December 4, 2022: The Peachtree Mile

8 weeks into the 20 week marathon training program, I can really feel the increased sense of endurance building in. I'm beginning to feel cautiously optimistic about a great race in the February 26 marathon. Of course what is essential is to stay healthy, stretching and a little bodyweight training, and keeping the easy days very easy. I'm very happy with the training plan that Coach Carl has created. I think it was a challenge for him when I signed up for a 20-week plan but also sent a list of 10 races I was planning to run. I told Carl that I was happy to do some of the races at easy pace, just an opportunity for me to accumulate training mileage on a supported / protected course plus the social benefit of seeing people at races. But I emphasized that I hoped that I could actually "race" a few of the events. Carl has nicely satisfied my request, with five races that we're using as speed/endurance checks. Carl understands that while I have ambitious goals when I sign up for a training plan, I also want to have fun along the way, which means racing some of the miles in the plan. 

This is a "dropdown" weekend, but still getting in an 8-mile effort today 
prior to an 18-mile long run next weekend. 

I was intrigued when I received an e-mail a few months ago about "The Peachtree Mile". This race will run the last mile of the "Peachtree Road Race" 10K on Independence Day. I wondered, what might I do if I could run the last net downhill mile of this race without having been beaten up by Cardiac Hill? Or in cool December weather, rather than a hot midsummer morning? I even began boldly thinking about trying to run another sub-7 minute / mile, which I've done three times: twice in the Morningside Mile races in 2016 and 2017, and most recently in summer 2020 in the first Atlanta Track Club in-person event after the end of the spring 2020 COVID lockdown. My personal best for the mile is 6:52 when I was 53 years old, on a course with an 87 foot drop in the first half-mile, but then regaining 70 feet in the second half-mile. On the other hand, today's course would be a fairly continuous gentle downhill run, with a couple of small rollers in the middle. 

I didn't receive any e-mails from the race in the days prior to race day (it seemed to be a problem for some but not all of the participants) but checking the race website a few day ago indicated that the event was on as originally scheduled. I arrived at Piedmont Park (near the finish) around 6:45 am, but ended up running more than a mile between the Charles Allen Gate on the 10th Street side of Piedmont Park (the finish) to the start at Colony Square just north of 14th Street on Peachtree Street before finding bib pick-up at the 14th Street Gate of Piedmont Park. It's too bad that when I checked the website a few days ago, I didn't click on the map below, which would have clearly shown me exactly where to go. I wore two layers due to the 45 degree F temperature, but was having trouble warming up my legs and getting comfortable, and I think it wasn't due to the cool temperature. I pinned on the bib, did an easy jog inside Piedmont Park to complete the rest of the 2-mile warmup. There were a lot of leaves on the path, and with overnight fog or perhaps some rain, the surface felt rather slick. I tried to finish up with a 15-second stride, reaching only 7:25 min / mile pace. That didn't bode well for today. 

The published race map.
We actually started just north of 14th Street, and
finished on the west side of the intersection with Charles Allen Drive.  

Oh well, I would just see what I could do, perhaps taking care to start out a little patiently just in case my stamina wasn't sufficient to run faster for very long. However,walking from Piedmont Park to the start helped, and I decided not to jog but just walk quickly. Before today's race, I caught up with Luke Butler, Donna Roberts, Jacque Hartley, and Jordan Eison. Matt Grzeck re-introduced himself from our first meeting at the Dental Dash 5K, and Donna introduced me to her friend Pat before we walked to the start. 

Sunrise at Piedmont Park

I sized up the people around me and thought I had found a good position about 10 feet behind the starting mat. Then I backed up another 10 feet or so, to make sure that I started behind a much younger man who looked fast and confident. From my new position, I semi-joked out loud "I hope I'm not in front of anyone running a 7 minute / mile!" but seriously I didn't want to be in the way of anyone that was faster than me. There were only 115 participants today, so only one lane of Peachtree Street was protected for our race. We all needed to be careful at the start. I did occasional "butt kicks" to keep my legs warm - although my flexibility this morning was insufficient for heel to make contact with butt. All the more reason for me to be cautious today. 

We started at 8:00 on the dot. Donna Roberts called out behind me "Go for it Frank!!!" I started my watch with the starting command, even though it took me a few seconds to reach the timing mat. While we had to sort out some paces amongst runners in the first block or so, everyone was running courteously and carefully. We had arranged ourselves smoothly in my part of the pack not long after we had crossed 14th Street. The first part of the race to 13th Street was slightly but noticeably downhill. I carefully watched for potholes, while I worked around a few kids that were already slowing down. There was a little climb to 12th Street, which I glided up smoothly, and then a little drop to "The Corner" with 10th Street. I had resolved not to look at my watch throughout the race, so it was only well after the race that I learned that I had covered that stretch, about 0.40 miles, in 2:35, enjoying a 17 feet elevation drop. 

My Garmin trace. My signal bounced off of
several buildings on Peachtree Street, but recorded better on 10th Street.
Red indicates higher elevation, descending through orange - yellow - green
 to blue as the lower elevation.

I recall from Peachtree Road Race experience that when we turn "The Corner", it is exactly 1 kilometer to the finish. So I'm thinking 5 minutes, or probably less since I'm running faster today than I can manage near the end of a 10K race. I don't know how many minutes I've already run, but I'm not gonna look at my watch. I'm beginning to breathe heavily but regularly, and I seem to be moving fairly consistently. It helps that the elevation dropped some more as we approached Juniper Street. I remember passing several people in this section. I'm still a little heavier than I would like, but as I passed smaller people, I felt like my weight helped my momentum at maintaining pace. I know that doesn't really make sense, but that's what it felt like. In a race, that positive feeling is worth more than physics. 

I saw ultra-endurance runner Jacque Hartley about 20 feet ahead of me and was a little surprised that I was keeping up with her. Then without really trying to do so, I had caught up to and then passed her. "I don't have any business running this fast" I thought, but I just kept going. Afterwards on Strava "flyby", I can see that Jacque was close behind me for the rest of the race. But I didn't know that at the time. Crossing Piedmont Road on 10th Street, we had one uphill, 11 feet elevation gain. Today the hill didn't seem as big as it does in mile 6 of the Peachtree Road Race. And then downhill again! The road leveled out as I saw the green space of Piedmont Park to my left. I think that the 6-mile marker is usually in this spot. So less than 2 minutes left! The only problem was that the left side of the running lane was covered in slippery leaves, but when I moved to the right lane, there weren't many leaves and I was confident that I wouldn't slip in that lane. I was feeling the pain of exertion, but knowing that I was going to finish very soon helped me to "Run Like Hell!" Turns out, that was today's unplanned mantra. 

The pace data for the first third of the race isn't reliable, 
probably due to the buildings on Peachtree Street.
But I ran fairly consistently, and definitely did not slow down
later in the race!  

One last little speed bump and then I saw the finish line. Not much further now! As the timing clock came into focus, I saw 6:30 in the distance. "Oh, I can beat 7!" and a few seconds later "Can't slow down. Run Like Hell!" 6:40 and the finish line is getting closer. We're definitely running downhill. I'm also gaining ground on a grey-haired man - is he in my age group? I pass him in the final seconds of the race. The last thing I see as I fly by the clock is 6:52, crossing the timing mat. 

I was 33rd out of 115 finishers. 
The man that finished just behind me is age 53, 
so not in my age group after all!

Wow! As I slow and then stop, I'm thrilled and totally exhausted at the same time. I had just enough oxygen to get across the finish line, then bent over for a couple of moments to regain my breathing. After watching Jacque, Luke, Donna and Pat finish shortly after me, I walk into the park, just wanting to keep moving to refresh the legs. Luke's friend Cathy asks me "What is your age?" and I replied "60." Cathy already had race results from a QR code provided by the race organizers. I learned that I was 4th place in my age group, but the result also confirmed my 6:52 race time, which was what I cared most about.

Age group results: didn't finish "on the podium",
but that run went as well as I had dared to hope!

Later I clicked on my result for more details, and learned that my chip time was 6:47! That is a personal best for me for the mile!! But this result comes with a BIG asterisk*** thanks to the 77-feet total elevation drop from start to finish, with a 60-feet net drop in the final kilometer on 10th Street. Nonetheless I was very pleased to run fast again, consistently maintaining at least 8 mph throughout the race, and accelerating to 9.4 mph hurtling over the finish line.  

full official results

And yes, after the race, I ran the prescribed 5-mile "warmdown" on the Eastside Beltline. I felt good taking on the additional distance, and it definitely helped with the first stage of post-race recovery. Due to the adrenaline of the race, I covered that distance in 49 minutes rather than a true recovery pace closer to 55 - 60 minutes, but I think that I'll get away with running the recovery too quickly this time.