Embarrassing example of Atlanta on film (construction, vacation, cities)

[JPD]

This weekend I watched a documentary called Ultra-Marathon Man. The film is about a guy who runs 50 marathons, in 50 days, in all 50 states. Since it's logistically impossible to run "official" marathons under such a schedule, he ran as many official marathons as he could on the days of the actual events, but in most cities he had to run on his own (along with his support team and whoever showed up to run with him), tracing the route of the "official" marathon in each city.

Now for the embarrassing part:

In every city/state, he had adequate street or trail conditions and, when necessary, a police escort.

Except in Atlanta. In Atlanta, his pre-arranged police escort backed out the night before his run, and his marathon route was marred by a lack of sidewalks and a neverending series of street construction and blockades, forcing him and his team to run in traffic. He stated that it was the low point of his experience.

Good documentary, but it was pretty lame watching the Atlanta scenes. Not surprising in the least, just lame.

[WanderingImport]

Why in the world did he have to run in Atlanta? He could have just run in another city/town in the state.

[blondandfun]

Yeah, and I was also mad the other day that I didn't get a police escort when I went on my morning power walk.

[PedestriAnne]

Originally Posted by blondandfun

Yeah, and I was also mad the other day that I didn't get a police escort when I went on my morning power walk.

I don't know why, but that literally made me LOL.

[PedestriAnne]

That's embarrassing? I thought you were going to say that someone had run over the guy and then tried to sue him or that he'd been robbed right after he finished running here. It's certainly unfortunate that his escort backed out on him, but is this the notoriously short-handed APD we're talking about? I dare say they might have been attending to something a bit more pressing.

I've done long races in other cities and none of them had 26 contiguous miles of sidewalks either. And what's embarrassing about road construction? It's hard to complain that the roads are bad AND complain when they work on them.

Was Atlanta's lack of ideal running conditions really the low point of the whole experience? No illness? No injuries? No dehydration? No lost luggage? No sick child at home? I guess he's forgetting the privilege of being able to take 50 days to go around the country running.

[atlantagreg30127]

While I admit it does stink that they agreed to do it and then backed out a day before, I was like others in thinking that he was going to report in his film that while running, 6 guys with AK47s pulled up next to him in a SUV and robbed him of his shorts or something. Not that this would be unexpected these days in some parts of town, but you still don't want it in a documentary.

[afonega1]

That was so LAME.LOL.Sounded like it was gonna be another Atlanta P.R. nightmare.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by blondandfun

Yeah, and I was also mad the other day that I didn't get a police escort when I went on my morning power walk.

Did you and your camera crew have one arranged?

[JPD]

Originally Posted by PedestriAnne

That's embarrassing? I thought you were going to say that someone had run over the guy and then tried to sue him or that he'd been robbed right after he finished running here. It's certainly unfortunate that his escort backed out on him1, but is this the notoriously short-handed APD we're talking about? I dare say they might have been attending to something a bit more pressing2.

I've done long races in other cities and none of them had 26 contiguous miles of sidewalks either. And what's embarrassing about road construction? 3 It's hard to complain that the roads are bad AND complain when they work on them.

Was Atlanta's lack of ideal running conditions really the low point of the whole experience? 4No illness? No injuries? No dehydration? No lost luggage? No sick child at home? 5I guess he's forgetting the privilege of being able to take 50 days to go around the country running6.

1. They backed out the night before, not because some sort of emergency came up.

2. See #1.

3. There's nothing embarrassing about road construction, but there should always be a way for pedestrians and joggers to avoid running in the middle of the street.

4. Yes, it was, in conjunction with the police bailing on him after agreeing to provide a very small (1 or 2 motorcycle) escort.

5. None of the above.

6. His job is running, writing about running and making a film about running, so it wasn't like he was on vacation or on leave from his job.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by afonega1

That was so LAME.LOL.Sounded like it was gonna be another Atlanta P.R. nightmare.

Sounds like you're expectations were too high.

Sorry for boring all of you.