February 25, 2024: Publix Atlanta Marathon Relay (first half)

The Publix Atlanta Marathon weekend began for me on Friday evening, February 23, when I joined several hundred members of the Atlanta running community for 2.23 miles, in memory of Ahmaud Arbery, who was murdered four years earlier during a run. Wanda Cooper-Jones, Ahmaud's mother, spoke briefly, as did a few local officials and leaders of Atlanta running clubs, including Tes Sobomehin Marshall. It was a solemn evening, and was important for me to join in solidarity, noting the worst consequences that can occur when racism goes unchallenged. I ran my miles at an easy pace, chatting with a few other runners along the way, during a final shake-out run. 

Wearing the shirt from the Run with Maud 5K race in May 2023

Wanda Cooper-Jones, Ahmaud Arbery's mother

Tes Sobomehin Marshall,
founder of runningnerds and co-founder of The Race

Walking to the Beltline from our gathering spot 
at the Lee + White development

On the Beltline trail

On Saturday, Bonnie and I woke early to go to the Expo at the Home Depot Backyard (adjacent to Mercedes-Benz Stadium), and to cheer on the 5K runners. The temperature had dropped from the mid-60 degrees on Friday evening to the low 40 degrees, but the skies were clear and the atmosphere was festive. The first part of the race was the USATF Masters 5K Championships, for runners 40 and older. My age group was won in 18:19 (5:54 min / mile pace) with last place in 21:42, nearly two minutes better than my all-time personal best (23:30 in 2018). I was really impressed by the 70-74 men's winner, crossing the finish line in 19:30. 

Atlanta skyline continues to rise. 
The race expo was in the white tents below the new Hilton hotel. 

Masters championship women's start

and finish, April Lund in 16:58

Masters championship men's start

Jay Stephenson won, followed by Luke Mortensen,
but their times haven't been published,
although I think they were both under 16 minutes. 

Then the "mass participation" racers began arriving. Quite a few of the people that I knew were also registered to run the half- or full-marathon races the next day. I've learned the hard way that it's better for me not to run two races of any length on consecutive days. After most of the runners had finished, we walked over to the expo. It wasn't extensive and I wasn't tempted to purchase anything, but we had a bit of fun. The highlight was Brenden Minor winning his heat amongst the 4-year-olds in the 50 meter dash. In fact, as we jogged together to the beginning of his race, Brenden wasn't slowing us down at all. I said to his father Brian "It's not gonna be long before he's outrunning both of us." 

 Beverly Minor making the same turn to the finish line that 
Brian and I would make the next day. 

Brian and I posted our collective goal time.

Brenden Minor joined us for his Championship pose

My goal time was 1:59:59, hoping to reprise my performance in the Thanksgiving Half, on a course that ran much of the same general terrain. Brian and I had run three training runs, including each-half of the marathon course (as published a month ago), and also three races as part of our training regimen. In the past week, I was feeling more confident. Perhaps that was after the second time I had taken the black currant potion and was convinced that there were some benefits. If I could run my part in sub-2 hours, Brian then had a good chance to bring us to the 3:59:59 team goal. 

Sunday morning, race day! I woke up shortly after 4 am, before my 4:30 am alarm. I had a light breakfast and oatmeal and blueberries, and cappuccino. I mixed up a concoction of a new product that I had heard in an ad, "2Before", which is black currant for antioxidants and caffeine as a stimulant, dissolved in a few ounces of water. I had tried it in a few recent workouts, both of which had gone well. Since it was supposed to work best if taken 1 hour before competition, which was to begin at 7:15 am, I waited until 6:15 am on our drive downtown to drink it. We parked without difficulty by 6:30 am, walked to the Backyard, and I began looking for the porta-potties. They were close to the end where the runners would gather for the race, but hidden behind tents and a large Publix truck, so it took me a few minutes to find. I got in line at 6:45 am, and wasn't too worried about the line at first, but at 7:11 when the National Anthem was playing, I was still waiting, although now very close. I was in the porta-potty at 7:15 sharp when Ronnel Blackmon sent wave A on their marathon / half-marathon journeys. 

Let's see if this works better than beet juice
(which I gave up on years ago).
At least this product tastes much better. 

Not as nice as Centennial Olympic Park,
but apparently the track club can no longer schedule events there. 

I was planning to run with wave C, where the 2:00 pacer was said to be located, but having to push through the crowds already gathered in waves G, F, and E, I was fortunate reach wave D. No problem, I thought. Unfortunately, I had left with Bonnie my gloves, handwarmer, and a half-bottle of Nuun that I had intended to carry for the first 6 - 7 miles. Somehow in the rush from the porta-potty to the start line, I lost my (inexpensive) sunglasses that were perched on top of my cap. I texted Bonnie that "I have everything essential, I'll be OK" and then put away my phone for the start. Ronnel Blackmon started our wave, I had an opportunity to give him a high-five as I crossed the starting mat, and we were off! 

Race route: similar to the first half in many respects,
but the new start-finish location required losing 2 miles on the old course.
I think they did successfully discard a few of the more challenging hills. 

Before we had started, I had tightly retied my new shoes, a pair of Brooks Hyperion Elite 4. That purchase was after seeing an ad that C. J. Albertson had endorsed. Albertson made an incredibly strong push in the last two miles of the USA Olympic Marathon trials earlier this month, and just wearing the shoes made me think about the prospect of running a negative split today. But half-a-mile in, I noticed that the left shoelace was flopping around, the shoe was feeling loose, so when I found a safe place to pull to the side, I had to stop and retie. That was a 10-second break that I wasn't planning on, but at least I didn't have to remove gloves, although my fingers were already frozen. Still, I managed to get to the mile 1 marker in 9:39 (+39 ft, - 12 ft). Good start to a negative split race, and I had plenty of time and distance to trim that down. Mile 2 proceeded along Marietta Street, and then made the left turn onto Piedmont Avenue, following the long-standing start of the marathon route. Approaching the mile 2 marker, I remembered that there would be a water stop. I had intended to take a gel right before starting, but in the haste I had forgotten to do so, and anyway I didn't have any water to wash it down in the starting corral. Here was my chance: I pulled out the first gel, was still squeezing it down when I reached the water stop, but accepting both water and Powerade, I was able to finish and wash down the first gel without a problem. Mile 2 in 9:01 (+20, -62), and a walk break! Now things were going in the right direction. 

I received quite a few compliments on the shoes this morning! 

This year's race route trimmed about a mile by turning right onto Ralph McGill, instead of heading all the way to North Street. I remembered a steep downhill, and took good advantage, although was careful to stay out of the way of a Kyle Pease run duo, who rightly wanted to bank some time on the downhill. Of course pushing uphill is the tough part, and I passed them a moment later. A turn onto Central Park Drive put us back on the old route. They saved the uphill section for us, thank you very much. Then a left turn on Highland Avenue, and the mile 3 marker, 9:09 (+71, -58). I crossed the 5K timing mat at 29:01. I was expecting closer to 28 minutes, but again, I figured I had time to make up the gap. 

Turning right onto Jackson Street, then left onto Irwin Street, I looked around as we passed through the middle of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park. This road wasn't as historical as the traditional route on Auburn Avenue, a block to the south, but trimming a couple more north-south blocks was probably required. Approaching the intersection with the Eastside Beltline, I walked through the water station. Mile 4, 9:17 (+40, -46). That walk break probably kept me from another 9:09 goal pace mile. Still, I wasn't concerned. Running up Lake Street was nice, renamed to Austin Avenue after crossing Elizabeth Street, passing the Horizon Theatre where we attended several plays last year with two other running couples, Alice and Tom Pate, and Caroline and Paul Dunn. There were quite a few spectators on the streets as we ran into Little Five Points. Mile 5, 9:16 (+48, -52). Hmm, I should be going a little faster. Turning onto Moreland Avenue, we were running gently uphill, so I just shortened my stride, tried to maintain consistent form, and concentrated on midfoot strike, where the Supershoes might give me a little more bounce. But these were a little different from the Adidas Adizero: they were light and felt good, but I never did figure out what part of my stride gave me an advantage from the carbon plate. Maybe it's just supposed to be the whole shoe experience that helps. Too bad I had only one run in the shoes, 8 miles, where I did establish they were very comfortable and definitely half-marathon suitable. Left onto Freedom Parkway, which was slightly downhill, then right onto Highland Avenue, heading uphill. Thank goodness there was a water station was coming up, as planned. I opened my second gel and began consuming it about a minute before seeing the water station, so that timing was perfect. Mile 6, 9:25 (+49, -42). 

Now I did need to make up some time, since I knew that the next two miles were almost all gently downhill. Soon I crossed the 10K timing mat at 57:52. So the 2nd 5K was 9 seconds faster. I was now a minute behind my plan, and needed to pick up the pace. But as I've heard in other sports, you don't try to make up a deficit all at once. "One mile at a time" or "Run the mile you're in" were my mantras. There were more crowds near the intersection of Highland Avenue with Virginia Avenue, I ran the tangent perfectly, and was now making good time. This was where Brian and I had started and finished our course run two weeks ago (free street parking, compared to the official start-finish area downtown!). At the right turn onto Park Avenue, the mile 7 alert sounded, 8:57 (-59 feet). By the way, my watch was just a few seconds ahead of the posted mile markers, so I was glad that my watch was closely aligned. Park Avenue began with one speed bump but once we crested that, we were running gently downhill once again. Crossing Monroe Drive, heading into Piedmont Park, I soaked in that this was always my favorite mile in this race. I wondered if there would be a Mimosa Station this year on the bridge. There wasn't, although there were plenty of spectators. The memorable sign was "I just finished a Netflix Marathon!" Once we were in the park, we had a little out-and-back that I had not remembered from previous years. I guess it was a good place to get the distance precisely correct, without the limitations imposed by the street grid. I took advantage of the out-and-back to scan for faces of people that I knew, but didn't recognize anyone, which was a bit of a surprise. Turning south past the bridge, we came to mile 8, 8:51 (+7, -76). With elapsed time of 1:13:34, I could definitely cover 5.1 miles in 46 minutes, after all I ran the Jerome Scales 5 Miler last month in less than 44 minutes. 

Sadly, mile 8 was my fastest mile today. I took a walk break before leaving the park at the water station. Then we were up onto 10th Street. I knew that this would be nothing but uphill, but that really took my breath away today. I remembered in my Thanksgiving PR half-marathon 4 years ago, I bargained successfully with "Fatigue" settling onto my shoulders. Today I tried to talk Fatigue into flying away, but while it loosened its grip, I was still carrying some of Fatigue's weight. Actually I think it was the 20 extra pounds I'm carrying that was to blame, and I couldn't get that to disappear for the next few miles with a mantra or some wishful thinking. Left onto Juniper Street, still going uphill, but no surprise here. The surprise was that I finished mile 9 in less than 10 minutes. 9:59 to be exact (+98 ft uphill). I told myself, it's just a few blocks to go before the turn onto 5th Street, one more uphill to reach Peachtree Street, and then there will be some nice downhill into the Georgia Tech campus. I picked up some speed once we crested Peachtree Street, made the quick right and then quick left at West Peachtree Street, congratulating myself on running both of those tangents quite well. Up ahead was another water stop. I took my last gel within a block of the water station. The first thing offered was a piece of banana, which I happily accepted from a volunteer. I began to peel it while simultaneouslyaccepting a cup of water, and fumbled the banana. Oh well, I probably didn't need the fuel, but it would have been nice to taste a bit of natural fruit. The Georgia Tech students greeted us loudly as we approached the left turn onto Techwood Drive. It was as if Taylor Swift was running 50 feet behind me, the young women were so exuberant in their joy! I picked up my pace, approaching Bobby Dodd Stadium, with the mile 10 alert sounding on my watch at 1:32:54 elapsed. 9:21 for mile 10 (+31, -81).

OK, I can definitely run a 27 minute 5K. I just wish I didn't already have 10 miles on these legs. And turning right onto North Avenue, it was uphill, just like it was in the Hot Chocolate 15K three weeks ago. For this race, we continued straight past Luckie Street. Still uphill. My watch, which resets pace per mile at each mile marker, was reading 11's! I pushed myself, but after making a right turn on State Street to get to Tech Parkway, we were heading uphill. By now my watch was showing 10's, still too slow. But turning left on Wallace Street, looking uphill toward Marietta Street, I lost my resolve to keep running. 

An unscheduled walk break. 

I had fumbled away the 2 hour finish. 

But then I realized that I can't slow down just for myself. Every minute I add by walking or slow running is a minute that Brian has to try to make up. I didn't want to let down the team, so I pushed myself forward as best as I could. Marietta Street is uphill. Normally this CAN be the triumphant final mile for the half-marathoners, but this year, we still had more than two miles to run. Mile 11, 10:28 (+81, -8), elapsed time 1:43:22. C'mon Frank, surely you can tick off an 8 minute mile. Go for it! But running uphill, even a gentle uphill, I was lucky to keep the pace under 10 minutes. My heart rate had been redlined for awhile now, but I didn't feel too badly, but my legs were heavy. We passed Centennial Olympic Park, I took in the sight of the left turn that used to take us the last 100 feet to the finish line, but not today. Finally, we reached Ted Turner Drive, for the first of 5 right turns to the finish. Mile 12, 9:56 (+47 feet), 1:53:18 elapsed. But I knew that Martin Luther King Drive was at the top of the hill, and then it would be downhill all the rest of the way to the finish. Here is where I thought, once again, that I might pop out an 8 minute mile. But not today. I did manage to speed up a bit, but so did everyone else around me. Right turn onto Mitchell Street, I was gasping for air, trying to take advantage of the gentle elevation drop. But it was too gentle to make much difference. Bob Wells of the Atlanta Track Club rode by on a bike, cheering me by name. I waved and said "Thanks Bob" surprisingly strongly. Maybe I can push a little more, I thought. But it just wasn't possible. I think that I was now moving close to goal marathon pace speed, but there wasn't going to be enough left in my tank to claw back any time. Turning onto Northside Drive, it was uphill at first! Arrggh, I knew that was the case, but didn't expect it to hurt as badly. Mostly psychic pain that I was forced to slow down. Here the signs were pointing marathoners to the right, half-marathon straight ahead on Northside. I asked about the "marathon relay", knowing we were going straight, wondering if I should stay to one side or another of the lane, but didn't receive any extra information. I saw the mile 26 sign: 2 minutes to go. Then the 13 mile sign, 1 minute to go (9:20, -30 feet descent). 

From this map, I thought that I would hand the relay bib to Brian,
standing somewhere to my right, before I crossed the finish line.
It wasn't even sure that I should cross the finish line, although
probably it wouldn't hurt as long as I had already transferred the bib.  

I turned right through the open gates of the Backyard, and began to unclip the bib belt holding the shared relay bib. I knew from the course map that the relay exchange zone began soon after making the last turn, but had never received clear instructions on exactly how that would work, despite asking. What was worse, yesterday when we tried to rehearse, we had figured out that Brian would be to my right where I would pass the bib. But my mind was so addled by this point that I was looking to .... my left. There were cones separating the left lane, I figured it was for the marathon relay (turns out it was for the full marathon finishers, coming up just a few minute behind me). I was insanely holding up the bib and belt, scanning the crowd to the left for Brian. I never saw him, and just kept running fairly quickly toward the finish line. That mistake was 100% on me, it would have been different if I had been looking to my right. I crossed the timing mat, slowed down, looking every which way, calling "Brian! Brian!" Finally a volunteer, I think it was Donna Roberts, saw me waving the marathon relay bib in the air. I felt like it was high above my head, but in reality I probably couldn't raise my arm above eye level. Donna rushed over and escorted me to the right side of the finish area. Then I saw Brian to my right, waiting to begin. Due to my long wait for the porta-potty before the race, that was the first time that I saw him today. I tossed the bib to him. Actually, I probably dropped it with just a little forward motion, but it was just enough for him to catch. 

Right there, there was an opening in the fence, probably not intended for me to exit, but I stepped through before anyone stopped me. I saw the soft grass, and collapsed onto the ground, challenging Sara Hall's disappointment finishing 5th place in the Olympic Marathon Trials. Then I remembered to stop my watch, 2:04:11. Four minutes slow! I just lay there trying to absorb my disappointment, but people were asking if I was OK. "Yes, it was just too hard, too hard" I moaned. I was complaining about the race and my performance, but then I realized that one of the people asking was a medical person, and rightly she was concerned that I might be in serious physical distress. I had better stand up before people got so worried that they would take me to the medical tent. Once I stood up, I guess I didn't look like I was in mortal danger. It took a couple of minutes for me to realize that as a finisher, I should have actually walked left to pick up heat sheet or jacket and water. I slowly shuffled my way through the finish area. 

Not the run of a champion. 

Now to wait for 2 hours for Brian. Originally I was going to jog over just 1/2 a mile, where second-half marathoners would be completing their 3rd mile, but I was not up to that at all. I did manage to keep walking around slowly, to keep things from cramping up, and eventually found the recovery beverage and food area. I began to calm down. The combined 3:59:59 finish was still possible if Brian had a really great day. And most importantly, I wasn't injured or sick, just extremely tired. Eventually, as the time for Brian's finish approached, I walked to get a good vantage point for runners entering the Backyard from Northside Drive. At 3:59:59, I noted that Brian's tracker read 0.94 mile remaining. I wasn't sure how accurate the tracker would be, but the sub-4 hour finish was officially gone. 

Brian appeared about 5 - 6 minutes later. He definitely sped up when he saw and heard me shout his name, and I managed to catch him on video. Official finish was 4:07:06, so Brian also ran around 2:03. But when we checked mileage afterward, Brian had run 0.42 miles as a free bonus. So he did cover 13.1 miles in less than 2 hours, and with the disadvantage of the temperature growing much warmer over the second half. I caught up with Brian resting under an umbrella, came to sit down next to him, and said "What the hell did we just do to ourselves?!" 

Actually, Brian wants to do this again next year, with him running the first half and me taking the second half. That's probably what will happen. But first, I need to decide if I ever want to run again. 

(I'll finish this up with some editing, more photos, and links, but it might be a few days or even another week, so I wanted post this initial essential version this evening.)