ING Georgia Marathon & Half Marathon Reviews (6)

This will be my third year running the ING Half. Was on pace to beat my target time until calf cramps got me with 3 miles to go. I WILL HYDRATE BETTER THIS YEAR!

I ran the full marathon in the inagural. The course was beautiful and alot of fun. They didn't have the first waterstation till around mile 7 or 5...not sure. The reason I won't be going back is the HILLS...if it is the same course the hills were rolling throughout most of the race. I may have some what of a harsh view because it was like 90 degrees and very humid in March which is rare. This made it hard. The fact that I am from SD where it was around freezing point at the time probably didn't help. Fun Race and recommended if you can take the hills.

I've done the half every year but the inaugural, and I love this race. Yes, it's hilly, but it's Atlanta! It's a great way to see so many neighborhoods. They have definitely remedied the initial water station issue, since now there's water and G every 1.5 miles or so. The cheering sections can really make you smile - everything from cheering middle schoolers to ladies in choir robes to guys dressed like cavemen and crazy good drumming. It really does feel like all of Atlanta is out there cheering you on!

Quick recap: Weather wasn't bad, course was super hilly and measured 26.45 miles according to my Garmin and a couple other people I talked to. I was shooting for a time under 4 hours, so was a little bummed to miss it by 4 seconds, but I was at 3:57:42 at 26.2 miles so I'm going to pretend that was my time :)

Start Corral: Realized I was hungry. Great start.
Mile 1: Stepped in a hole.
Mile 6: That anticipated big hill wasn't there!! Started sprinkling, but never got much worse than that.
Mile 8: Saw a girl trip right in front of the paramedics and fall on her head. Ouch!
Mile 11: Stopped to use the portapotty, lost two minutes and killed it on the downhills to still get a split of 8:59.
Mile 13: Passed the first of two Starbucks - really, ING Georgia?? Next time have them cover their signs so I'm not tempted to quit!
Mile 17: Uphill. The whole way. I was NOT a fan.
Mile 24: A man running his 11th marathon (I think his name is David) came alongside me and said that all we needed to do was maintain a 10ish minute mile to finish in under 4 hours. Yes! He was great and we ran the rest of the way together.
Finish line: Yay!!! My sister was at the finish line with a cold Coke and my one of my best friends, Wes, was there with flowers!