Never Run Atlanta Marathon on Thanksgiving

I finished the Atlanta Marathon in 4:52 on Thanksgiving Day. It was the hilliest race ever. Wow, how tough. Of course I was being pretty lazy about my pace. Just relaxing, but a lot of fun. This race is nothing like Chicago, New York or even Dallas. No crowd support, water stops were poorly handled, no music, not even a race announcer at the beginning. I was pretty shocked. Also, they close the race at 5 hours. Therefore, you can see them pulling up cones and closing down water stops. Even the last few (I'll say most important) mile markers were gone.

Have you ever been to a department store near closing time? Ever noticed how less friendly and interested the staff is at 10 minutes before closing? Registers are closed and you hear over the loud speaker, "10 minutes to closing please make your final selections and move the nearest register". That's how if felt near the back of the pack in Atlanta. If I was not in such discomfort it would have been pretty funny. Oh well, I'm so glad to have it behind me.

Oh well, I'm so glad to have it behind me. I would not recommend this race to anyone. You can't count on a fast time on this course. The male winner had a time of 2:37 and the female winner a time of 3:12.

That's three states down and 47 to go.