Marathon #44: Splashing Through Atlanta

Race day conditions can be as finicky as the race day mind and body. On those rare instances that they all seem to align, it can be a magical day. But if you race enough, you’ll likely experience a little bit of everything. Cold rain is certainly not my favorite, but I’ll take it over heat and humidity any day. And if I’m racing for “fun” without any kind of goal in mind other than to finish and not die, it’s a good way to get in some mental fitness.

When I decided I wanted to run the local marathon a couple weeks ago, the rain hadn’t appeared in the forecast yet. In my head, I wanted to just go bebop around Atlanta for 4 hours, wear a fun costume, and get in an overdue long road run. I’d been doing long runs, but all on the trails and this would force me into getting a (really) long run on the road. 

I slept okay enough the night before and woke up to my 4:15 a.m. alarm without issue. Listening to Hayden Hawks on the I’ll Have Another podcast, I ate a muffin and drank coffee on the drive down. I pulled into the parking deck of the aquarium at 5:30 or so and then made a beeline for the porta potties in the park. When I got back, I had plenty of time to change into my arm warmers (instead of a long sleeve shirt), apply vast quantities of Squirrel’s Nut Butter, and eat a few bites of my traditional pre-race Snickers. 

I left the car around 6:30 or so and made another pit stop at the porta potties on my way to the corral. It was drizzling slightly, but not bad and I was actually pretty comfortable in just arm sleeves, tank top, and shorts. As I got up to the corrals, I spotted Allison with the pacer sign and we chatted for a few minutes before I headed back to corral B. I had a bib for A, but decided to start further back so as not to go out too fast. As I was walking back, out of thousands of people, I somehow spotted Andy. We yelled briefly over the loudspeakers and then wished each other luck.

The elites and corral A started and then I was standing on the starting line of marathon #44.

I didn’t feel great the first few miles. Nothing hurt and I didn’t feel bad, but I was definitely not super comfortable given the pace. I tried really hard to just run super relaxed. The 8:45 pace group went past me early on and I hung on towards the back of them for a while before deciding to just do my own thing.

 Thankfully, after I took a gel around mile 4, I started to feel a bit better. I’m not sure if it was because I was more warmed up or because it was finally daylight (albeit 0% sunny), but I finally started to fall into stride.

As I felt better, I pulled down my arm sleeves and rolled them around my wrists. At the time, I felt annoyed that I had even worn them as I thought I would need them any more and now had to run with them for another 20+ miles. Narrator voice: she would need them again.

I took a gel at mile 8 and was feeling better by each mile. I wasn’t looking at my pace, just focused on staying steady with many miles to go. Near mile 9 and inside the park, I caught up with the 8:45 group and then slowed to stay with them. I knew that in just a few miles, the marathon and half marathon course would split off and I’d feel very, very lonely. It was nice to let the pacers do the work for a bit and there is something really cool about running with a pack of people all at the same pace.

At mile 12, I took another gel and started craning my neck for the turnoff for the half marathon. The crowd near the finish would give a nice boost before heading out on the second half of the race. It was around this time that the rain started to pick up and I started to feel cold enough to pull my arm sleeves up. Even though the sleeves were soaking wet, they did provide a bit more warmth. 

The section after the turnoff is one of many weird parts of the full marathon course. There is a bit of running on the sidewalk near the stadium and then in order to cross the street you must run up and around a pedestrian bridge. It’s not as though Atlanta is a tiny town so I find it odd that there are sections of the course like this. 

After that, I decided I was feeling good and didn’t want to be running with the pace group any more. So I made the move to leave them behind and pushed to give myself a little bit of a gap. I knew the section near Spelman would give me a good boost as they always come out to cheer. Sure enough, for a few blocks, the girls stood in the cold rain screaming with their pom poms. I gave a few groups of them high fives and felt invigorated to cover the next 10ish miles.

Things were still clicking along near mile 16 and I took another gel, but it was getting harder to digest. I knew I still needed to take one more if I wanted to finish strong. 

With 10 miles to go, I started the countdown. Into the single digits, into the final hour, etc. I was definitely feeling everything wearing on me and while nothing had felt super easy all day, I had been feeling okay. The only good part was that I was still moving well. I was passing people and with each one that I caught and passed, it pushed me to keep going.

I tried to take the final gel at mile 20 and it was a fight. I had to run with it sitting in my mouth for a while before I finally was able to swallow it. The gag reflex hit hard as it went down my throat, but somehow I managed to keep it down. 

At just past the mile 22 marker, the course cuts across some grass and onto 1 lap of the Cheney Stadium track. It then cuts across more grass and does a weird out and back along a single block. Again, just seems like an odd choice for a large city marathon. 

As I made my way along Capitol Ave, I was keeping my out for the next mile marker sign so I could see where I was at timewise. The 4 hour fun run had turned into a gray area. Nowhere near my “usual” marathon pace, but not really easy either. Once I left the 3:45 pace group, I was just chipping away at seconds, mile by miles. When I realized I might go under 3:40 if I didn’t die in the final couple miles, I resolved to try to stick with it through the end. 

Finally, I found myself on Decatur St with less than a mile to go and pushed, letting whatever I had left in the tank go. Narrator voice: there was not much in the tank. 3:38:41

I was so cold and wet that I had zero fanfare for my finish. Just happy to be within 20ish minutes of getting into warm, dry clothes. I collected my medal and other various finisher goodies, snapped a quick video to show the ridiculous rain, and shuffled to my car. When I reached the parking deck and was finally out of the rain for the first time in 4 hours, I breathed a sigh of relief.

The good: finishing another marathon, running another BQ, running a marathon in less than ideal conditions, no real low parts, no walking, high fives, solid nutrition intake, very little soreness, very little chafing (which is SHOCKING considering how much it rained and how much I usually chafe), no tech malfunctions with my music, didn’t lose my car key, cold rain is better than heat and humidity, raced without Vaporflys (I will race with them for Boston, but wanted to run in something different)

The bad: cold rain is still more uncomfortable than sunny and chilly, fun costume run turned into weird gray area run, wore shoes that had 350+ miles, had not trained on the roads (re: my legs missed dirt & walking)