It was a rainy morning in Atlanta. About time, the locals would say--they've been in a drought for a long time. Holding off for one more day might have been nice.
It wasn't bad though. Not a downpour, just a little rain. Marathon number two of seven would get underway at 7:30.
The lovely Francine was running with me, and it made the day a lot more fun. We looked for Brian before the race but didn't find him. Didn't see him after the turnaround either. Don't know how we missed each other. William started the wheelchair race about 10 minutes before the rest of us. We did see him on our way out--he was probably 6 or 8 miles ahead of us.
The race was small--around 600. The half-marathon was the bigger race, starting 13 miles away and a half-hour earlier. So by the time we would finish they'd all be home eating turkey.
The course--rolling hills all the way. Not a lot of flat spots. They even name the hills to make them feel "friendly." It didn't help.
Attitude. We ran the hills together, pretty much ignoring them. No choice--we were just there to have a great time and finish the race. The rain continued for most of the first half, then the sky brightened a bit.
Thirteen miles, Francine had gone on ahead so she could make a pit stop. I passed her, and got to the half-marathon split mats. I stood there and waited, we crossed the mats together and then stopped for our traditional half-way kiss. Over halfway done! Cool!
From just past 18 to just past 20 is a long, gradual downhill. It's a good idea, but what goes down must come up. But 20 miles--the day seemed to be going by fast. We looked ahead and saw a long uphill ahead of us.
A few months ago, while running a 5K with Carly, I taught her something about hills and attitude. On the next hill we came to, Francine asked her if she wanted to walk up it, and Carly said, "This ain't no hill, Mom" and proceeded to kick our butts running up it.
So I said to Francine, "This ain't no hill, Mom." We smiled and dedicated the hill to Carly, running uphill for about a full mile, one of our best miles of the day. We also passed a ton of people on the way up. In fact, we ran the whole rest of the way passing people.
I started to bog down just a bit at around 22, so I started singing. That always brings the baloney level in my blood up the proper range, and the course suddenly got easier. Next thing we knew, we were at the 25 mile mark. Another surge. I was running on pure attitude and having a blast. Rolling hills in the 26th mile let us pass another 20 people or so. We looked for the 26 mile mark, but instead looked up and saw the FINISH LINE. Mile 26 must have been our fastest mile of the day! We kicked for the line, raised our arms together in victory. Just under 4:42. My second marathon of the week was about 15 minutes faster than the first. Continent # 2 is now complete.
We waited at the finish area until Brian came in at about 5:38. Officially beyond the course limit, but he managed to talk them into putting his results into the computer. That was state #16 for him.
We laid around for a bit, recovered, went out for some really good food at a tavern down the street. And at the end of the day, hearing noise outside, we looked out the window to see one of the greatest fireworks displays I've ever witnessed for the lighting of the Christmas tree at Macy's. It was a wonderful day.
and the adventure continues....
It wasn't bad though. Not a downpour, just a little rain. Marathon number two of seven would get underway at 7:30.
The lovely Francine was running with me, and it made the day a lot more fun. We looked for Brian before the race but didn't find him. Didn't see him after the turnaround either. Don't know how we missed each other. William started the wheelchair race about 10 minutes before the rest of us. We did see him on our way out--he was probably 6 or 8 miles ahead of us.
The race was small--around 600. The half-marathon was the bigger race, starting 13 miles away and a half-hour earlier. So by the time we would finish they'd all be home eating turkey.
The course--rolling hills all the way. Not a lot of flat spots. They even name the hills to make them feel "friendly." It didn't help.
Attitude. We ran the hills together, pretty much ignoring them. No choice--we were just there to have a great time and finish the race. The rain continued for most of the first half, then the sky brightened a bit.
Thirteen miles, Francine had gone on ahead so she could make a pit stop. I passed her, and got to the half-marathon split mats. I stood there and waited, we crossed the mats together and then stopped for our traditional half-way kiss. Over halfway done! Cool!
From just past 18 to just past 20 is a long, gradual downhill. It's a good idea, but what goes down must come up. But 20 miles--the day seemed to be going by fast. We looked ahead and saw a long uphill ahead of us.
A few months ago, while running a 5K with Carly, I taught her something about hills and attitude. On the next hill we came to, Francine asked her if she wanted to walk up it, and Carly said, "This ain't no hill, Mom" and proceeded to kick our butts running up it.
So I said to Francine, "This ain't no hill, Mom." We smiled and dedicated the hill to Carly, running uphill for about a full mile, one of our best miles of the day. We also passed a ton of people on the way up. In fact, we ran the whole rest of the way passing people.
I started to bog down just a bit at around 22, so I started singing. That always brings the baloney level in my blood up the proper range, and the course suddenly got easier. Next thing we knew, we were at the 25 mile mark. Another surge. I was running on pure attitude and having a blast. Rolling hills in the 26th mile let us pass another 20 people or so. We looked for the 26 mile mark, but instead looked up and saw the FINISH LINE. Mile 26 must have been our fastest mile of the day! We kicked for the line, raised our arms together in victory. Just under 4:42. My second marathon of the week was about 15 minutes faster than the first. Continent # 2 is now complete.
We waited at the finish area until Brian came in at about 5:38. Officially beyond the course limit, but he managed to talk them into putting his results into the computer. That was state #16 for him.
We laid around for a bit, recovered, went out for some really good food at a tavern down the street. And at the end of the day, hearing noise outside, we looked out the window to see one of the greatest fireworks displays I've ever witnessed for the lighting of the Christmas tree at Macy's. It was a wonderful day.
and the adventure continues....
1 comment:
Don,
Congratulations on continent #2! 5 to go...My guess is you are winging your way to Italy as I write this...Good luck on the next marathon. Safe travels...Crosstraining with Francine;)LOL....
Cheers,
Alan Martens
Post a Comment