February's marathon was in Birmingham for the Mercedes Marathon on the 15th. 2009 was my 4th Mercedes Marathon, but the first on a new two-loop course run entirely within the city limits of Birmingham. In the past, the start and finish of this marathon was in downtown Birmingham with course going in to the suburbs of Homewood, Mountain Brook and Crestline. The key to the old course was a hill that began just after mile 21 and continued up through the 23 mile mark.The new course passed the 16th Street Baptist Church(http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/civilrights/al11.htm), Birmingham's Civil Rights Museum, UAB, Five Points and the Highland Avenue area...twice. There were still hills to be climbed, but not the huge challenge present near the end of the old course. The temperature started in the upper 40s, with clear skies and little wind. By the finish, the temperature had crept into the low 60s, making it a nice (but almost too warm a) day for a run.
This was my 27th completed marathon, and month #2 of the marathon a month journey. I finished in 4 hours, 7 minutes and 38 seconds, good for 336th place out of 798 finishers. For those keeping track, I was 9 minutes quicker than in January, with no aches or pains generated by this run.
I finished around 11 a.m. Sunday morning, and hopped on a plane to Indianapolis at 2 p.m. The greatest challenge of the day? Seeing if the legs would move after sitting on a plane for 90 minutes that afternoon.
On to March...
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