Holy Hills Batman!

Okay...so I get it...Atlanta is hilly!!!! Who knew? I have never spent anytime in Atlanta....just driven by on the way to Florida and didn't really give the city much thought as to ups and downs,etc.,etc. When I had read some of the reviews of the Marathon course....they all mentioned hills...lots of them--so I started to do some hill treadmill workouts,etc. But I was still thinking that perhaps just a stretch would be hilly....well...not so much....the whole thing had hills---which of course means down hills which are great....but wow lots of hills!

For those of you not on Facebook (which might not be any of you now....as my mom is now on FB!!) I finished in a time of 4:22:28....a little longer than my inaugural Chicago marathon....but I am soooo using the hills as my excuse! I was 1094 out of 2076 people that completed the marathon and finished 248 out of the 713 females that ran the marathon.

It was so great reconnecting with Kerry--she and I ran our first marathon together 13 years ago...she is a good friend and although time and distance have made the times we have seen each other few and far between we fell right back into our friendship the minute we saw each other! It was so fun watching her cross the finish line knowing that 9 months ago she wasn't sure she would run again due to severe foot problems.

A recap of what entertained me, annoyed me and kept me focused for 26.2 miles!

• Beginning the run at the Centennial Olympic Park!



• At mile 3--looking back at the skyline of Atlanta with the sun hitting the buildings--absolutely stunning.



• Remembering a t-shirt I saw at the Expo...."Run like a Mother!"



• The Decatur United Methodist Church praise team singing outside their church.



• The guy who was singing to his i-pod loudly--with a lot of oohs and ahhs...I think I ran faster just to get away from him.



• The girl next to me that said--oh I need to get another song for this hill and then thanking Coldplay for helping her at another point.



• Annoyed that I was too much of a "rule follower" not to have my ipod--although in the end I feel like I took in a lot more of my surroundings and people by not being plugged in.



• The guy with no shirt in front of me with a chubby bear tattoo on his right shoulder who held up his arms Rocky Style anytime he went past a crowd of people.



• The girls at Agnes Scott College and their signs "Smart Women Sweat!"



• Another sign that said "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me--Philippians 4:13



• Gu at mile 13, 19 and 24...all with caffeine...mile 24 had double caffeine...hey as long as caffeine is not a banned substance I am going to use freely...it makes a huge difference!!! For those of you that care I used Vanilla Bean and Expresso Love!



• The group of neighbors gathered for a Marathon Brunch who had their beautiful lawn decked out with a full on brunch (I am talking chaffing dishing and all) and then had their kids giving out gummie bears, oranges, cookies and kleenex!



• Running through Georgia State, Agnes Scott College, Emory and Georgia Tech.



• Thinking Chris would be at mile 22 and being shocked and so happy to see him run up next to me at mile 21....and then proceed to run the next 3 miles with me...perfect time to help me through those last few miles.



• The random boom boxes playing Rocky, Eye of the Tiger, Vanilla Ice and Jump Around!



• Every person that told me I looked good and strong...it is amazing how inspiring that is!



• The Atlanta Public School kids running the last mile of the marathon....normally I would put this on my inspiring list--I am all about getting kids active....HOWEVER--after you run 25 miles and the end is in sight....trying to dodge 500 Tweens dressed in bright orange t-shirts who are not really running unfortunately ranked on my annoying list!



• Crossing the finish line and feeling good..tight quads and ankles...but good overall!

Thanks goes out to all the people on my "support" team--my parents for watching the kids so we could escape for the weekend, Kerry for asking me to do this with her, Jennifer for logging some serious miles with me, my husband for being a huge cheerleader and for letting me get away all those Saturdays for long training runs and to all of you who sent encouraging words or said a little pray...you all made a difference in how I ran those 26.2 miles!

Hopefully it won't be this bad...

but I have been known to hobble a bit after a long run :-)

Really? Another good reason to purchase a Snuggie?

The Snuggie Pub Crawl in Chicago....need I say more?

I'm just saying....

The marathon is 25 days, 20 hours, 48 minutes--oh make that 47 minutes away---and my brain has begun with the excuses. When I decided to do the marathon at the first of the year--my brain was all...." I can totally do a marathon....I will do better than my first marathon....I am in better shape, I train smarter,etc.,etc.". Well...now that the race is 25 days, 20 hours and 46 minutes away those running demons are sitting on my shoulder and gaining ground. While I still firmly believe I will finish and feel decent after finishing....my goal of beating my 1996 marathon time is what I am now questioning.

I googled my marathon results from 1996:

• 1134.Ann Wilcox 24 F Freeport,IL 4:15:03.00 = 9:43.6

Let me go over some noticeable changes....my name, my age, and where I live! I finished a relatively flat course in 4:15--an average of a 9:43 pace per mile.

Let me also note how they are describing the ING Georgia Marathon--"While very scenic, this course is a hilly course and may not be your best choice for a PR." Gulp...really?

Running is so very mental for me...keeping the running demons at bay is dare I say harder than physically running the marathon. So here's to keeping a good attitude throughout the marathon and no matter how I finish....slower....faster just be happy with the journey, be happy to be reconnecting with an old friend, be happy that I have two legs that will allow me to run around a city, be happy that while my name, age, address--pretty much my whole life has changed since Oct. '96, I am still able to train for and run a marathon, be happy because two little girls are watching and learning from their mom how to be strong both physically and mentally. Be Happy that race day is now 25 days, 20 hours and 30 minutes away!!!!