2007 Atlanta Half Marathon
This is a special race to me as it is the first race I ran at any distance over 5K. It is somewhat of a tradition to run every year. I missed one year due to down time from injury and lack of training- but other than I have run it every year since 2001. I have had people ask why I get up so early on Thanskgiving to go run- and I just think of all of the memories from the races and tell them it is just a tradition I do.

Over the last 6 years my goals in this race have changed somewhat but I always seem to have a great time running this race and always come away smiling and this year was no different.

I had no plans of meeting any of friends at the race this year. My plan was to just get there- take in the Thanksgiving sites and sounds have a fun time.

Atlanta has been without rain for quite some time and is in a severe drought so I didn't mind the race morning rain forecast on Thanksgiving morning. Teh race starter was counting down from 10 to yell race start and I jokingly said to the couple next to me that when he got to zero it was going to start raining. Well- sure enought it did. We just looked at each other and laughed.

As always, no one lines up correctly for this race even though they have signs (min per mile pace) to help people judge where they should line up.

After slowly working through the some of the crowd in the first couple of miles it loosened a little but was still a little crowded. Somewhere near the end of mile 3 (I think) I heard someone yell my name and turned around to see Michele. She had just run a marathon the Saturday before and was now running a half marathon 5 days later pacing a friend of hers. Incredible!! We ran together for a mile or so and then parted ways. Although I really didn't have specific time goals for this race I did have certain areas of teh course I wanted to push it on to see how my conditioning was and start working on my program going in to next year.

My splits are usually alot closer than they were this year but with my plan I just mentioned, there were a couple of areas when I just ran, others where I pushed it a little.

Mile Split
1 9.01
2 8.44
3 8.32
4 8.46
5 8.27
6 8.08
7 7.59
8 8.52
9 8.34
10 8.26
11 8.29
12 8.18
13 7.55
.1 1.36 (6.55 pace)
Note: They put the 13 mile marker with the 26 mile marker for the marathoners so the 13 mile marker was actually at 12.9 and the end of the race was .2 miles.

Total Time- 1:51:53
Avg- 8.33

I was running towards the finish I heard someone yell encouragement for me but didn't know who it was. Turned out it was a buddy from work that also ran the race. Ran in to him at the drink area after the race and chatted for a few minutes. I felt great after the race and actually had thoughts of running a couple of more miles but decided against it after standing in the rain for a while and stiffening a little.

This was a typical Thanksgiving day half marathon- so many friends and families chatting as they run. The sparse crowd that is out watching for their family members as they come by. The great volunteers that are out there early in the morning yelling Happy Thanksgiving to all of the runners. But as I made my way back along the last 1.5 miles of the course I saw so may great sites. You never know the stories behind these runners. There was the mom running and the Dad and daughter on the side of the road waiting for her and she approached the little child cheering so loudly and the mom running over to give kisses. Then there were the two ladies that were approaching the top of the last hill where you can see the long stretch to the finish line and one friend breaking out in tears and the other hugging her and telling her she made it. Then there is the 3.5 year old asking his daddy did he race and did he get a medal and the daddy saying yes he did. And then the son asking his daddy can he see it and where it. The daddy said yes and slid teh medal over his sons head and the son looking so excited and exclaiming "THAT IS SO COOL DAD!!!!!" Yes, Glenn.... that is so cool isn't it.
Yes- it was a good Thanksgiving!!

Week of Nov 12 - week 1 post marathon

I wasn't as sore as I thought I would be at first. I ran a very slow 3 miles at the green way during lunch on Tuesday. I was going ot run 2 but decided to go to the 1.5 mile turn around just in case I wanted to get a little more in. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and I thought I would probably want to get spend more time out there.

After running the slow 3 on Tuesday I had ot make myself take Wed. off. It was another beautiful day and I really wanted to get out for an easy run but knew I needed to take the day off.

I got out for 3.1 miles before work on Thursday. There was a cold front coming through and it was extremely windy. Still a pretty good run though.

Friday was a rest day.

Saturday- Got up and had a lazy morning with the family!! Got out for a 3.1 mile run mid morning.

Sunday- ran 8 miles. I felt great through the first 6 miles. The temps were dropping pretty quickly and my legs were pretty stiff for the last 2 miles- maybe a combination of running more this week than I normally do after a marathon, the falling temps, and the hill that was most of mile 7.

Summary:
Mon- 0 miles
Tues- 3 miles
Wed- rest day
Thurs- 3.1 miles
Fri- rest day
Sat- 3.1 miles
Sun- 8 miles

Total- 17.2 miles

2007 - Suntrust Richmond Marathon
Training:
I actually had the most miles in training for this marathon than I had for my last four marathons. I felt like I did everything right starting off- built a good base and was about to add speed work in to the mix when I broke my toe in week 3 of the program. The next three weeks were spent getting healed while trying to keep some running going. I started over again with the training had built the miles pretty well until late in the program when work/travel/vacation came in to play. I ended up having two long runs of 17 miles each and that was it for this program.
All in all I feel very good about this training period, I just had a lack of 4-5 long runs that I really needed.

Race Weekend:
The weekend got off to a crazy start as I got to the Atlanta airport only to see that there was no electricity on teh concourse I was flying out of. There had been a fire earlier in the morning and they didn't have the electricity restored. The airport/airline personnel did an excellent job keeping things moving and we were only about 50 minutes late leaving.
Then I got to the hotel in Richmond only to find they had chnaged the name 2 days before and the hotel was under total renovation. It was messy every where and only one of the two elevators was working.

I headed down to the expo where I ran in to Barbara and Tim- after chatting for a minute and doing the expo thing we met back up for lunch. I kpet watchng for Tricia and James but never saw them- turns out they were caught up in traffic. Had dinner with Barbara, Tim, and Michelle (2L's).
Upon returning to the hotel I saw who I thought to be Tricia checking in. It turned out it was Tricia and James just getting in to town.

I met Tricia and James Saturday morning to walk over to the start line. We decided to wait in the host hotel by the start line and saw Barabra, Tim, and Michele again. After a couple of pictires we heaeded out to the start line.

Race:
Tricia and I had close goals for this race so we started out together. The course was beautiful- even on a cold/windy/cloudy monring. It took us through the downtown area, through beautiful neighborhoods, across and beside the James River, then back to town. I had studied the course map and knew where the hills were but I totally under estimated some of the hills. None of them were horrible by standards of what I train on but the course profile on the website doesn't do them justice- especially with the 10-15 mph wind in your face. I had planned on mapping out the course on google maps to see what profiloe I came up with but ran out of time before leaving to do so.
I wan't sure how long I would be able to stay with Tricia. I was hoping to stay with her for the entire distance but also knew I wasn't hydrated quite like I needed to be and was worried abou tlegs cramps- something I have had a problem with in the past.
I made it to about the 19.7 mile mark with her. I had started feeling my hamstring really tighten up earlier but thought I would be ok. We crossed a long bridge that had a pretty good uphill slant into a pretty strong wind for the entire distance at mile 16 and that one pretty much did me in. I was able to hang with Tricia for almost 4 more miles and then it was time to do whatever I could to make it in. I strectched at each mile marker and slowed my pace the rest of the way and thank goodness never cramped.
After the race and sitting with Tricia and James for a bit we made our way back up the hill to the hotel. After an ice bath and a hot shower I went back out to watch and cheer for Barbara and Michele.
After seeing them- Tricia, James, and I went to an Irish Pub for celebratory drink and food where we watched football and chatted for quite a while.
It was great to see Barbara, Tim, Michele, Tricia and James.

Tricia ran a very solid race- thanks for running with me. I look forward to watching her improvements over her future races.

I looked and there are a few seconds difference between mine and Tricia's splits but that is just the difference of when we hit the lap button on our Garmins.

Mile Split
1- 8.50
2- 8.50
3- 8.49
4- 8.42
5- 8.48
6- 8.53
7- 8.47
8- 8.52
9- 8.46
10- 8.46
11- 9.00
12- 8.43
13- 8.43
14- 8.36
15- 8.51
16- 8.55
17- 9.00
18- 8.49
19- 8.59
20- 9.52
21- 9.16
22- 9.17
23- 9.34
24- 10.03
25- 9.40
26- 8.51
.2- 1.51 (8.03 pace)

Total Time- 3:57:39
Overall place: 1371/3783
Age group place- 180
Gender Place- 994

My goal for this marathon was to run a 3:45 - 4:00 and I ran a 3:57:38. I am happy with the race and hope to use this as a push in to the next program. After a couple of days off it will be time to get ready for the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thnaksgiving day.

Marathon Week:
I ran 6 miles on Tuesday and my last 3.3 mile run this morning (Thursday) in 30 degree temps. I wanted to see how I felt running in cold before I went to the race. The temps are supposed to be in the low 30's and I have only had 1 run during this training cycle that was in the 30's.

Week of 10-29-07:
I had a pretty good week of running. Not sure if I ran too much or not since I am not really using a program right now- just making it up as I go. I don't think I ran too much but I haven't gone back to look at past programs to see what I ran. 28 miles seems a bit more than I noramlly ran but I felt ok. My main focus the past few weeks has been running even splits/pace. I was not ready to add in speed work yet. I have always been able to run pretty even splits. Not sure exactly what my plan is for the race just yet. My early one goal of 3:20 - 3:30 was lost in late July/August and solidly lost in Sept. Now my goal is to run this as a long run and try to finish somewhere between 3:45 - 4:00, probably closer to 3:50-3:55.

Weekly Summary:
Mon- rest day
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 4 miles
Thurs- No run
Fri- 6 miles
Sat- 4 miles
Sun- 8 miles

Total- 28 miles