Atlanta Half Marathon Recap

I successfully completed the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day!  The best part is, I had fun doing it and I wasn't too overtaxed afterward to cook and enjoy a Thanksgiving meal. I didn't get much sleep the night before the race.  I had no trouble falling asleep at about 10pm but I awoke three hours later and tossed and turned the rest of the night.  It's that annoying anticipation you get when you know you have to be somewhere early in the morning and you're anxious about oversleeping. I didn't oversleep and was ready for my 5:30am wake up although I did briefly consider forgetting the whole thing and just sleeping in.  I knew I'd regret it if I didn't go and I didn't want a Thanksgiving Day guilt trip. 

My husband drove me to the race so I didn't have to stress about traffic (which I hate) and driving in downtown Atlanta (which I also hate) so I was able to eat a slice of whole wheat with some peanut butter on it as my quick breakfast.  Despite the numerous warnings about traffic and parking spots being limited we didn't have difficulty finding parking around Turner Field and we actually got a space pretty close to the start.  There were a sea of  people there.  When it finally came time for me to get into my corral (corral C) I was amazed at the mass of people in front of me and behind me.

Several minutes behind the 2 hr pace group is a good place to be

The middle of the pack. It feels good to be average.

 There were five different start waves (A-E) with staggered starts of about 5 minutes in between.  The difference between the corral A start and corral C start actually ended up being about 11 minutes instead of 10 but luckily I had my Nike+ sportsband to keep track of my time.  I wasn't going to make the same mistake I did during the Atlanta Marathon and start out too quick.  I made myself take it easy and slow in the beginning even though I really wanted to pass people.  After I got warmed up I could've started pushing myself at that point but I knew that a PR wasn't likely to happen anyway so I resolved to just have fun with it.  I stopped to use the restroom twice and stopped to walk at three different aid stations, twice for water and once for Powerade.  I had two Gu gels with me but only used one at about mile 5.

There were a lot of hills along the course which I had been prepared for after running the Marathon a  few weeks ago.  Luckily, keeping a slower pace meant that I never had to stop and walk and I didn't get any leg cramps this time.  We passed along many of the same points of interest as we did for the Atlanta Marathon.  I'm beginning to realize that I don't like urban races as much as I do trail runs or suburban races.  I just don't find the city view that inspiring.  The longest part of the race seemed to be the last mile.  I saw someone getting loaded into an ambulance at about the 12 mile mark so I hope she's okay. I saw a few guys that obviously encountered chaffing issues if the blood on their shirts and shorts were any indication.  I noticed that there were far fewer spectators at this race than there were at the Marathon.  I don't know if that's due to the holiday or because the distance is shorter or simply because the Half Marathon didn't have the "cheer zones" the full marathon had.

But, after 13.1 miles I finally crossed the finish line at 2:06 along with several other people at around the same time. The race was pretty crowded so there was always a group of runners around me.  Because of this my husband never saw me cross the finish line despite the fact that he was standing right there.  He wasn't the only spouse/relative/friend to miss their loved one crossing the finish line though so I'm really glad there were photographers taking pics throughout the race and at the finish.  As I made my way through the finisher's chute I received my finisher's medal, a bottle of water, a foil blanket, and a banana and some pretzels. The finisher's chute was so long I was wondering if it would ever end and if I would ever find the food tent which was at the very end.  I'm happy I went and I feel I really earned my Thanksgiving meal. As to whether or not I'll do this again next year....probably so.