Peachtree Road Race

I ran my first ever Peachtree Road Race, which is touted as the world's largest 10K. It started out as a great day for a run, with low humidity and temperatures, but I had a number that a neighbor gave to me which was in the 80,000 range, which meant that I didn't actually cross the starting line until 1:05:00 after the race officially started. Yes, that's ONE HOUR and FIVE MINUTES. That meant that it was starting to get pretty warm by the time my race began.

Here is where I lined up (in front of Phipps Plaza)--you can't even see the starting line (which is front of Lenox Square Mall):

In this shot, we're getting close to the starting line:

I felt like since I was in starting group 8 that I would be surrounded by a bunch of walkers, or at least a bunch of slower runners, so I managed to work my way to the front of the pack. Once they said, "Go!" a bunch of people sprinted ahead of me, thus debunking my theory.

I used my new watch that I was given for Father's Day, which has a chronograph with 100 lap memory. Each mile was fairly clearly marked with a big sign, and when I saw "Mile 1" I looked at my watch to see what my time was. I was in disbelief: it read 7:54. I was running a sub-8-minute-mile! I had been training at a 10 minute mile pace, so dropping that down by over 2 minutes per mile meant that I was cruising! It helped that the first 3 miles were either level or downhill, too! At mile two, I remembered that I could use use the "split" feature of my watch to record each mile's cumulative time. Here's the breakdown for the race:

• Mile 1: 7:54 (estimated)
• Mile 2: 15:53 (7:59 mile)
• Mile 3: 24:33 (8:40 mile)
• Mile 4: 33:33 (9:00 mile)
• Mile 5: 43:07 (9:34 mile)
• Mile 6: 52:30 (9:23 mile)
• Finish (6.2 miles): 54:28

As I passed Peachtree Battle Shopping Center, where the restaurant "Jalisco's" is, I called my mom on my cell phone. We always like eating there, so I was reminded of her as I jogged past. I could only talk for a minute or two, because just past there is the start of "Cardiac Hill" (or is it "Heartattack Hill"?). I was headed uphill, started breathing heavily, and said goodbye to mom. I slowed way down going up that hill. Partly because the people in front of me all slowed down, and the walkers weren't keeping to the right like they were supposed to. But mostly because I was hot, I was running uphill, and I had already run 3 miles in 24 minutes: I was tired! Getting to the top wasn't too bad--it seemed like a fairly short hill, plus there was water along the way. Then the course leveled out for a little bit to get to the bridge over I-85, then went up a little more. People were handing out ice along the way, which felt great. There was a lot of sun at this point in the race, and it was getting hot! After getting past the High Museum, the course started to level out and then go back down hill. I picked up my pace again, especially when I could see 10th Street ahead. Around the corner would be the finish line, though I wasn't certain just how far around the corner it would be. It was a little farther than expected, but I kept up my pace as best as I could. The street was very crowded at this point! I called home after passing the mile 6 sign and was on the phone with Madeline as I crossed the finish line. I think she got a kick out of that. Can't wait until she can run it with me (she's got to be at least 10 to run the full race).

Here's a shot in Piedmont Park of all the finishers and other spectators: It was a great day for a run!

[Updated on 7/12/07 with pictures!]