ATLANTA MARATHON: Leach weathers first 26.2-mile race

This Thanksgiving should be a memorable one for 21-year-old Justin Leach.

It was the day he ran, and won, his first marathon.

Leach was one of the more than 11,500 who participated in 47th annual The Weather Channel Atlanta Marathon and Half Marathon.

Race officials said Leach finished the 26.2-mile course in 2:39:52.

Most of the registered runners —- more than 10,500 —- ran the half marathon. The remaining registrants, more than 1,000, were expected to run the full race.

Organizers said this year’s attendance was up more than 3,000 from last year’s 8,400, thanks in part to first-time sponsor The Weather Channel.

“They did a lot of online and on-air promotion,” said Tracey Russell, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club, which organizes the Atlanta Marathon at Thanksgiving and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race on July Fourth.

Russell said the track club also was more active in recruiting runners at the Peachtree Road Race, which attracts more than 55,000 runners.

Runners of all ages and abilities stretched, jogged and even yawned their way through the 7 a.m. half marathon start time. Runners in the 13.1-mile race started their journey along Clairmont Road near the Chamblee MARTA station, a half hour before the longer-distance runners. The finish line for both races was at Turner Field, where the marathon also began.

Approximately 30 minutes after the marathon runners took off, the first half marathoners started crossing the finish line. Michael Green, a former Troy State University distance runner, finished first in the half marathon with a time of 1:07:23, according to official race results.

Near the front of the starting line for the marathon, Travis Turner sported a No. 7 running number over a Milton High School track jersey. The 17-year-old track and cross country runner was taking last-minute pictures with his parents before it was time to hit the road.

“I ran the L.A. Marathon two times in the ’80s,” said his dad, Ted Turner. “But after that second time, never again.”

Before the sun came up, Karen Crews, another first-time marathoner, was getting psyched up for her long run.

“It would be great if it were 10 degrees warmer,” said Crews, of Raleigh, as she prepared herself in a Turner Field parking lot, with temperatures dipping into the 30s. “I’m a little cold right now.”

Crews, 33, who grew up in Atlanta, said she decided to run the marathon as part of her training for an Ironman competition next year in Wilmington, N.C. Besides the training, Crews said she wanted to run to prove to herself that she could do it.

“So many people think of a marathon as impossible,” she said. “It’s really not, and I’m living proof.”