July 16, 2016: The Decatur-DeKalb 4-Miler

2014 course time: 35:49

2015 course time: 34:51

4-mile PR (January 2016): 33:30

The Decatur-DeKalb 4-mile race is one of the Atlanta Track Club's original races, which has been run on virtually the same course for nearly 50 years.  Today's race included Bruce LaBudde, who won the race in its first year in 1967.  49 years later, he is still going strong, winning second in his age group today in a time of 35:05. 

Bruce LaBudde (above) also ran the very first Peachtree Road Race in 1970, one of the "Original 110".
Betty Lindberg (below) at the start of her race, on the way to winning in the 90-94 category.
I run today so that hopefully I'm still breathing and moving in a few decades from now! 

In my opinion, this is one of the toughest races.  4 miles isn't much longer than a 5K, but the Druid Hills neighborhood presents considerable challenges, combined with the mid-July date, giving runners an abundance of "Heat, Hills, and Humidity".  I like to think of the roads south of the Emory campus as my "home court", as I've done quite a few early evening runs in this area starting from the chemistry department or the Blomeyer Fitness Center.  

However, I also enjoy group runs with the Tucker Running Club, and these days I tend to join them more often than running alone.  Running with a group has not only improved my endurance, but a great additional benefit of running is meeting a more diverse group of people outside of the bubble of the university. 

Great turnout from Tucker Running Club this morning!

Brian Minor and I jogged a couple of miles to warm up before the race, and then it was time to begin.  We decided to start at the back of wave A, hoping that the faster runners would help pull us along.  Knowing how much Brian has improved in the past year, I also hoped that trying to keep up with him would help me go a bit faster.  

Pre-race selfie: Bonnie, Brian, and I.
Unfortunately Bonnie could not run today due to oral surgery yesterday,
but she took quite a few photos including the finishes of virtually all of the Tucker Running Club members. 

We started right at 7:30 am, and right away I started out a bit too fast, at a 7:30 min / mile pace.  I actually felt pretty good, thanks to the long warmup, and kept up with Brian for the first mile (7:32).  Unfortunately, my heart rate monitor signaled going up a hill early in the second mile, so I slowed down a bit, knowing that I still had most of three miles to go.  Nonetheless I still maintained a good pace, finishing mile 2 in 8:18.  At the water station just after the 2-mile marker, I lost sight of Brian as I took a 30-second walk break.  The third mile was particularly tough, and I felt the toll of my fast start on a never-ending uphill section on Clifton Road and onto North Decatur Road.  I took another walk break shortly before the 3-mile marker, even moving to the sidewalk.  Examining my Garmin stats after the race, I was 'horrified' to discover that I took a full minute for the unplanned walk break.  No wonder my time for mile 3 was 9:26.  As I got back up to speed, a runner passed me with the name "Simon" on the back of his singlet, and then I realized it was my colleague Simon Blakey from the same floor of the Atwood Chemistry Center.  Simon is very fast (and 13 years younger) and he started with wave B, so he had made up the two-minute headstart between waves A and B, but I managed to speed up a bit to keep him in sight for most of the remainder of the race.  I finished the race in 34:16 chip time, finishing mile 4 in 9:00.  

For some reason I had thought that my time last year was a few seconds faster, but after getting home and checking last year's results (and this blog) I realized that I had run today's race 35 seconds faster than last year!  Despite starting out too fast, I did manage to bank enough time to improve my overall time.  But I think that I might have enjoyed today's race a bit more if I had started out a little slower, perhaps with wave B (where I really belong).  

It took me awhile to recover, but as usual the finish area was well-stocked with plenty of water and Powerade as well as bagel halves.  While cooling down, I saw Elisabeth Blanchard, who writes one of my favorite blogs, Running on E.  We've met on several occasions and we even did a group run together last year, but I think this is the first time that I remembered to get a photo with her.  

With Elisabeth Blanchard; looks like she is wearing a 26.2 with DONNA shirt! 

In summary, I'm very happy to see that my time has improved a bit over last year's race.  One good thing about running the first mile too fast: I have confidence that I can push it a bit more tomorrow morning in the Lindbergh Mile! 

Atlanta Track Club's Decatur DeKalb 4 Miler