For me, except for getting soaking wet from the rain during the race, it was pretty much uneventful. This was the fourth or fifth time doing this race, so there was really nothing new about the course. I'm glad I did the race; glad I took advantage of the discount price of ~$47 (paid a very long time ago) compared to what they were charging during normal signup for the half $85/$105/$120. But to me, there is just really nothing significant about completing number 53.
However, I do know of two people out of the 7000+ people who did either the full or half marathon on this rainy, soggy Sunday morning, whose race was very significant - Antonio and Marsha. You see for Antonio, this was his first marathon and for Marsha, it was her 200th marathon. For them, this race was very significant.
Antonio's First
It's a small world. In my previous post I wrote about getting a special pizza in celebration of our 39th wedding anniversary from Gordo's Pizza. Well, it was Antonio who made it! When I was there getting the pizza, I found out Antonio was doing the Georgia Marathon for his first full marathon. Marathons are hard and when I hear of someone doing one for the first time, it gets my attention.
So in between Antonio making pizzas, we talked about the race and his prep for it. I could tell he was ready and he was psyched for it!
Although it was still dark and raining our paths crossed in Centennial Olympic Park before the race started and I wished him good luck.
Congratulation Marathon Man Antonio!
Marsha's 200th
I first met Marsha when I did my first marathon - 2011 Soldier Marathon. She is also a walker and as it typically goes with walkers, we're back of the pack type folks. That was her 99th marathon. Well get ready to do the math, this race, the 2015 Georgia Marathon, was her 200th marathon! Incredible!
I had no idea that Marsha was doing the Georgia Marathon for her 200th. But having a similar pace, I thought I saw her just ahead of me around mile 7 where the half marathon splits off from the full. I actually had to speed up to see if it was her - it was. I shouted out her name and wished her luck.
The picture above is actually from a different race where we crossed paths. Marsha blogs about her races on bookladywalker. I also saw a comment she made on FB regarding this mile marker "At least number 200 is in the record book - now on to that 300 mark"!
One other thing, yes she does have much more time to do these races now that she is retired, but did I tell you - she didn't start doing marathon walking until the age of 59!
Congratulations Marsha and good luck with the next 100!!!