Let me just say that I had to get up at 4 am and be on the road at 4:30 am- such an evil hour!
My girlfriend and I made it down to Boston Ga with ease and had an hour to spare. We checked in, went potty and headed back to the car to get dressed. It was a misty drizzle (of course!) and still dark when we changed out of our relaxing gear to our "go fast" gear. We made sure we had our garmins, music and snacks and we headed back towards the start area.
They had some jovial man playing some dance type music and talking to the spectators and runners. "Go runners!" or "welcome to Boston, Ga" or "Stretch runners stretch, getting ready for your run. We will start in X minutes!"
They were having a fun run, 5 K and our Half marathon. The half folks gathered at the starting line to start off first. There were a good many folks, probably 200 runners or so, including two young men around 10-12 area (which the one finished in 2hrs 24 mins!)
The "gently rolling hills" turned out to be some nice flatter sections with a good many inclining soft hills woohoo. They had a lot of folks at each aid station and people cheering us on. Even the cows/bulls went "Mooo!" when we went by.
The view, dispite the drizzling rain, was lovely. A peaceful country morning with quiet roads, little bridges, huge old oaks draped with curtains of spanish moss. A tranquil scene for sure. Many pastures filled with cows, calves, large bulls, freshly rolled hay (which smelled soooo good), cranes and runners trudging along.
Although I had a really good start I really went out to fast and had to slow down at mile 10. I knew better than to push it so early on but I had pegged a person that I really wanted to beat. (Didn't do it however....shoot). In the end, I did manage meet up with a wonderful 23 year old woman participating in her first half marathon. Call me selfish but it was nice being a part of that experience with her.
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