“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, here we go,’” recalls first-time marathoner Laura Asman. The first mile passed in what seemed like a second. The next two felt almost as fast. There was so much adrenalin in the crowd.
The 40,000 runners included eighteen of Laura’s work colleagues. For their group, this was the culmination of a plan hatched months before over a business dinner in Atlanta. Laura, who works in the communications department at bottling company Coca-Cola Enterprises, had recently finished a half marathon with a few co-workers. She couldn’t wait to try a whole marathon, and was happy when two colleagues at the dinner latched onto the idea. She sent out an e-mail, encouraging others to register. Momentum grew.
The runners regularly met after work, just around the corner from their offices, jogging along the Chattahoochee River. For long runs, they met early on Saturday mornings. They trained together through the brutal summer heat—and a few cold fall mornings.
Work acquaintances became close friends. That’s partly because running long distances leaves plenty of time to talk (once you get past that initial huffing-and-puffing, get-in-shape phase). Also, training for a marathon can be brutal—and you can’t help but respect the people who do it with you, Laura says.
“I made friendships that will last forever,” she says, adding that the office became a more joyful place, that the so-called laughter quotient rose.
On the morning of the marathon, the group, which included people from CCE, as well as sister company Coca-Cola, met in the lobby of their hotel. They took the train to the race’s starting point, found a coffee shop and enjoyed a hot cup of joe together.
Though the group naturally broke apart during the long race, Laura stuck with one friend, who dedicated each of the last thirteen miles to someone in her life. The last mile was for a colleague’s brother in Iraq.
