My (Last) Atlanta Half Marathon

This morning was my 14th and most likely my last Atlanta Half Marathon. This race holds a special place for me as I PR'd here back in 1991, and today while not a PR (even for my 49th year), it was a PR for the new course (2nd year for this course). The weather was perfect this morning, and despite running NYC on the 6th,I felt ready to run once I got going. I was extremely pleased with my race execution today as I started off slow and my splits were very consistent. Even the last mile over the two final hills was pretty solid IMHO. Overall, I was 8th in my AG out of 409, the 172nd woman out of 4267 and 933 overall out of 8489 recorded finishers with a time of 1:42:50. This was a great redemption after being so disappointed at Grand Rapids (and only running 50 sec slower on a much more difficult course). As a comparison, last year I ran 1:47:28 and I was 14th out of 412 in my AG, 257th out of 4312 woman and 1307th overall out of 8888. So it was a good day!

Splits were as follows:

Mile 1: 8:21

Mile 2: 8:08

Mile 3: 7:52

Mile 4: 7:48

Mile 5: 7:42

Mile 6: 7:56

Mile 7: 7:45

Mile 8: 7:55

Mile 9: 7:41

Mile 10: 7:37

Mile 11: 7:41

Mile 12: 7:54

Mile 13.1: 7:58

The course is incredibly deceptive as the first 5 miles are mostly downhill. Then you climb your first uphill around 5.5 miles and it rolls from mile 7 to mile 10 where there is a nice downhill. You climb again as you approach mile 11, have a short downhill and flat section, before you climb two more kind of nasty ones before the final 0.2 miles downhill under the Olympic rings to the finish. i think I managed the easy part very well which served me well for the finish.

After the race, I ran into Stephen (Gobbles) who was just running a training run from one of the back corrals (after all, he ran two sub-3 marathons in the beginning of the month). He looked good and we got our picture taken. As soon as it is up, I will post it.

Great job Michele! Congrats!

--Reina

Hey Michele, those are some fine looking splits! Very nice job keeping it consistent and strong at the end. Congratulations on a course PR, and a great AG and overall finish. Hope you're now home (or wherever) enjoying your Thanksgiving dinner!

You continue to amaze - damn nice run and the dead butt syndrome seems like an eternity ago!!! Sorry I missed you this morning, but great run!

Michele:

Glad you had fun this morning.

I ran out of the back of D (of A-E). Wow, the event is so different running from near the front of A or 1 and that far back. I ran easy, but it was tough just with the shear number of people. I think I passed 6K people (looking at the clock time), and finished in 1:29 (Not even Marathon Pace); at no place could I ever get in a groove. It was still fun, I slowed and talk to friends (as I passed them) about 5 times, too.

Come on, it's not your last. Great run!

Heard it was gorgeous day. Looks like your run matched it. Sweet!

Just another reason to be grateful! Sweer run. And there are always planes, trains and automobiles when you get the urge to satisfy your Thanksgiving urge to run this race...

Nice running Michele.

Nice going, Michele, I can only imagine the hills that must have been there. That was really a well managed race you and there and I am guessing the slower first few miles only helped you later on. Great job.

Michele...I continue to be impressed and inspired by you! Another great race!

Nancy

Wait, so why is it your last?

Looks well-executed to me.

Congratulations on a great race!

Congrats on putting together a solid race performance Michele! I have some inlaws that live in Suwanee and so I know it can be very hilly in the Atlanta region.

Dave-O wrote:Wait, so why is it your last?

Looks well-executed to me.

I'm relocating to Cleveland, OH once again in June.

Nice solid race for your last time there, way to go Michelle! Hope you enjoy the great state of Ohio!

Gratz, M1. Those splits would be great on a flat course, let alone an up 'n down course.