ING Georgia Half Marathon Completed!

For the longest run of my life I finished strong - a 2:00:53, well shy of my 2:10 goal.  By the last 3 miles I realized I could be shooting for a sub 2-hr time, which was exciting.  I worked to pace myself and unfortunately the Forerunner did me wrong a little and had me hitting 2h at with still a 1/4 mile or so left.  How frustrating!

The race started with a suprisingly wide open and free parking at the CNN center deck (I guess everyone took Marta).  We got there around 6:30 so plenty of time to find the start and get chilled in the 43-degree springtime weather.  The race had a staged start with the elite runners and the seven corrals having staggered start times by about 3-4 minutes.  I ran as "pace" for a friend of mine doing the full marathon.  The course winded through downtown, then north on Piedmont - suprisingly there was a water station at 1 mile (I'm not sure how at 43-degrees, full on pre-dawn still, and after having really only "run" 3/4 mile anyone could want water).  We then continued on through Old Fourth Ward, Inman Park, L5P, Highlands, Morningside, Piedmont Park, Midtown, Georgia Tech and finishing back at Centinneal Park.  Water/gatorade breaks were plentiful.  There was even a mile-9 GU station for the Half Marathon.

All in all I was very excited about my time and glad to see myself "finish strong".  The course was nice, especially going down all the smaller and medium neighborhood roads.  The weather was perfect for running, poor for spectating.  Biggest downside was coming back through midtown, seeing the Centennial Tower and Equitable Building and thinking the end was right around the corner, then an abrupt northwest turn looping us behind GA Tech and Howell Mill was a heartbreaker.  Equally disappointing was the Hill on Marietta at Mile 12/25.  Best parts was the weather, the crowd support, and the fact that a lot of the Half-Marathoners got to "run with" the elite marathoners on the last leg of the course.


I look forward to the ING Georgia's third running next year - hopefully by then I will be up for the full marathon.  Congrats to all that joined me today!