GEORGIA MARATHON 2007

Another one in the books. On 3/25/07 Ramsey and I, along with our Coach Carlos participated in the ING Georgia Marathon in Atlanta, GA. Quite a day it was. Ill get into more specifics about race day in a bit....

We arrived in Atlanta on Friday evening, Los & I by plane, Ramsey by car. A nice dinner at Rosa Mexicana was followed up by crashing back at our hotel in downtown. The next day included strolling around the city and hitting the runner's expo. Another nice dinner and we were set for the race.

Lets just say it was more than warm. Actually, it was just plain hot. 87 degrees was the high temperature (a record in Atlanta for 3/25), and when the race started humidity was over 80%. Not ideal conditions for a road race. But, when the gun fired we decided to go ahead and run it anyways. The race started at 0700 before the sun was up, and that was pretty cool. After about a mile Ramsey and I were both working up a good sweat.....at 0715....with no sun. Do you see where this is going??

It only got hotter....and hotter....and hotter. And the course was straight up RIDICULOUS. I never expected so many hills in HOT-lanta. It was by far the most difficult course (marathon or otherwise) that I'd ever seen. Everytime you got over one hill it felt like you had about 2 minutes to catch your breath and there you stood facing another climb.

The other major area of concern was Poweraid...or lack thereof. According to pre-race material every water stop would also be accompanied by a poweraid station. Well, I can remember 3...maybe 4 stops that actually had poweraid. Apparently there was some kind of confusion among the planners of the race, but this proved to be a HUGE issue for all involved. In 90 degree heat, with a hilly course, you have got to replenish those electrolytes at a pretty rapid rate. Runners were getting VERY upset and it was clear that everyone had about enough of Atlanta.

Despite all its issues, still an amazing feeling to see that finish line. I had been forced to walk about a mile and a half of the course, just due the injury to my foot. It started to hurt around mile 21 or 22 and I had to shut it down a little to keep from major injury. However, I had enough juice to sprint the last few hundred yards to finish under 4:40. Not the best time in the world, but all things considered I was pretty happy.

I'm actually more proud of this marathon than I was the MCM. One, the injury to my foot came so late in training, and I hadn't run in over a month leading up to race day. Two, the heat and the course were extremely challenging...more than I had planned for. So we end this chapter with an official 4:39:25.

Next stop.....Philly????