2012 Peachtree Road Race - Results

We did it!  We got up at 5:30am on July 4th, rode MARTA into Buckhead and ran 6.2 miles back to Midtown on Peachtree Road with 60k other people.  We were home before noon.  What a great way to start the holiday.  It was my 2nd year running the race and I wish I had started running when I first got to Atlanta.

We finished the race!  

Stephen decided to run in his designated wave so that he could get a good judge of his time, he ran in wave D.  He started the race at 7:45 and ran it in 58:00 flat.  Nice work!!  I wanted him to know how fast he could go without worrying that I was holding him back.  I'm glad he ran his race.  He was almost done by the time I started in wave K at 8:14.  I finished the race in 1:09, 7 minutes faster than last year.  I wanted to finish by 1:06, but I was at the back of my wave at the starting line and I got off to a slower start than I wanted.  Lesson learned for next year.  If I keep cutting that much time off my run, I hope that by next year's race I can run it in under an hour.  I'd love to get there.  My time put me at 25,020th place overall, 1,447 in my age/sex division.  The fastest woman ran the race in 32:22 - basically my 5k pace.

You can click here to see your results if you ran the race or to check times of your friends.

The few days leading up to the race were above 100 degrees each day which had a lot of people worried about the conditions during the race.  They even instituted a "flag system" which let you know the conditions while running.  I think that is taking things too far.  Do you really need a flag to tell you if it's hot?  I thought the weather was fine.  Of course I was sweating my butt off by mile two, but it's a race, it's July in Atlanta and you're running along an asphalt road.  I was expecting to be sweaty.  You can see in the picture below that it was pretty overcast at the start, too.

Just before the start of the race you pass under a giant American Flag, Stephen got a great shot of it as he passed under.

Last year I had to start in wave W because I didn't have a qualifying time and I had to dodge a lot of slow runners and walkers.  This year, with my time from last year I was up in wave K with runners who were more my pace.  However, because I have been training so hard and working on so many hills I was one of the faster runners coming out of the gate.  With my finish time this year, I should move up a wave next year.  As long as I keep moving up, I'm happy!

To finish out our July 4th holiday we went to the Braves game and watched fireworks after the game.  The Braves didn't end the game with a W, but the stadium was packed and we got to honor quite a few military personnel, past and present.  We even had a T-6 Texan flyover before the game instead of the expected jets.  So awesome.  Those planes were training aircraft in WWII and were used in the Korean War and Vietnam War.

Training for the Peachtree Road Race - Again

It's almost time for the Peachtree Road Race again!  I've mentioned that Stephen and I are both running this year and we're really excited.  Earlier this week Start Waves were released and I moved up from my W wave last year!  I'll be starting in Wave K while Stephen could start in Wave D.  Your waves are determined by other race, or last year's Peachtree, finish times.  Last year I ran the race in 1:16 and I am determined to do better than that this year.

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.

Happy 235th Birthday, America!

This weekend was one that I’ll remember for a very long time and I hope I can recreate the memories I made each 4^th of July weekend.  That’s not to say that the past two 4^th of July weekends haven’t been amazing – 2 years ago I was in Gainesville to watch one of my best friends walk down the aisle and say I Do and last year I was in NYC with a great group of friends and my sister.  Both weekends gave me memories for a lifetime.

This year I stayed in Atlanta and my Dad came to visit.  The trip was supposed to be for my dad and Patti, but there was a situation back in Orlando and Patti had to stay home.  I was really looking forward to the weekend with both of them; I hope Patti can make it back up with my dad soon.  I had the weekend planned out with activities that both of them would enjoy and had to revise a few things to make them good for just my dad.  I still have the other outings saved in the back of my mind, though, no worries. 

Friday as soon as my dad got into town we headed to Turner Field for another big tailgate and then Braves game, complete with a win and fireworks!  It was great for my dad to meet a bunch of my friends and Stephen. 

Saturday we went for a walk to Piedmont Park so my dad could get the lay of the land for the race and then we met up with Stephen and his mom to head over to Sweetwater Brewing Co for their brewery tour and happy hour.  That evening was dinner at Rathbun Steak. 

Sunday, Dad and I headed off to Mass in the morning then to brunch.  In the afternoon we took my new gun to the range so I could try it out and make sure I liked it.  I’ve never been scared of guns.  My entire life my dad has had a gun around and he taught me to respect them.  For a while now I’ve wanted to have a gun in the house.  I’m a single woman living in a very large city with a diverse group of people all around me.  I haven’t felt scared in my apartment, but if I do, I want to know I have a gun with me. 

The gun is GREAT!  I am absolutely comfortable loading it and shooting it and I could actually control the gun and aim well with it.  Much different than the automatics I’ve shot before.  I’ll go to the range more often with Stephen so I get even better at shooting, but now I know that if someone comes into my house with bad intentions, I’ll have the upper hand. 

The invited and sponsored runners at the start of the race

That's what the start of 60k runners looks like.  All the people watching are also runners headed to line up at the start.

Monday morning was the Peachtree Road Race, the 10k that I’ve been training for the past few months.  I got up early, made my way to Buckhead and was there in time to watch the Invited and Sponsored runners at the start of the race.  They were so fast!  The entire experience was fantastic.  There were 60k runners participating this year.  Each runner is placed in a Wave based on his or her speed.  I was in wave W because I’ve never run a race before so there is no way to judge me against others.  That means I was in the back of the 60k people, there were only 2 waves behind me.  Every group of runners is lined up around the Lenox mall and it’s all pretty organized at how everyone makes it to the starting line.

Wave W as we turned onto Peachtree headed to the start... the giant American Flag in the distance

The run wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  I’d run 5 miles before with Stephen so I knew what to expect.  There was no way I was going to walk any part of the last mile of the race, no matter how tired I was.  The hills were rough, but what I expected based on my training and what I’d heard from other people.  The last mile I thought was all downhill.  I was wrong.  There were little, one block long hills.  They killed me.  But I didn’t stop. 

Almost to the end - running down 10th

I finished the race in 1:16:40.  I ranked 30,749^th overall and 12,259^th for women.  Basically, I’m right smack in the middle.  But now I know I can do it.  I know I can finish.  Now I’m searching for a 5k to run to keep bringing my times down so next year if I run the Peachtree again (and I hope I do) I won’t be back in wave W and starting as the sun starts to heat everyone up!  The best part of the race – running as hard as I could down 10^th Street and seeing my dad and Stephen cheering me on.  My dad hasn’t missed a major sporting event in my entire life.  It was very special to have him there.  Next year, I hope Stephen will be running with me.

The rest of the day was spend with Stephen as my dad had to head home.  We went to Cypress St Pint and Plate for Brunch and a few drinks.  Then we headed back to my place with a few friends to hang out and grill.  The weather didn’t participate and we didn’t get to grill, but we still got our hotdogs!  Fireworks were on the TV this year.  I’m not complaining – I’m exhausted.