Publix Georgia Marathon Race Review

I ran the Publix Georgia Marathon for free because I won an entry! 
The race: There is a half, a full, and a 5k the day before geared towards kids. It's a hot and hilly race since it's in Atlanta and it's mid-March. 

Start of the race

About 15,000 people ran the half and full combined.
Registration and cost: Lucky me, I didn't pay, but this is a more pricey race. Early registration for the full is $95. Registration can be done online or at the expo the day before. 

Swag: You get one of those race bags no one ever uses again, a shirt with different cuts for guys and gals (unless you're me and just wear the guys'), and lots of samples at the expo. Publix grocery hosts the race, so there is plenty of food at the expo, and there were samples of Luna bars and granola bars, Chobani yogurt, and sports drinks at the expo.

Course: It's all hills. There is not a flat tenth of a mile. 

It's also a really pretty course. You circle Atlanta and see many sites, plus two parks, two college campuses, and some ritzy neighborhoods. My favorite part was the section in Decatur. The town had a ton of poems posted on signs, all of which ended in "Decatur!" Most were about running or spending your money in Decatur. Loved it! I was laughing the whole way.

I don't love that the course ends uphill, but really, the whole course is challenging. Enjoyable but hard work. 

Climbing HILLS, all I did all day.

I did not like that there was no water at the start of the race! 
Post race: Finishers get a cute tote with chocolate milk, a banana, pretzels, MnMs, and cookies after the race. No beer. What kind of race is this?! The awards ceremony was running very late, so we didn't stay.

Etc - Start time is 7:00, which helps with the heat a little. There is a really interesting elite program that encourages runners from the South to compete, which you can read about here. Runners who want to be in the first corral must be elites; second corral, must be seeded and give proof of finishing time. I really liked this as there was no corral drama, crowding, walkers in front of you, etc. 

This is a pretty race and kind of a perfect size: At about 15,000 runners, it's big enough to have all the amenities (I doubt a tiny race could have scrambled to get cold towels for finishers at the last minute, which by the way was a nice touch), but not as big as some monster RnR races that have you waiting in your corral for an hour. Overall I recommend it. In fact, since we have friends in Atlanta I can see myself running it again! 

How did you people get in front of me?

Sometimes I finish a race and I have no idea how all these people beat me. I mean, couldn't be that they are faster than I am and that they go run speed intervals while I sit on my tush and eat clearance Easter candy, right?
But once I really had no idea how people got in front of me. No idea.
I saw this on the RnR website after finishing the race a few weeks ago.

I'm onto you, you peeps from corral 31. No way was your gun time faster than mine when you started an hour after me! 

See those "ladies" who beat me? The ones wearing bibs that place them in CORRAL THIRTY-ONE?! What the heck.
I knew exactly how many women were in front of me in this race, so I was stunned to see myself 12th on the leaderboard when I checked results. I was positive I was ninth. I counted at the turnaround.

Now I really do not have any idea how this happened. I at first assumed that these women actually ran the half marathon in that amount of time. But their results showed 20 mile splits, so that couldn't be right. Then I wondered if these were actually sold race bibs. Perhaps men had bought these bibs, which is why I didn't remember seeing that many women ahead of me? To check this out, I searched for some of the names on Athlinks.com. One of the women listed was in her late 50's. Hmmm.

Luckily, these were preliminary results, and when the official results were posted, the finishers in question were left out. Now that looks better!

Top ten, WHAT?! Oh and check out my friend Celeste's amazing 3 hour finish! 

So what actually did happen? I'll never know! The race numbers in question now show NO finishing time. Were they disqualified? Was it all an error (I don't even think there WERE bibs starting with 31)?
'Tis a mystery. But I just thought I'd put it out there that if you do buy a race number, don't wear your tag. Just in case you freak people like me out.
I've never bought a race bib and I probably never would, but I don't think it's the worst sin in the world. I'd rather you buy a bib than bandit entirely! At least someone paid! What are your thoughts?

Easter visit

Our god-children came to visit for Easter!
We dyed eggs...

He's ready to eat his egg!

Went to Audubon Park...

Shoes are off because we had a run in with ants  :(

Played football...

Picture taken by 2-yr old sister

And ate dinner.

I made a booster seat out of boxes of canning jars. I don't really have a kid-friendly house.

Aren't they sweet?

Nonexistent Boston training

So Boston was kind of tacked-on this year, a late marathon, oddly spaced.
I ran the Louisiana Marathon in January. It was my "goal race". I PR'd, enjoyed it, could have stopped there. But 6 weeks later I had RnR NOLA. I threw in two 20-milers and barely much else (I was sick for most of the time) and ran a PR but didn't love it. Two weeks later was Publix, a hilly course that I'm pretending will be all the training I'll need for Boston.
That left me with just four weeks until the Boston marathon. That's weird. Four weeks is weird. You have to count one week out for recovery. And you probably need two weeks to taper. So then...you just get one week of running.
Last week was that week. It was mediocre. Nothing special. In fact, I ended it with a crappy 10k (excuse the pun!) and a so-so long run. I'm feeling mentally and physically tired (work is unreasonably busy). I did about 50 miles last week, and 50 miles the week of Publix; other than that I've been in the 30+ mile range. Not enough.


 In other words I didn't train for Boston. This, I think, makes me almost unique among runners. I wear my non-training badge proudly.

Ha. Talk to me about that non-training badge at Heartbreak hill!

If you run back-to-back races, what's your ideal amount of time in between?
I think either 6 weeks or 2 weeks. Any more than 6 weeks and you have to pretty much start training all over; any less than two and you'll be tired. Anything in between doesn't leave enough time to fully recover or little enough time to count the last race as your last long run.

How I got in Helena Moreno's pants

Helena Moreno: she used to be my news anchor; now she's my state representative.
And of course, she's super cute.

From her Facebook page

This weekend I went to the thrift store and bought a pair of smashing tailored brown Limited slacks. As I was preparing to wash them, I pulled out an old dry cleaning tag.

And that is how I got in Helena Moreno's pants.

Work crazies

Lately my job has been a little crazy. Without boring you too much, here's the story:
Walgreens (my employer) and Express Scripts (a pharmacy benefits manager) didn't re-sign their contract for 2012. That means that people whose health insurance contracts prescription benefits to Express Scripts can no longer use Walgreens.
Who uses Express Scripts? Lots of companies and employers, including all branches of the US military, the  state of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans, and more. In my area, about 30% of all prescriptions were billed to Express Scripts. That means that since January my district has taken a huge hit in sales. Lower sales and lower volume means we need fewer employees, and for the first time I can remember (I've been in pharmacy for 14 years), cuts included pharmacists, as well. Some pharmacists got cut to a full-time 32 hour week (a 20% pay reduction) and some were actually laid off. It was a necessary move, but it was hard for us as a district. I knew I would not be fired nor would my hours be cut, since I'm in management, but I also knew that people I worked with would be losing their jobs. Two girls I graduated with were laid off, which was pretty upsetting to me. Both were sweet people and good pharmacists.
This has been a stressful few months. The odd part of this story is that while other people are cutting hours and losing staff, I hired a new technician who starts next week! I have gotten busier as I've branched out into other areas and grown my business. It's great for me but I've been inundated with work. I keep leaving later and later every night, and the number of things I've shoved onto my "tomorrow" to-do list gets longer every day. I hope that when my new tech starts and is trained she can do some of the little odd-jobs that take up some of my precious time.
A few things that have helped me stay head-above-water in tough times:
- Being vocal. Send informative emails, ask good questions, share successes. Your coworkers and boss should constantly be reminded that you are there doing a good job. Don't fall off the radar!
- Finding gaps. For me, that meant finding gaps in care in my area, specifically in the very hospital in which I am located. Once you create the bridge to that gap, you are the only solution to a problem. People will be grateful - and will be loyal to your services.
- Working smarter. Do more with fewer hours of work by streamlining slow processes.
- Volunteering to expand influence. I often volunteer in the local healthcare community. A side benefit is that other healthcare providers can meet me, learn about what services we offer, and share knowledge.
- Being creative. If one source of revenue is removed, what other revenue-generating activity can you replace it with? In December, when I realized that Express Scripts and Walgreens weren't going to kiss and make up, I looked through my monthly sales data and noted things that were high-profit, but which we weren't capitalizing on. One big area for me was injectables like Procrit, Neupogen, and Leukine. I ramped up my marketing for these drugs to the peds unit, pointing out how convenient my location was (just down the elevator!).
- Taking it on. Ask for, and dive into, extra responsibilities. The more irreplaceable you are....the more irreplaceable you are!


I'm sure many of you have faced down-sizing at work in this economy. How have you weathered the changes? How did you keep the stresses from work from affecting your life in other areas?

Last long run and a 10k disaster!

You know I don't like long tapers. They make me feel stiff and out of shape. So this past weekend was my last long run before Boston. Unfortunately I forgot that I'd registered for a 10k on Saturday.
I was torn on how to handle this. I didn't want to push my long run to Sunday because of church; I didn't want to run 14 miles after the 10k because it started at 8:00 am and the day was supposed to be record-breaking hot (it was, too). So I could either skip the long run and get a good 10k PR, or run before the race and use the 10k as practice for running hard on tired legs.
I went with scenario two. I ran 8 miles before the race, but I still wanted to go out at 6:30 pace. Um, NOPE. Not happening. I ran the first few steps and had major stomach cramps right away. I had scarfed a gel while picking up my number and apparently that doesn't do good things to my stomach. I was hanging on to a 6:30 pace for the first half, but during the second loop I HAD to make a bathroom stop. That meant running way off-course to the bathrooms in the park! It made my race a good bit longer than 10k and honestly didn't really alleviate the cramping. So I ended up with a very sad, pathetic 43:10: a pace slower than my half marathon pace. Ha! So much for a nice 10k PR!
The weird thing about this is that I won the women's race - absolutely no one opted for the 10k on this hot morning, although the 5k was crowded. I was so embarrassed to win with that time, I almost stepped out of the race before crossing the finish! Then I decided that would make me look like a jerk, but let me tell you I was so confused to be breaking the tape. It goes against all the rules for someone running over 40 minutes to win a 10k.

Students painted the awards for this race.

After I finished I drank water and stretched and decided to attempt the rest of my run. Well, the stomach problems didn't go away, but I ran through them. I actually did 4 miles and circled back to the start of the race and grabbed a beer and got a free massage before heading the final 2 miles home to complete my run! I had a good 15 minutes rest before the last two miles, but both were under 7:15, which pleased me.

This kind of pathetic performance isn't really inspiring as the last long run before a race (Especially the stomach issues: it has been a very, very long time since my stomach has been a problem in a race).
However, I'm going to try not to think too hard about this one. I often have crappy long runs, and before the Louisiana Marathon I had a terrible final long run (I had to end it walking). I still felt like I had a great race! So I'm going to let this one go, drop some mileage, and get ready for Boston.
Yay for taper!