ING Georgia Marathon: Results and Ratings...

Results...

These are the official results posted today... Apparently there were very few finishers in the full marathon this year! Note: The "Age group" is not pulled out by gender so this is skewed a little. Congrats to all ING Georgia Marathon and Half-Marathon Finishers!!!

Ratings…
Overall: 4.1/5.0 (Weighted average)

Organization: 3.5/5.0

-For a large marathon it was fairly well organized. Good amount of water/Gatorade stops, lots of food at the end, almost every mile was marked, and a good amount of pace team options. They also had GREAT new medals (shown below). You can't tell, but the skyline in the middle spins!!! OOOh-Ahhhh! The bad side- by Saturday they ran out of pins and we were on our own. And there were NO clocks during the entire race! Also, I never saw a "GU" stop (or anything similar) that they were supposed to have.

Course: 4.5/5.0

-I LOVED the course. But I hate running on flat... and boy was this anything but flat. There were constantly turns- no long roads that you can physically SEE the 26 miles stretched out before you. Also, you saw a lot of Atlanta! Very pretty houses and parks the entire way. It lost .5 of a rating because (although I love them) the hills at the end. I would say the last couple hills RIGHT at the end were just cruel.

Spectators: 3.8/5.0

-LOTS of support through almost the whole race! They have neighborhoods compete through a majority of the race. However, at the very end (so a big part of the half marathon) there were very few people out. There WAS a guy with Gummy bears... Sorry Gummy bear man if you read this-- I don't really "LOVE" you the way it sounded when I practically kissed you. But I did appreciate the gummies!

Runners/Corrals: 5.0/5.0

-This was a fairly large group to start, but when the marathoners split from the half-marathoners... there weren't many of us left! Everyone was very polite and supportive of each other. Also, it seemed that most were pretty honest. There weren't too many people up in the first corrals who lied about their times then just plain got in the way when the race started.

Pace Groups: 4.5/5.0

-I only experienced the 3:40 pace group and they seemed to be right on. I believe one of the leaders had a garmin watch. The only thing I would suggest is that in such a hilly ending marathon, they not make such even splits. Go a little faster in the beginning and give people a little wiggle room at the end for the last few big hills.
Expo: 3.5/5.0

-Average Expo. All the major companies that are usually there. Very few clothing options, especially ING Marathon clothing options. Mizuno was there doing stride measurements and shoe recommendations. I think a lot of this is because its a young marathon still.

Closing Thoughts:

The only thing I ever want after marathons is french fries. It's the only time these oily things ever look good. I finally got them when I went to the airport!!!

Overall I had a positive experience at the ING Georgia marathon. It's a challenging race for anybody who doesn't mind taking on some grueling hills. Also across the street from the marathon start/finish is the coca-cola factory. You can try far too many types of Coca-cola products from all over the world and you get to see a polar bear!!! :)

Time to say goodbye to ING Georgia and gear up for Nashville in a month!!! I'm looking to run the Xenia Half-marathon this weekend in Xenia, OH!!! As always I'll keep you updated.

-Happy Running!

Stephanie