Atlanta Half Marathon

I was very proud of myself this winter for getting in my long runs almost every week leading up to the half marathon.  The exceptions were weekend trips to see my brother and skiing.

I flew into Atlanta on Friday afternoon and Chris picked me up.  We spent the afternoon lounging, drinking wine and catching up on his front porch.  I love front porches!  Romeo got home and we went to dinner.  Fun evening with two good friends.  

Saturday was a busy day!  We met up with my cousin who lives in Atlanta (Chris made me drive!), ran a few errands, packet pickup, and lunch to meet Lisa (from BT) who also lives in Atlanta and was doing the race.  Then, back at the house, I got my stuff all ready for the race before dinner with Chris, Romeo and one of their friends, and then off to bed!

Chris had offered to get up early and drive me to the race start, but I told him to sleep in since the race was only a short uber ride away.  I made some iced tea, ate a little breakfast and headed to the race start.  It was chilly and I'm glad I borrowed Chris' long sleeve shirt and Romeo's gloves -thanks guys!  I walked around, stretched a little and the mandatory port-o-potty stop.  When I got to the starting corral, I ran into Lisa.  We chit chatted and made our way up to the start line to begin the race... still dark!

I started out doing 30/90 intervals (same as Laura and I have been training) but my head just wasn't in it.
It seemed to take forever to get to the first mile marker, then the second.  There are more hills in Atlanta that I had imagined.  I heard some bells behind me as I passed the first water stop and I turned to look.  It was the race sweepers!  Mind you, I am nowhere near the end of the race, and I am well within the pace required to make the time limit.  They caught up to me and told them I had the option of keeping up with them, or else moving to the sidewalk.  What??  I was literally right next to the 3:15 pace leaders (race limit was 3:30).  I told them thanks for the info just as my watch beeped indicating my run interval, so I left them.

It was super stressful trying to stay ahead of them with the constant sound of bells in my ears.  I asked the 3:15 pace leaders to confirm the time limit again, and they reiterated 3:30 and that they were also shocked the sweepers were so close.  I found the energy to pull ahead by a bit, looking forward to mile 9 where I knew Chris and Romeo would be out cheering.  The miles seemed to really creep by and I started to get some weird hot spots on my feet.  But for now, I got far enough ahead of the sweepers that I couldn't even see them when I turned around.

Finally I found myself entering Piedmount Park, approaching mile 9, and sure enough there were Chris and Romeo cheering along all the runners.  Of course I stopped for a selfie, and Chris walked with me for a bit.  By this point the hot spots on my feet had altered my run/walk intervals, but I was still running whenever I could.

It was really a struggle to get to the finish line.  By around mile 10 my intervals went out the window and I was walking the entire time.  I felt like I finally understood how people's legs can just give out towards the end of a race. It hurt every time my foot hit the ground, and those final 2-3 miles were miserable.  Finally, the finish line!  I collected my medal, some food and water, and tried to look around for a good place to sit.  Chris had been following my location online and immediately called and offered to pick me up. Yes!!

I could barely walk to an accessible area for Chris to pick me up where streets weren't closed.  When we got back, it was hard to get out of the car.... Hard to walk into the house.... hard to take a shower... etc, etc.   Finally clean, I sat down to breakfast. Romeo had made french toast with banana fosters topping, eggs, fruit and of course a couple ciders.   Yum!  And by 1pm we were on our way to the airport.  Of course I got a middle seat b/c I was too cheap to pay to select a seat. All the walking and waiting and people movers (in Dulles) and waiting for Lyft (which canceled on me 3 times).... ugh!  I got a ride to dog daycare and picked up my pups (leaving my car there was the best idea I had in a long time) and finally got home.  Luckily the dogs were wiped out from playing and we all napped in my bed until it was time for actual bedtime.  Half marathon in state #13 is in the books, but I do wish I'd had more fun time with Chris.  Next time...