Tuesday, March 24, 2009

ING Georgia Marathon

The bad news: due to quacked out Dr.'s I was unable to participate in the Alabama Marathon. Do not worry-- there is always next year.

The GREAT news: I will be running the ING Georgia Marathon in Atlanta, GA this coming weekend. And I'm still signed up for Nashville in about a month from now. :) Joe Guth (Aka "Joe Mother Guth")- an avid runner with 1, 15K race of experience will be joining me for the half marathon.

About Atlanta...
1) I have never been to Atlanta! Welllll I've been to the airport quite a few times but that doesn't really count.
2) Kristina and Ryan (both GE leadership program friends) live there and I'll get to see them both!
3) It has the World of Coca-Cola!!! How exciting is that?!?! http://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/

About ING Georgia...
Race Stats:
-Date: March 29, 2009. Current countdown: 4 Days, 21 Hours
-Map Track: If you would like to track my progress through the race you can follow the below link starting the day of the race. Look under the 2009 tab and use my last name to track... http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventLinkageID=17100
-Weather: Currently race day (Sunday) looks like it will be sunny with a high of 67. That would be quite hot-- hopefully the morning doesn't bring such a high temp. However, Saturday is supposed to have scattered T-Storms. HOPEFULLY these storms won't push out til Sunday!!!
-Capacity: The race cuts off at 15,000 runners for both the half and the full. 30 days prior to race date they were at over 12,000 spots taken. I was able to sign up just this past weekend, so it hasn't sold out yet.
-This is the 3rd Running of the ING Georgia Marathon. Hopefully this should be enough time to clear out any kinks in the marathon. It looks like the race may have had some water state planning issues in the first running, but they were resolved by the second year. They also have some start/corral issues. HOPEFULLY I'll be seeded and placed in a decent corral. I may have signed up too late to get seeded however. :( They release our bib numbers tomorrow (3/25)
-Beer: I have seen postings about mile 22 having beer. I will make a mental note to find it!
-The Course: HILLS, HILLS, HILLS. Holy Hills batman, this looks like a tough one. Here's an elevation chart:

My Race Plans...
I haven't been running very many long runs lately, so this should be a little test of muscle memory and it should hurt a lot-- then again, what marathon doesn't?

JMG- "Joe Mother Guth" and I will be racing the first half of this marathon. Recently JMG has made claim that he could beat me in a half marathon. Well the challenge has been made and accepted. The first 7.0 miles will be run on the same course and the remainder of the distance, I will be on the full marathon course while JMG will be on his way to the finish (must be nice). Please note by the elevation chart, this means he will be missing most of the "BIG HILL." No excuses though-- I'll still beat him! No wager has been made as of yet, but I'm sure we can think of something by Sunday.
Currently the race conditions look very hilly and either VERY hot or Thunderstorms. If it's hot my concentration will be hydration and hills will be taken a little slower. If it's thunderstorms and cooler then it looks like speed work up the hills and get finished before I get struck my lightening. That's the good thing about being so short... it will hit a LOT of other people before me!!
As always, if you have any tips for the race this weekend feel free to share your thoughts!!!

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