Second Marathon, first with fiancee. (Read 665 times)

Well I convinced my fiancee to do a Marathon and she committed to the training. She did a half when I did my first and didn't feel too good about the idea but I gave her a training schedule, made her stick to it by being supportive and encouraging. She had people doubt she could finish, and then she was able to do it in 3:58:36. She was actually at a 8:30 pace at the 30 K mark but faded in those last miles. I think she was pretty well paced in the first half but some hills got her in the end. Now, for the race report. We did the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, Alabama. It was well ran and the expo was at a great location in Boutwell Auditorium that was sandwiched between the star and finish lines. The check in was fast and easy. They gave a pretty good shirt and some gloves along with some other decent things in the goodie bag. The one downside of this was that there were a lot of loose leaf papers that might have been better if made into a booklet with race info in it. The info with times and places to be for different events and course maps was scattered around the expo but not in the packet given with the chip. The expo also didn't have a lot of vendors but the ones there had some pretty good deals, and several people were giving away some good things as well. We stayed at the Birmingham Sheraton. It was pretty nice but a little pricey for what was given. I have stayed in nicer Sheratons. It seemed they were doing construction in phases and part of it was affecting elevators because they took forever to get on due to the high volume of visitors for the marathon that definately didn't feel like walking 12 flights after the race. Also they had a pretty good meal of a buffet the night before the marathon that had a lot of pasta and carbs/ bananana, banana pudding, etc. on it. The only downside again was price. Race morning was great. Walk to start was about a 3 min walk. The sweat check was quick/easy. The starting corral was nicely marked for people to spread out then gather in tight when the start was announced. Now for why it has something for everyone on the main race day. The relay gave people the option of running a shorter distance and was well put together so that you could run a 10k 5k or 12k. The half was probably the best race because this was a two loop marathon on the half course. It was just hilly enough to keep your legs from getting too locked in, and never felt monotonous as far as scenery. The full was interesting with the two loop course. I actually liked it because of how much easier it was to pace your second half effort. It also gave me things to look for such as aide stations with gu.(another positive since I think its one of the better gels). There were also plenty of good aide stations with enthusiastic supporters. Our experience was good. I had one person at the beggining give me a reason to dislike those who don't have good etiquite with wearing headphones that are "officially not allowed". I was running with my fiance as previously stated and a tall girl evidently knew some people a little ahead of us. She jumped in right in front of me right as I was about to pass since these two were going at a turtles pace. She was flailing all over the place and yelling to them since she obviously had her music at full blast. We looked at each other and decided it was worth it to pick it up to get around them quicker rather than later. I had been a little aprehensive about running with my fiancee. She is a good runner, but my pace is quite a bit faster than hers. I rarely run long runs with her because I usually have to wait. It turned out to be a great training race(I'm doing Boston and thought this would be a good training run). When she would start to fade in the end I did the hills a little hard then waited on her. This allowed me to get some hill work when I had a lot of miles in. It most certainly was the most pleasant race I've done because I felt great. She was pretty thrashed, but when we finished together I noticed she felt a lot better than I did after my first marathon and that she seemed to be feeling better than her half. She had trained well and ran a good race. I am very proud of her for commiting to such a daunting thing.... me. And running a marathon with me too. The finisher's medals were really great(very heavy and classy looking), shirts were great, post race food/entertainment/massages were excellent as well. I would probably do the half if I did this race again, but I highly recomend it. Within walking distance of the expo there is a museum, civil rights museum, alabama sports hall of fame, Alabama theatre, and some great restraunts too. I think this race has something for everyone.

You guys got lucky. They've diddled with this course a few times over the years, most recently - this year's race. You got an easier course than it used to be. But I really liked it when I did it in 2006. Good job! Do they still give away a car? Or at least a car lease?

Thanks, Nice to have had met you. I think I read where they donated the money usually used to go towards the lease of the car to the bell center this year.