Parking was easy. They had someone at the entrance to the park that directed you to the parking lot. They offer race-day packet pickup, although they ran out of safety pins. Luckily, I have my running belt, so I don't need them. I also found four in my car from a previous race that I donated to the cause to help someone else. The packet pickup was located in a building that kind of looked like a circus tent. (It may have actually been one, for all I know.) The line got pretty long, and they didn't have a whole lot of volunteers handing out the packets. There were only three people in front of me, and I probably waited in line for 15+ minutes. This race's SWAG left something to be desired. The shirt was a cotton t-shirt, and that was it.
The morning was chilly, so I stayed inside the circus tent building until right before the start. The start/finish was right outside, so a few minutes before the start I was able to walk out of the building and into the line. They had pace groups, so I found the 4:00 pace group and stuck with them for awhile.
The Christmas lights were still up in some places, and there weren't any flowers blooming. The park was pretty empty of guests, so it was a perfect time for the race. The roads weren't closed to traffic, so every now and then a car would drive through the course, but it wasn't too often.
The course was pretty hilly. It went past some lakes, around the park streets, and then into the woods on a bike (?) path. It was a double loop course, so the half marathon turned off at the halfway point, and us crazy people continued on for another lap. The scenery was very nice, and I'm sure it would be even nicer in the spring with the flowers blooming. There was an out and back portion near the back entrance of the park in addition to the double loops, so you got to see and cheer on the other runners quite often.
I stayed with the 4:00 group for about three or four miles before a huge downhill took me ahead of them. I'm a downhill runner, and I can't help but fly down the hills. After that, I decided to stay ahead and try for a sub-4 hour race. I felt good, and passed a bunch of people in the beginning of the second lap. My middle miles were my strongest. I would have my eye on someone ahead of me and see if I could catch up to them.
The water stops were well manned with cheering volunteers. There was water, Gatorade (or some other electrolyte drink), and Coke at most stations. They also had chips and pretzels. I'm not sure if the chips were for the runners or the volunteers. I'm not sure how you eat chips while you run. But I did take a pretzel around mile 8 and 21.
I started to get tired toward the end when I was on the bike path through the woods. Three or four of the people I had passed in the middle miles passed me back. I couldn't keep up the pace in those last hills, and was glad to emerge from the woods and head down the last path to the finish in under 4 hours. I finished in 3:52:59, which was good enough for 3rd place in my age group, 7th female overall. The age group awards were beer mugs with the race name, age group, and place. They are very nice!
I met some great people at this race. One of the girls I passed in the middle who passed me back at the end was Shannon Hays. Shannon had also run the Museum of Aviation marathon and snagged 1st place in our age group in both races. She introduced me to Bob Kennedy, who heads up the 50<4 marathon club (for people who have run or trying to run a sub-4 hour marathon in all 50 states). They convinced me to sign up for the club. I also met Loren Starr, who, at the time, was close to a 100 marathon milestone (He was since crushed that goal).
Another small Georgia race in the books. I give this one 3.5 out of 5 stars as well, although the scenery might tip the scales toward a 4.
Some of the "fast women" in the race. We all finished right under 4 hours.
50<4 Marathon Club members with our awards
Shannon and me with our age group awards. That girl is amazing!
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