AlanandVal

Georgia Marathon

A few weeks ago Alan and I participated in the Georgia Marathon and half marathon for the 3rd year in a row.  Considering we had just run the ING Miami a month prior, we weren't too concerned, just interested in beating our GA times from last year. 

Funny thing about racing is that you can spend months preparing, never miss a workout, eat right, push yourself to improve and then something comes along the week before a race and throws you off balance.  I mean you still have all the hardwork built up, it's not like you lose it, but the week before a race is sometimes the most important when it comes to preparing your body.  We are usually really good about getting in short workouts and stretching, eating good carbs, drinking lots of water and getting plenty of sleep.  Well this time, life got in the way.

The week before the race we had 2 huge, week-long meetings at work.  This meant early mornings at the office, days of drowing in meetings, catered lunches and group dinners (with cocktails and desserts!) that led to late, late nights.  So, needless to say when Saturday rolled around we pretty much felt like crap and didn't hold much hope for anything great coming out of the race on Sunday.

We were up early and made our way to Centennial Olympic Park, split up to find out corals and took off.  The weather was pretty much perfect - 60, overcast with a breeze.  The course was the same as last year, for the most part, and the support stations and cheering sections were awesome! 

Alan finished in 3:39:04 and I finished in 2:08:20.  Both are improvements over our finishing times from last year and I managed to take 4 minutes off my PR! 

A couple pics from the GA marathon site, non of our own!

So despite the lack of sleep, too much rich food, too many cocktails and way too much stress, it was a good race.

Good to know that good training efforts pull through when everything falls apart the week before a race!

Now, it's on to Tri season!!