to eat a GU gel because I felt like I neede an extra boost. We turned down onto the suicide lane of DeKalb Avenue just like we ran the other way in the Craft Classic Half Marathon. I still felt pretty strong here and by Mile 11 I reasoned I would have a good shot at breaking 2 hours if I could just run 10-minute miles.
At Mile 12 I was still running strong and knew I only needed to negotiate the double stacked hill on Mitchell Street near the Capitol Avenue. Just on the first part of this section a burly guy running ran into my left side and instinctively I pushed him away with my arm and continued up the hill.
On Capitol Avenue going down to the Memorial Drive intersection there were two young women who were starting to run fast. The section over the interstate is basically hill, hill over interstate, then downhill. I don't think I caught them but I really started to kick it on the last portion of the race, but really waiting until I passed the Mile 13 sign. I had lots of energy for the finish and negotiated the final .13 miles at a 5:48/mile pace, which was a great sign of my running. Finished in 1:55:48 and this easily could have been in the 1:47/1:48 range without stops.
It was a real relief to finally get a good race in, even if circumstances won't reflect it in the final time. I really didn't know what to say after the last three races in which I constantly was being blown up after the first five miles of the races. I think being back on the Hansons program has been helpful with additional weekly mileage and speed/tempo work.
Postscript: I see this race is called the "Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon" but will always be the Atlanta Half Marathon to me. Plus the Atlanta Track Club changed the course again (a straight section on John Wesley Dobbs to Irwin Street instead of turning down Boulevard), the third different course I've run on in the last 10 years).
Time: 7:30 a.m.
Temp: 43 degrees
Gear: Technical T-shirt, long (Locomotive Half '10), Technical T-shirt, short (Team BEEF), shorts, visor, sunglasses, Newton Gravity V.
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