Peachree Road Race 2012 Recap

The Peachtree Road Race is one of my favorite races to run. It is very well organized for the amount of people that run it(60,000ish) and the crowds are fun and supportive.

2:45 AM I get a drunk text from a friend. I laugh, respond back, and realize that I have to be up in 15 minutes. We didn't get a hotel this year, so 3AM was the time to wake up for me to get my AIS(ass in seat) at 4:30 AM at my parent's house. I got dressed and was out the door. I chose to wear Vibram Five Finger KSOs with some duct tape on my feet to prevent blistering. I have been training in the VFFs recently and I have found that I am able to endure more fast running in them than barefoot. I was also sporting blue shorts, a white tank-top, and a red Bubba Gump Shrimp hat.

The drive down was uneventful and pretty quiet. Everyone was tired and looking at their phones. While waiting for the MARTA we met up with Dave, Sue, Matthew, and Carolyn. They looked tired, but once we all got together the energy level increased.

Friends, Family, and a Monkey(I am squatting)

Standing around in the cool at the start of a race is the worst. I could be running right now! Luckily I had earned wave B and got to start at 7:45, which means that I could probably run a majority of the race in the cool.

Before the race started I was nervous. I tried to relax, shut my eyes, and take deep breaths. This helped a ton. I just had to block out everything around me and just put myself in myself. One of the questions on my mind was in regards to my time. If I run a sub 42 minute race I would be in the sub-seeded wave next year. This would be a huge accomplishment for me, since that is two 21 minute 5k's back to back. This meant that I had to keep a 6:45 pace for the whole 10k. I positioned myself mid-pack on the start, thinking that the other B runners were probably equal or faster than me.

As the race started I realized I was wrong. At least 75% of the people in front of me were trotting at a 10 min/mile or less. WTF YOU ARE IN B. RUN!

After a few seconds of weaving in and out I was able to settle into a 6:00 min/mile. Gosh I felt like I was running a 10 min/mile! My legs felt great and I was passing people left and right.

I found a nice guy named Cody with a pony-tail that let me run behind him. He was really strong and consistent. He kept a pretty solid 6:30 min/mile. This put me a little ahead of pace, but I accepted it. The course starts off mostly downhill. I figured I would take advantage of the first 3 miles of downhill so I can have some wiggle room later on on the uphill.

Mile 3.1 rolled around. I looked down at my watch and noticed that I had run it in less than 20 minutes! I had broken my fastest 5K time and was on track to be sub-seeded!

The next part of the race was not easy. We hit some hills, which weren't that bad, just time consuming. They just slowed me down a little bit since I was used to running down the hills and had to switch my body to running up them.

It was at this point that a person yelled, "Yeah! Go Bubba Gump!" I love the crowd support! Last year it was, "Go Barefoot!" This year it was Bubba Gump.

Hill – Flat – Hill – Flat repeat. Mile 5 came and I was still on track to be sub-seeded. My average pace was 6:44. Ah! Too close! Gotta pick it up! I just kept pushing until we made the final turn. At this point I was running somewhere in the 5 min/mile range and weaving in and out of the trotters(why are there trotters in the A/B waves!?!).

Crossing the finish line I caught my breath and stopped my watch. 42 min 7 seconds. But my pace! It was 6.33 min/miles!?! Then I looked at the distance – 6.33 miles. Well, maybe I paused my watch a little late and my time will be lower... It turns out my time was 42:02, 3 seconds away from sub-seeded. This taught me a lesson: no matter how high the quality of the race is supposed to be, never ever rely on the distance.

After the race I stood around at the park and waited for my friends to come in. I kept moving, since my calves were sore. Last year I got overheated and started to go into shock. This year I made better choices and didn't have any of those problems. My legs were a little sore(I was expecting worse) but for the most part I was great!

I am honestly not frustrated about the whole time/distance/wave thing. I am very happy that I ran such a good race and improved so much over last year. I ran my fastest 5K and my fastest 10K all in the same race! Most importantly, I felt like I didn't injure myself or do anything stupid. I made better choices, and those choices paid off.

Oh and I made it on TV!