Running for the second half of my life: July 4, 2015: The Peachtree Road Race 10K

Goal C: To have a safe and fun experience in the 46th running of the Peachtree Road Race;

Goal B: To finish the PRR without a shoe coming untied; and

Goal A: To challenge my 2014 PRR time of 55:36

Atlanta's Independence Day Parade has no floats, no marching bands, and no politicians riding down the street in convertibles. Atlanta's Independence Day Parade is 50,000 - 60,000 people running and walking from Lenox Mall in Buckhead on the north side of town, to Piedmont Park in Midtown, in the world's largest 10K. The bands are on the side of the road along with more than 100,000 spectators and several thousand volunteers. And any politicians in our parade join their constituents on the same route, at the same distance, with the same challenges.

On MARTA train, about to depart from Doraville Station, 6:00 am

This year was my second Peachtree Road Race. Last year I really enjoyed the race, and a great experience was marred only by a shoelace coming untied three times during the race! I don't quite understand the origin of the problem and it's not a matter of how the shoes are tied and laced, as it happens only with one pair of shoes. I've liked the way those shoes looked and felt, but the problem with the shoelaces happened again and again, and they have now been retired to walking or gym workouts only.

5 am weather map for North Georgia

The past week has been rather rainy in Atlanta, and the forecast for today deteriorated as the big day drew near. When I awoke around 4 am this morning, it was raining quite hard in Tucker. By the time we left the house around 5:30 am, the rain had tapered to a light drizzle. We joined a festive group of runners at the Doraville MARTA station, and three stops later at Lenox Station, we poured out of the trains, up the escalators, and onto Lenox Road. Within a few minutes of our arrival at Lenox Mall, the intensity of the rain increased and so we took shelter in one of the many parking garages in the area. But after about 15 minutes, the rain had ended, and Bonnie and I resumed our walk to the starting area. Today was Bonnie's first 10K race. She had prepared well, running 10K distances in several training runs at Stone Mountain, and then together we ran the actual course last Saturday morning.

Was I going to run without chugging a dose of beet juice? Not a chance!

Shortly before we separated this morning to go to our respective corrals, I took my ritual shot of beet juice concentrate. The taste is starting to grow on me! I then had plenty of time to do a gradual warmup, and by 7:15 my legs were feeling really good and I was ready for a great run. I joined the wave C runners in front of Phipps Plaza, with 10K qualifying times from 51:06 - 54:01. Thanks to a good run and a downhill finish in the Chattahoochee Road Race in March, I qualified for wave C by just 7 seconds!

Our wave was next to begin, once we had passed beneath the flag.

Shortly before the official start of the first wave at 7:30, I made sure that the knots on my shoelaces were tight and secure. As the first group began, wave C moved forward a few hundred feet. Then it was wave B's turn to begin at 7:35, and we moved up to the starting line. Last year wave C had jogged up to the start line, today everyone followed the sign and walked. But the minutes passed by quickly and precisely at 7:41, the airhorn sounded and we started our race! Because of the wet roads and the likelihood of rain, we were running under a yellow flag, indicating a "moderate" alert level.

From the color of the bibs, this is probably wave C.
I've probably already passed below the frame of the photo.

Even in the first mile, spectators were cheering us on through Buckhead. We started at a good pace, and by keeping up with the runners around me and not trying to pass anyone, I quickly settled in at the target pace of 8:30 minutes per mile. In fact that was my exact time at the 1 mile alert. Having stayed fairly dry before the race, I was comfortable and was running very well. There were some significant puddles along the left side of the roadway, but by staying about 10 - 15 feet away from the curb, I was able to keep my feet dry. I reflected on one big difference from my conditioning last year: in 2014, I had never run a training run more than about 6-1/2 miles. But over the past year, I've finished three half-marathons, and routinely run 6-mile training runs, so I felt much more comfortable with the 10K distance. I even found myself thinking that today's run would be "easy"!

I had planned to take short walk breaks every 5 - 6 minutes, corresponding to major intersections, but once we were running I realized that it would be unsafe to slow down given the number of runners immediately behind me. But I used the first water stop as a safe place to pull over and walk for about 30 seconds, then got back to speed as mile 2 was perceptibly downhill. About halfway down mile 2, I saw a poor guy dart off of the road onto the sidewalk to tie his shoe. That was me last year, three times. I finished mile 2 in 8:10, then turned up the pace a bit more in mile 3 as we approached the low point of the route at Peachtree Creek. We had already begun our way up the infamous "Cardiac Hill" when we reached the Mile 3 marker, and was very happy to record 8:05 for mile 3.

I slowed going uphill, from about 7.5 mph to 6 mph. The drizzle resumed in this section but it wasn't too heavy at first. I took another short walk break for the water stop after the Mile 3 marker, but it didn't seem to take too long to get to the top of the first hill at Piedmont Hospital, where the road leveled out a bit. But at this point the rain began to fall in earnest, not a deluge, but definitely more than a drizzle. I was grateful to be wearing the Atlanta Track Club cap to keep the rain out of my face. I was a little disappointed to record a time slower than 9 minutes for mile 4 (9:21 to be exact) but felt that I was still on a good pace overall, covering 4 miles in less than 35 minutes total.

Elevation map. Mile 3 marker is near the start of "Cardiac Hill".

Shortly after passing the Mile 4 marker, we saw a bright flash! I momentarily thought it was a flash camera, but when I heard the thunder I realized that it was lightning. It probably wasn't terribly close, perhaps about 1 mile away if I correctly counted 5 seconds between the flash and the boom, but I started to wonder if the lightning would continue and what the race organizers would do with tens of thousands of runners already underway. I took a walk break crossing Interstate-85, then resumed running as we entered Midtown. When we reached the Mile 5 marker, the alert banner was now red, warning that potentially dangerous conditions existed. I thought that I heard one more thunder boom behind me, but further away. I just kept running!

What many don't know about the Peachtree Road Race before they have run it themselves, is that the two smaller hills in mile 5 are almost as challenging as Cardiac Hill in mile 4. I finished mile 5 in 9:31, which was a little disappointing. But 14th Street, just past the Arts Center Complex, was near the high point of the course, and after 12th Street the road began to gradually drop in elevation. As we turned onto 10th Street, contagious cries of "The Corner!" rippled through the mass of runners. "1 kilometer to go!" shouted the sideline announcer. Now was the time to turn up the speed, and thankfully I had a bit in reserve this year. The street was lined with spectators, cheering us to the finish line. Crossing Juniper Street, a sign promised just 1/2 mile to the finish. As I approached the overhead photographers, I held up both arms for their photos, then sped up to about 7.5 mph as I crossed Piedmont Road, with 3 long blocks to go. I caught up to a cluster of slower runners, and to get around them I had to go to the extreme far left of the road next to the barricades. I was very careful not to trip over the legs of the barricades as I sped up some more, now at 8 mph according to my Garmin. I could see the green expanse of Piedmont Park to my left as I passed the Mile 6 marker (52:25, 8:48 for mile 6). Not far now, I kept pushing myself forward. Coming over the last small hill, I could see the finish line ahead. And with one last burst of acceleration, reaching 9 mph as I made a diagonal right to avoid crashing into a couple of women who were slowing before they crossed the finish line, I gave a huge fist pump into the air in riotous celebration as I crossed the second timing track. When I turned off my watch, I had run in 54:49!

Fortunately I didn't see this on the course,
but it was posted on the Atlanta Track Club Facebook page.
Waves M and higher were delayed in starting by approximately 30 minutes.

Piedmont Park was already turning into a mud pit when I arrived. As we walked forward to pick up our shirts, the announcer told us that we had to leave the park as soon as we got our shirts, some water and a food box, due to the bad weather. I was trying to check my phone, and saw a text from Bonnie that the start for her wave was delayed due to bad weather. Eventually I circled back around toward the Atlanta Track Club tent outside of the Park Tavern. I passed on the beer ticket but picked up a Powerade Zero, Kin bar and banana. Inside the tent I recognized Daniel, aka Kurokitty, "The Running Cat". We had met for a second about one month ago, but it was good to meet his wife Marianne and chat with them for a few minutes, before I headed back into the rain to meet up with my parents-in-law.

There's my Wonderwoman, in the sixth mile!

Oops, Superman has just passed Wonderwoman!

Hotdoggin' it at the turn onto 10th Street; one kilometer to go!

After refueling with a cappuccino and half of a turkey sandwich at Caribou Coffee at the corner of Piedmont Road and 10th Street, we set out to watch Bonnie's finish. We were able to track her cellphone while we waited, and I was happy to see her making steady progress along the race route. As she crossed 17th Street, I headed out to meet her in the final block of Peachtree Road, between 10th and 11th Street. I was able to cheer her on as she approached, and kept up with her on the sidewalk as she turned the corner onto 10th Street, but then lost her as the sidewalk narrowed while at the same time she went into high gear for her finish. Catching up with her back in Piedmont Park, she was glowing with pride, celebrating the completion of her first 10K race!