Lianne ONeal's Staging Area

The good:

The island and course were beautiful. Although it was cold early, the sun was warm and the breeze light. Most of this race was run on paved surfaces that varied between asphalt and concrete interspersed with dirt and sand sections. We had a great time searching for the treasure balls that are hidden throughout the island’s public areas. Tip: Stay an extra day to devote to the hunt, preferably the day after the race not before… we ended up walking a half marathon the day before in our quest for the elusive orbs. Oops.

The Bad:
The organizers really could have done better with this race in my opinion. To start, the “packet” was just your bib and t-shirt. No stickers, no gels, no nuttin’. As for the expo, there was a table you could sign up for the Hotlanta Half Marathon, and you could buy some leftover race shirts. I also saw a few coffee cups and trucker hats for sale. We actually walked around for a bit looking for the “real” expo. Disappointing.
Now, on to the pre-race pasta dinner and “meet and greet”. The race email did list the location and time and did not explicitly say it was included in the registration fee. However, other things available at extra cost did mention a fee so many racers were milling about asking each other the same questions: “Is this where the pasta dinner is?” and “Is it free or not?” No one knew the answer and there was no official race presence to “greet” us or answer questions. I heard everything from “It’s free” to $48 per person. You had to stand in line, (hoping it was the right one) and wait to ask the hostess, which was fine. We told the hostess we were race participants and staying at the hotel and she told us the pasta dinner was complimentary for racers. Excellent! We were seated and brought a salad and a plate of penne pasta with a little bit of marinara sauce and a piece of chicken. No choices. No seconds. We ordered one drink each and one dessert each. I got the check, expecting a bill of around $50 for the extras. Nope. We were charged about $100, because, you guessed it, the pasta dinners were not free. Oh well. I felt bad for the waitress and hostess who obviously were not given clear instructions. Boo to the Westin for not informing their staff and boo to the race director. How hard would it have been to add this to one of the race updates? It certainly would have affected my pre-race dinner choice.
Now, on to the race. For the most part, the race itself was great. Anyone who ran the half-marathon or the 10k probably felt well-supported throughout the course. However, it seemed like they forgot about the marathon course. They were out of gels at the stations between miles 11-21, the parts that didn’t overlap the shorter races, just when I needed them the most. There were markers but not all turns had them and the only reason I knew where to go sometimes was that I followed another racer. At least once I got worried that I wasn’t on course. A few more markers would have gone a long way.

And that brings me to the course. My GPS, (and several other racers) showed the course as about .4 miles longer than 26.2. I’m not sure how that happened.

All in all, I would probably do this race again, just in hopes of finding a treasure ball.