October 17, 2020: Preparing for Peachtree, and Preparing for Nov 3 Election

The Atlanta Track Club recently announced a virtual event, asking members to record a practice run on the 10K route that they plan to run on Thanksgiving Day, for the official Virtual Peachtree Road Race. I'm not certain if I will run the route that I recorded today, but thought I would check out a hilly neighborhood in Tucker just down the road from our subdivision.

It was pleasantly crisp this morning, 43 degrees F when I left the house at sunrise. On the way to my "starting line" at Old Norcross Road and Lake Ivanhoe Drive, I saw a newer sign, encouraging everyone to vote. It was a sobering reminder for me that prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, people of racial minorities were routinely prevented from voting.

On Lake Ivanhoe Drive, I restarted my watch, to begin recording my 10K route. My goals were to try to finish within 60 minutes, and to run the second 5K faster than the first 5K. It had been several weeks since I had run in this area. There were a remarkable number of yard signs supporting candidates in the upcoming general election on November 3. This neighborhood seems to be about 50 : 50. 

Neighborhood disagreement? 

On Knights Templar Drive, there was a yard with signs for my preferred candidates. I must have crossed a line separating the Fourth Congressional District where I live and vote, represented by Hank Johnson, and the Sixth Congressional District, represented by Lucy McBath. In addition to the presidential and vice-presidential races, both U.S. Senate seats from Georgia are contested in this year's election. Jon Ossoff is running against current senator David Perdue. There is also a special election for the seat formerly held by Johnny Isakson, who retired in 2019. Raphael Warnock is running on a slate with about 20 other candidates including current appointee Kelly Loeffler. 

My loop continued with a left turn on Webb Road, then a left onto Chamblee Tucker Road for two blocks, then back into the neighborhood on Smithsonia Court, and right on Smithsonia Way. I wasn't paying too much attention to my pace, but from time to time I noticed that I was averaging just over 6 minutes per kilometer. Turning left onto Smithsonia Drive, then running up the steep Smithsonia Drive hill, I tried my mantra, "I love hills, I love hills, I love hills," every few seconds. It really did help! The loop continued onto Goodfellows Road at the highest point of my race route, then a right onto Debracy Place. Beginning the second loop with a left onto Lake Ivanhoe Drive, I still needed a few minutes to reach the 5K mark. My watch showed 30:33 elapsed, so I would need to pick up my pace to finish within 60 minutes.

My entry for hilliest route!

After 2 loops of the hilly route, I had only covered 8.5 kilometers, so I began one more loop on Lake Ivanhoe to Knights Templar, then turned left onto Locksley Drive, when I finally picked up my pace. I had a feeling that I would reach 60 minutes before I heard the 10K alert. In fact I had to make one more left turn onto Lake Ivanhoe before I heard the alert, at 21 seconds past the hour. I ran a few more seconds to ensure that I recorded 6.22 miles, then stopped the watch at 1:00:26. At least I accomplished the objective of running the second 5K faster than the first 5K! Walking for a few minutes to take some of the photos from the neighborhood, I finally resumed a cooldown jog to return home. 

One of my favorite signs, on Old Norcross Road

Having recovered from the exertion of trying to run fast for the final minutes of my 10K "jog", I decided to run a loop at Lucky Shoals Park before heading home. I regularly run the hilly 1-mile loop at sunrise when the park is relatively empty. I ran to the north entrance on Britt Road, past the gym where people were going in to vote in person, all wearing masks.

On Britt Road, just outside of the automobile entrance to the park

Normally we vote in person, but after the mid-March lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic, we've voted by absentee ballot. Outside of the Lucky Shoals Gym, there is a drop-off box, where we deposited our ballots on Monday morning, the first day of early voting in Georgia. Earlier this month, I had heard some concerns about the security of the boxes, but I had checked out the box last weekend. I was comforted by the warnings on the boxes, and subsequently learned that a security camera monitored the drop-off box. Happily our ballots were received and accepted!

And if there's any doubt about who I voted for, here I am in our front yard:

Please vote! 

Even if you disagree with me regarding the candidates, it's also important for you to vote. After November 3, many people will be happy with the outcomes, but many others will be disappointed. Regardless of party or preference, when this is over, we all need to know that this was a fair election, and that every vote was counted, so that we can accept the results and move forward.