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| I was running in from the left side after my warmup run, but I didn't quite make it into the Atlanta Track Club pre-race photo. |
My plan for today was to run very conservatively for the first three miles (I really mean it this time!) and hopefully turn up the speed at the end for a fast finish. That meant letting go of what I had accomplished on the old course, 33:09 personal best in 2019. As we gathered for the start, it was about 70 degrees and humid but cloudy or perhaps foggy, and I was wondering if it had been a mistake to wear sunglasses. However, I had my trusty small towel wrapping a large handful of ice, and mopped my head with the cool towel as we waited to begin. Wave A started as scheduled at 7:15 am, but instead of starting wave B two minutes earlier, the announcer mentioned that we would have a 4 - 5 minute interval to allow more space between waves, as the roads ahead were narrow. I deliberately took a position near the back of the wave, hoping that would help me start slowly. In front of me, I saw Atlanta Track Club regulars Sam Benedict and Jackie Whitlock. I started with Susie Hill, and just behind me were Kim Harrell and Alice Pate. These five runners are similar to me in ability, although I've lost to every one of them on some occasion, and probably to all of them in a single race when I've executed poorly. I resolved not to race anyone until after I had passed the mile 3 marker.
It was fairly crowded as I crossed the timing mat, and so I just settled in directly behind another runner as we headed up Commerce Drive and made the first turn onto Howard Avenue, trying not to step on her heels. We ran on Howard Avenue for no more than a few hundred feet when we turned into the neighborhood. Alice Pate passed me as we made the turn. I didn't try to keep up with Alice at first, following my cautious plan for the start, but at some point in this loop I did catch up to and then passed Alice, probably while running downhill, while I had the weight-momentum advantage. I also saw Susie Kim near the end of this loop and after saying hello, I passed her as well. Not that I was racing anyone.
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| In front of the Quaker church on Howard Avenue |
Re-emerging onto Howard Avenue, I sped up a bit. As we approached the 1-mile marker, my watch alert sounded 9:25. That was too slow to set a personal best, but hopefully not too fast for me to maintain for three more miles. As we took another turn into the neighborhood, I picked up the pace a bit while we were running downhill. No faster than 9 minute / mile pace at this stage, I reminded myself. So far I was feeling good, heart rate was in the 150 beat per minute range so not high enough to be a concern at this moment. I naturally slowed down a bit as we headed uphill to return to Howard Avenue, and another quick right turn. Now the East Lake MARTA station came into view. Around that stage in the race, I passed Sam Benedict. I called out "Sam, don't let me pass you!" but I didn't see Sam again in today's race. Not that I was racing anyone.
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| Mural in front of the pedestrian bridge over Howard Avenue to the East Lake MARTA station |
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| Mural facing Howard Street on the East Lake MARTA station wall |
From East Lake Road, we turned onto Parkwood Road where the elevation was definitely a gradual downhill. I just let momentum carry me along, watching my heart rate more than my pace. I was really happy to have some ice left in my towel, which I would rub on my face and forehead for some relief from the heat. My watch sounded as we approached the 2-mile marker, 9:02 and 18:27 elapsed. Definitely not on personal best pace, but I was on track with my race plan. Running down West Parkwood Road was one of the nicest parts of the race. When I was being recruited to join Emory a quarter-century ago, I was told that Atlanta was "a city in the forest". That's certainly true in the older residential neighborhoods. Running in the shade makes Hotlanta summers so much more bearable. So far I had not taken any walk breaks, and had not felt that I needed one, but with the water station up ahead, I decided to accept a cup of water from a volunteer. I walked for probably no more than 30 seconds, and the break did wonders for my heart rate, down to 130 bpm for a moment. I didn't worry about the people who passed me, among them being Jackie Whitlock, because I wasn't racing anyone.
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| Parkwood Park between West and East Parkwood Roads |
We emerged onto West Ponce de Leon Avenue for just a few steps, before running south on East Parkwood Road. I hadn't fully appreciated running downhill on the west side of the park, but definitely slowed down heading uphill on the east side. I briefly glanced at my watch and saw a 10 min / mile reading, then reminded myself that my goal was not to burn myself out on the hills in the middle of the course. I just shortened my stride, relaxed as much as possible, dabbed my face and head with the cool towel, and let the course play itself out. Turning left on the appropriately named Upland Road, I almost took a walk break, but it had been only about 5 minutes since my water stop walk break, so I managed to keep running even though it was slower going with the shorter stride. Finally we crested the hill and I picked up some speed heading downhill toward West Ponce. For awhile, I had seen Kim Harrell just a few seconds in front of me, now I pulled up even with her. I thought perhaps that I would run with Kim for awhile. I certainly had no intention of passing her, at least not before the 3-mile marker, but somehow today I just glided by. Not that I was racing anyone.
Right before making the turn onto West Ponce, I shook out the towel. A couple of tiny ice chips flew out onto the side of the road. I then worked the cool towel around my neck, just under the top of the singlet. I passed the 3-mile marker, 9:16 recorded. That was slower than a progressive run pace, but there were hills so I gave myself a break. As we made the turn into one more neighborhood, I realized that 27:45 elapsed = three miles averaging 9:15 min / mile pace, and I probably had enough energy remaining in the battery to pick up the pace for the final mile. I even had sufficient mental capacity for a simple division problem in my head. But my positivity quickly began to diminish as we headed uphill. The left turn onto Emerson Avenue revealed more uphill. I may have audibly groaned at this moment. Several people in front of me were walking. Although my heart rate was now in the low 170s, I fought off the temptation to walk and somehow powered through. "If this was a 5K, I'd be done by now!" but then I cast aside that negative thought as another left turn revealed that we were soon to be running downhill toward West Ponce. Whew! I didn't pick up the pace immediately, but used the gravity assist for a little cardiovascular recovery.
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| Parks are so much nicer today! When I was a kid, the local park had a straight metal slide that was scorching hot in the summer, and a few swings on a rusty swing stand. |
Now it was HAMMER TIME! We turned onto West Trinity Place for a straight shot to downtown Decatur. A volunteer called out "Downhill to the finish!" I asked "All the way?" and heard the truthful response "one more small hill but mostly downhill." Of course I knew this not only from my reconnaissance run a few days ago, but I also used to regularly run this section when the Big Peach Running Company store was downtown. As the road headed under the MARTA tracks, I picked up my pace and passed several people in one go. Inevitably we had to run uphill from the underpass, but at this point I knew that I had only two blocks to the turn at Commerce Drive followed by the finish line. I was fighting off the sensation of tiredness; afterwards I saw that I had nearly maxxed out my heart rate monitor. Bob Wells was standing near the Electric Avenue intersection cheering us on by name. I was thinking, just one block to the turn, but then Bob called out "400 meters to finish, Frank!"
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| The MARTA underpass on West Trinity Place |
400 meters? That's a quarter-mile. That's further than I thought. Fortunately it was probably more like 300 meters. Anyway, I made the right turn onto Commerce Drive. There was a long block ahead to the finish line, but at least I could see the finish line as soon as I made the turn. And I began to speed up, because NOW, I was racing. I didn't sense anyone close behind me, and avoided the temptation to look behind me, knowing that would only slow me down. There was a pretty big gap between me and a cluster of four or five other runners ahead of me. But then I found another gear and accelerated. As the finish line drew near, I thought "I might be able to pass this last fellow" and my inner cheetah took over. I crossed the timing mat a step or two ahead of him, a couple of seconds after my watch had sounded the mile 4 alert.
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| I wish that I had ranked a little higher within my age group ..... but I finished mile 4 in 9:00 so the last mile was my fastest, which was my main goal for today. |
I took the liberty of throwing up both arms in a small celebration before stopping my watch. 36:46 is much slower than my usual time on the Decatur DeKalb course, but I was happy with how I had executed today's race plan. I was absolutely exhausted, but that didn't hit me until after I had crossed the finish line, so I had rationed out my energy perfectly for the conditions. I told Kim Harrell afterward "I couldn't have run a fifth mile like that today." Thankfully the Atlanta Track Club had a cooler of ice-cold towels just past the finish line, even before we reached the volunteers handing out ice-cold water bottles. Even though the cold towel on my head was initially a shock, it felt so good as I wrung out a little ice-cold water to run down all sides of my head and down my body.
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| I also missed the pre-race Tucker Running Club photo, as I was warming up, but made it into the post-race photo, before I went for a cool-down run. |
After I compared Garmin data from today's run with the 2019 race on the old course, it turns out that the new course is actually very slightly less hilly: 279 feet net ascent, 292 feet net descent, whereas the old course was 307 feet net ascent and 309 feet net descent. It didn't feel that way, but as a scientist, I know that I must trust the data! Of course the experiment still needs to be replicated ....
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