Mercedes-Benz Birmingham Marathon
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Birmingham, Alabama

I race walked the Mercedes-Benz Birmingham Marathon on Sunday, February 11, 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama. The course was tough. There were two major two mile uphills-- one starting near mile 6 and the other after mile 20. There was also an extremely steep downhill of a little over a mile around mile 23. The rest of the course was rolly with several small steep uphills. The race mainly went through Birmingham and did not offer much at which to look. It was also a cold day as the temperature at the start was 26 degrees and it reached 46 degrees by the time I was finished. Fortunately there was very little wind and the day was sunny.
The race was very well organized with plenty of volunteers. Each finisher received both a medal and a tee shirt. The age group awards were poor - a cheap calculator with Mercedes-Benz written on the bottom. They did have an excellent door prize for those that finished. One participant receive a two year lease of a Mercedes-Benz.
Dispite the cold there were many spectators along the route with traffic control at each intersection. The course was somewhat hard to follow in places as it was marked with little green arrows that sometimes were hard to see. The leader in the half marathon missed a turn; however, he was able to recover and still win.
In the interviews after the race the winners also mentioned how tough they thought the course was, especially that long downhill.
There was a kids event on Saturday, February 10 the drew more than 3200 kids. The marathon and half marathon only drew 4000 combined.
All and all I had a good time and enjoyed myself.