My Labor Day tradition is to run the Big Peach Sizzler 10K. Summer 2022 in Atlanta has been warm but also very rainy. The main question for any run this summer has been whether you'll get broiled, fried, or steamed. Yesterday the weather forecast looked like it might be the Big Peach Drizzler, with a 70% chance of rain at 7 am. I laid out a race kit for a rainy run, including a cap to keep the raindrops out of my eyes, as well as my #3 pair of shoes, Brooks Launch, which were new at the time of the Chicago Marathon last year. What a nice surprise to wake up around 5 am this morning, to discover that last night's "30% chance of not rain" was now "cloudy and not rain" through 11 am this morning. I decided instead to wear the #2 pair, Brooks Hyperion, which might get wet in a puddle but were unlikely to get ruined.
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| Shoes #1, #2, and #3. It's nearly time to add a new pair to the rotation. |
I planned to take it fairly easy today, to save my legs for a 5K race this coming weekend, so my goal was to finish just under 60 minutes, which would be about a 9:30 min / mile average pace. I set my watch to kilometers to make my pace goal an even 6 min / km. After warming up with an easy 1 km up and down Peachtree Road, a trace of morning soreness in one of my Achilles tendons had dissipated, and I was ready for a solid run. One of the Tucker Running Club highlights today was Liz Mann running her first race with son Luke in the stroller, to prepare for the Alpharetta Women's Half Marathon in late October. Luke's father Josh Mann was running support, and a few other TRC members had planned to try to keep up with Liz and Luke. I can sometimes barely keep up with Liz when I'm having a great day. While a stroller will slow anyone down, I had a feeling that Liz has been training hard and that it wouldn't be easy to keep up. I decided to try to use Liz as a pacer, if I could keep her in sight.
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| Wonder Woman and Superman with Luke, also known as the Mann Family |
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| Pre-race photo with Kim Harrell, Dan from Chamblee Runners, Curt Walker, Susie Hill, Lisa Calas, and Rebecca Ludwig in front of the author. |
The crowd was pretty dense at the beginning, so that worked perfectly for my 6 minute per kilometer plan. After a few blocks, we turned right onto Malone Drive. I saw Liz and the stroller about 100 feet ahead of me before I made the left turn onto Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. The 1 kilometer alert sounded, 5:38, so a little fast, but not unsustainable, about a 9 min / mile pace. I was also pleased how quickly the alert had sounded, thinking that the race would tick off pretty quickly in kilometers, even though there would be 10 klicks rather than 6 mile alerts. The pack of runners was still dense enough after 1 kilometer that we couldn't all fit into our allotted lane on Peachtree Industrial, but then we hit the first uphill section to the Clairmont Road intersection and I found a gap. Oh right, I'm not racing today, so I pulled back a bit on my speed once I was in the clear.
Up ahead I saw Sheelagh, and very gradually pulled up even with her. I didn't say anything, not sure that I wanted to catch her attention, as she could definitely quickly pull ahead if she chose to do so. We ran together for awhile, then I would pull a bit ahead, she would catch up and move ahead, then I would catch up. Although we weren't really racing each other, we seemed to have a similar pace in mind, although I slowed down for a water station about 11 minutes into the race, just past the 2 kilometer alert, walking for 15 - 20 seconds so that I didn't choke on the water. Plus it felt good to take a short walk break. Once I got back up to speed, I began to focus on the Mann family who were running alongside Bryan Greenberg, about 100 feet in front of me. Bryan always wears a distinctive Maryland Terrapins kit on race day. I was wondering if all those clothes felt warm, while I was enjoying a light mist that kept me relatively cool. Very gradually I began to close a gap with Bryan, while the Manns were still about 100 feet ahead. I caught up to Bryan just as he called out something to encourage the runners at the mile 2 marker. I said hello to Bryan, thought that I might try to run with him for a bit, since I was trying to keep my pace relatively easy. But sadly I ended up moving ahead of him.
I was having fun passing people who had started well ahead of me, but wondering if I was going a little too fast. However, around 4 kilometers into the race, I was now about 50 feet behind the Mann family. Lisa Calas was the only other TRC member who was still close to the Manns, perhaps 20 feet behind them. I didn't really intend to catch up to Lisa that early in the race, but I guess some inner competitiveness caused me to close the gap, possibly while running downhill, where I had the mass momentum advantage. I tried to encourage Lisa to keep up, even said "Let's work together" but Lisa wasn't too sure at that point, having felt like she had started out too quickly. I looked back a few times, Lisa was 10 feet behind, I tried to wave her forward and even slowed down a tad. I thought that Lisa was catching up, then looked to my right and it was another woman wearing a reddish magenta singlet, not Lisa, who seemed to be further back. Meanwhile the Mann family was about 20 feet in front of me. I thought about trying to stay behind them, but shortly before reaching the mile 3 marker, the elevation increased just a tad and the next thing I knew, I was running alongside Liz and Luke.
They were running well, although from their conversation it was clear that they were looking for a porta-potty along the route. At one point we thought we saw a blue rectangular structure ahead, and Liz darted ahead while Josh jogged along with the stroller. I thought about Shalane Flanagan taking a 14-second bathroom break in the frigid 2018 Boston Marathon while her friend Des Linden slightly slowed her pace. And we know that worked out very well for Des! In fact with the red singlet and blond hair, from the back Liz Mann looks a lot like Shalane Flanagan. (I checked with Liz and she accepted that my comment was a compliment.) Unfortunately the blue structure was simply a clothing donation bin, so Liz returned to pushing the stroller. Perhaps Liz picked up the pace at that stage so that she could finish the race more quickly; I know the feeling.
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| Shalane Flanagan in the 2017 New York City Marathon |
We finished 5 km in about 28 minutes, not bad for having planned on a 60 minute 10K. I took another walk break for a water stop, this time it was red Gatorade, and after 20 seconds I was running again. I decided to try to stick with the Mann family for the rest of the race. Although it never really rained during the race, there were a couple of times that we ran through some fine mist, which actually felt quite refreshing. Liz didn't seem to have trouble on the uphill sections despite pushing the stroller. For my part, I maintained decent speed on the gentle uphills, and inevitably seemed to pass someone on each hill. Around 7.5 km, I took a 30 second walk break at the last water station, about 42 minutes in. And then somehow I had gotten ahead of the Manns. As I reached the 5 mile marker, shortly after the 8 km alert, I was beginning to tire. I knew that I only had 1.2 miles to go, which should take less than 12 minutes. But I think that the initial effort of trying to catch up to Liz Mann was finally catching up with me. Approaching the GA-400 highway overpass, I noticed that my heart rate was well over 170 beats per minute. Remembering that I wanted to save some energy for a 5K race in five days from now, I decided to take another walk break. Sheelagh O'Malley told me later that she passed me for good at that point. While I counted to 30, I don't know how many other people streamed past me, but I recognized quite a few that I had passed in the previous mile. As I began to feel a little better, I sensed Liz catching up with me to my left, and recovered enough to resume running, staying about 8 - 10 feet behind.
My watch signaled 9 kilometers, and I called out "One kilometer to go!" and then added "Like turning the corner at Peachtree", referring to the turn from Peachtree Street to 10th Street in the Peachtree Road Race, exactly 1 kilometer from the finish. Of course Liz knew exactly what I meant, and retorted "I don't remember running uphill at that point." Nonetheless Liz didn't seem to slow down. She and Josh pointed out the traffic light at the intersection where we would turn onto Piedmont Road, and sure enough they were right. I was able to make a tighter turn and found that I was even with them at the beginning of Piedmont, even though we were still running slightly uphill. At that point, I resolved that whatever happened, I wasn't going to get in front of Liz and Josh and Luke, as I didn't want to spoil their family finish line photo. Turns out that no one needed to worry about me getting in the way: Liz sped up and it was all that I could do to stay within 10 - 20 feet behind them.
Once we have crested and are running gently downhill, this last stretch is always my favorite part of this particular race. The energy of the runners is high knowing that the finish line is near, most years it takes less than 4 minutes for me. Speaking of high, I thought I smelled cannabis (second race in a row) and inhaled deeply a couple of times, not that it seemed to help. Perhaps it was a phantom odor. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, racing three blocks on Piedmont Road. We passed the mile 6 marker: 2 minutes to go. Liz sped up some more, as we made the tight right turn onto Lenox Road, while Kristi Swartz and Natalie Witt were cheering me by name at the corner; Kristi had run the 5K. Possibly I caught up a bit, as we passed the mile 3 sign for the 5K race: 1 minute to go. Liz was steering the stroller through a bit of traffic, Josh providing a guard on one side, I was bringing up the rear. At the final turn, Robin Mitchell was ringing a cowbell. Liz had to steer the stroller around an orange cone in the middle of the runners' lane, then aimed for the left side of the finish line, with Josh to her right. A couple of other runners dashed in front of me for the finish, but neither one got in front of Liz or Josh as they crossed together at 57:15 on the clock. I heard the announcer call out "Tucker Running Club in the House!" and then I crossed at 57:19 on the clock, 56:50 official chip time.
That was a little faster than I had intended, although at least my first few kilometers were relatively cautious. While my finish was seven minutes off of my personal best from five years ago, today's race was my best 10K time since late 2019, excluding a couple of virtual races in summer 2020.
After the race, I went to the local Flying Biscuit restaurant for the traditional post-race brunch, with Bonnie and Brian Minor, who had run the 5K. And a few minutes later, Sue Landa and her husband Scott walked in, so we were able to finish the conversation that I had rudely abandoned a couple of hours earlier!
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| Fortunately for me, Bonnie had a dry shirt in her car, as I was soaked with sweat from head to toe. |
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