Click here to see the qualifying times for each of the waves. I used last year's Peachtree as my qualifying time since a 5K is a lot different than a 10K, especially in the heat of July. Stephen used a 5K qualifying time since he hasn't participated in a 10K yet. In Wave W last year I had to dodge a lot of walkers towards the end of the race, from my wave and the waves before me. It will be nice to be further up in the pack this time around.
The Peachtree Road Race T-shirt is a big deal. 60k people will get this shirt and they've become collector's items. This year the 5 shirts that made it to voting were:
Source: Peachtree Road Race official website
I'm actually a fan of shirts 3, 4 and 5. Less than a month to find out who won! I hope it's #5.
This link is a map of the starting area where all the different waves line up before they start the run and it also lists the start time of each wave. This is the most helpful map for me because it determines what time we need to be at the start area and what time we'll be running. Beginning the race at 8:15am this year instead of 8:55am is going to be a huge difference. It will probably take me an hour to run the full 6.2 miles, so ending the race at 9:15 will be a lot cooler than 10:15 when I ended last year. It will also be nice to end the race while there are still runners behind me. I have no idea why I have this fear, but I have a huge fear of being the last one to cross the finish line. I know that this won't happen unless I'm injured, but every race I start I get a sick feeling that I'll be last. Weird.
Last year I ran the race alone and Stephen was at the finish line with my Dad waiting for me. It was so special to have both of them there to cheer me on as I made that last sprint to the end. Dad won't be here this year (his trip to Atlanta in August is more important than a race in July) but this year will be great because Stephen will be running, too. Yes, he's in Wave D and will start 30 minutes before I do and will run the race about 20 minutes faster than I will. That will put him at the finish way before I get there. But because he's awesome, he's going to run the race with me. In the Peachtree you can't run in a wave that starts before you're assigned wave, but you can run in a wave that starts after yours does. I can't run in Wave D, but he can wait to run in Wave K. He's going to run the race for fun so that we can run it together while I'll be running to better my time. Having him there to motivate me along the way will be a huge help.
Training for the race is perfect because I'm also running a lot to get in shape for the wedding and honeymoon. I trained a lot last year but didn't know what to expect come race day. Now that I know what was the most difficult for me on the course, the huge hill, I can focus on that more in my training.
We currently run 3 miles on our runs and I want to push that to 4 miles three or four times a week. (They recommend that the 6 weeks before a 10K you need to be running 20 miles each week - we're definitely not doing that.) Here is the route that I want to start running.
You can see at the bottom the elevation changes of that route. There are some pretty serious hills. The route above is 4.3 miles and we get to run past Grant Park and Turner Field. On the weekends (the three that we have left before the race) I want to run 5 miles. This is what that route looks like.
It's pretty close to the 4.3 mile route, but we pass the house to come back to it with a hill right at the end. The neat thing about this program is it also calculates (estimates) calories burned based on your weight and you can plot out your run before you go so you know you're getting the right milage. In my head the routes seem a lot longer than they are so it's nice to see them on paper. Running 4.3 miles will burn about 470 calories and 5 miles will burn about 535. I know that I burn about 330 for my 3 mile runs based on my weight and pace, so the estimates aren't that far off, in my opinion.
Only a few more weeks until the big race and we have a lot of work to do. Well, I do at least.
I reallly want to run, but didn't do a qualifying race and can't find any bibs for sale! Good luck in the race!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!! I've only done it once, but there were tons of people selling their numbers the day of the race at the start area. Even on the MARTA trains on the way down there. If you want to run really bad, that might be an option. If I hear of any for sale I'll let you know.
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