Atlanta has rich history in athletics including being host of the 1996 Olympics. It had been years since the games were played here but many of the fans who lived here then and those transplants who live here now (me included) were prepared to show off again.
This was a record number of runners who qualified for the US marathon Olympic trials. Thousands of volunteers came out to support this event.
As you can see from the above picture all the volunteers received some sweet swag by Nike as we lined the streets to enjoy and cheer on the Olympic hopefuls.
My lovely wife snagged a few glamour shots of me in my Nike swag before I went out to the help with the race. If felt semi normal for me after working for Nike for 4.5 years back in the day. I was back at it again all swooshed up ready to cheer on the runners.
I’ve been a part of 30-40 races of different lengths throughout my life as event worker. You could just tell there was something different about this race. The added security by APD, GSP, GBI, FBI, Homeland Security and many others put me at ease and I’m sure the runners too.
The weather has not been the best here in Atlanta this year, the wettest in a long time, but God cleared the sky for the marathon weekend to allow for dry race conditions.
I’ve spent a lot of my life around elite athletes, but it again humbled me to see the speed in which these men & women cruised 26 miles. It was wild to think they were running just under 5 minute miles, I’ve not been able to do one 5 minute mile in a long time much less 26.2 of them.
The lead pack passes above one final lap by me. In the front with black hat and white jersey Galen Rupp is pictured who won the trial with a time of 2:09:20 or around 4:56 average pace. So amazing to be able to witness this event.
While writing this post (a few weeks after the race on 3.16.20) a worldwide pandemic virus is spreading faster than they are running but I pray it ends soon so training can continue and the Olympics will take place later this summer but it’s not looking good right now.
Brian K Inman 