Area 13.1 Half Marathon

"I Escaped The Aliens!!!" I ran the Area 13.1 Half Marathon on August 18, 2012 in Roswell, GA.  This race benefited the Matthew E. Russell Foundation and Life Ministries, which help provide help to the people of South Africa through education, feeding programs, educational libraries, and much more. It was my first night time half marathon and I was looking forward to it.  A couple of months before the race I had already figured out what I was going to wear.  I even found a glow in the dark tank top at Kohl's.  With the race starting at 6:30pm, it was still so hot.  I cannot remember the exact temperature, but I am pretty sure it was around 90 degrees or so.  My mother and I arrived at the race start around 3:45 pm.  I wanted to get there early, so we could park at the start/finish area in Riverside Park.

There were a lot of tents and vendors set up near the start/finish area giving out free drinks and other typical race stuff.  There was race day packet pickup, but I picked up our race packets three days before the race at a local running store.

The race started immediately at 6:30pm.  The starting area just had little alien balloons across the road and then someone shot a little pea shooter gun into the air.  Nothing exciting, no music.  The race started out a little crowded, but eventually spread out.  By the time I got to about mile 2, I noticed people running towards me on the same side of the road.  Weird!  This race course had people coming back towards us (those runners into almost their mile 5).  I have never ran a race where everyone, no matter which direction we are going, are crowded into a small blocked off section of road.

 After that at almost mile 3, there was the only uphill part of the race.  I cruised up this hill, turned around at the top, and then cruised back down, only to notice that I had a sharp left hand turn coming up onto a gravel road.  Did not realize there would be trail running, but the one thing that made this part bad was the dozens of potholes all over the road.  This little stretch of trail running was very scenic, with views of the Chattahoochee River.  This lasted only about a mile.

Then it was on to the Riverside Trail.  This trail is a very popular place to run for people in Atlanta.  By the time I got to that portion, it was getting dark.  There were no lights along the trail and bugs were bad.  Lucky for me, I used some OFF spray before running.  Then came a small gravel trail next to the road I just ran on the first 2 miles.  The cops would not let us run on the road, so there again I was stuck running on gravel, stepping over roots when the trail went down the hill through some trees.  I think I even ran across a small wooden bridge at one point.  Around mile 7, the course went straight through the finish line area.  That was not a good idea.  It was so crowded, people in the way, and looking to the left, I could see so many people crossing the finish line. Ugh!

After leaving the finish line area, the course went onto a raised/bouncy wooden trail that was about a foot off the ground and maybe 3 or 4 feet wide.  Not very safe in the dark and having runners run past you towards the finish.  Yet again, another out and pack, where people going both directions are packed into a small area to run.  There was a highway overpass that we ran under that had alien balloons and some guy dressed up as a green alien jumping out every now and then, I guess trying to scare the runners.

The next mile 8 through mile 12.5 was terrible.  It started raining, which I did not mind, and it felt nice to cool off, but only lasted for maybe 5 minutes.  The sky was dark, there was only one area that had lights.  This made the course so unsafe.  Most of the last three miles I had to walk because I could not see where I was going.  As cars were driving in our direction, it made it impossible to see the trail because we were being blinded by their lights.  Some parts of the trail were not even level and had roots raising the trail up.  I was so afraid I was going to fall.  Never been on a race course where it is not very well lit.  Around mile 12.5, something kicked in and I started running.  I was feeling so great, which does not happen that often.  I actually ran the last mile at a fast (for me) pace and did not stop until after I crossed the finish line!  I saw the race clock and noticed that I was about to have a huge PR, so I really kicked it in.  I finished in 2:41:51.

Time: 2:41:51 (PR)
Age Group: 126/214
Overall: 1196
Pace: 12:21/mile

Thoughts on the race:  I was highly disappointed in this race.  I do not plan on running it again.  The course was so boring and not very well lit.  Race directors need to let people know to wear headlamps if they are not going to light the course.  The gender specific shirts run very small.  The medal is tiny, but it is different than any other medal that I have.  By the time I finished, there was absolutely no water or any other form of liquid in the finish area.  Way to go, RD's, I was really needing something to drink.