Athens-Atlanta
87 miles, 5600 vertical feet in a little over 8.5 hours, and I'm never doing the full thing again. Turns out the second 52 miles of the course that I've done before is a lot harder if you have to do the first half to get to it. The 86 degrees, sun harsh enough to give _me_ a farmer's tan, and 10mph headwind screwed a lot of people into dropping out or taking 25% longer than usual. Despite the wet first half to Dacula at 38 miles, it looked like we'd make our target of 6.5 hours, until half the team dropped out at that point. The three remaining would have to be lucky just to finish. Joe dropped at mile 65, and I got to the checkpoint at 71 with the intention of quitting, and only left after realizing
that it'd take 4 hours to get to the hotel if I waited for the shuttle bus and only 2 if I kept going. Those were seriously the most miserable 2 hours of my life, and I wouldn't have made it if not for a lot of help and encouragement from John. Never before have I come to a hill and found myself actually unable to go up it. Strangely, I didn't feel as bad as I expected the next morning. Though I'm either getting another cold or I did in fact fry my brain. Now off to bed where the electric blanket set to max is almost as good as a full-body heating pad.
that it'd take 4 hours to get to the hotel if I waited for the shuttle bus and only 2 if I kept going. Those were seriously the most miserable 2 hours of my life, and I wouldn't have made it if not for a lot of help and encouragement from John. Never before have I come to a hill and found myself actually unable to go up it. Strangely, I didn't feel as bad as I expected the next morning. Though I'm either getting another cold or I did in fact fry my brain. Now off to bed where the electric blanket set to max is almost as good as a full-body heating pad.