July 4 - Peachtree Road Race

AM: Peachtree Road Race, 32:50, 79th place, 14 miles

Every year I run Peachtree, and every year it's a reminder of just how small I am in the competitive running world. Thanks partially to a loaded American field for the US 10k Championship bonuses to the top-15 Americans, I finished lower than I did in the Boston Marathon. Somehow this year I finagled my way into the elite tent and starting area, so I was able to stretch and warm up with American Olympians Brian Sell, Fam, Abdi Abdirahman, and a host of domestic and international studs.

Every single year, Peachtree is both large (55,000 registered runners) and fast. The winner today, Sammy Kitwara, ran 27:22 by himself. On this course, that's a pretty ridiculous time, and just a few seconds off of the course record.

While we normally get swamp-like humidity for this race, at the start the run was a mild 70 degrees with lower humidity than in past years. Coupled with the fact that I was already feeling fit going into this race, I took that as a good sign. My race plan was to go out conservatively. Because roughly 4k-9k in the race is an uphill climb, that meant running PR pace for the first three miles, most of which are downhill or flat. After that, I'd throw away the watch and race.

I hit the first three miles perfectly, with the third coming at the beginning of the uphill section: 5:06, 5:09, 5:13. The only other split I thought I heard was 26:15 at 5 miles, which makes sense because my last 2k is usually run near the pace I average for the entire course (today was no exception). Going up Cardiac Hill in the fourth mile, I passed a few runners, some of whom would pass me back in the later false flats, and some of whom fell for the trap of going out too hard in the first three miles because it feels "so easy." Once the course runs into its hills, Peachtree feels like a cross country race to me because every position is a battle and because I usually feel like vomiting in the last 10 minutes, battling the lactic acid flushing through my legs. But by the time the turn at 10th St came, I tried to stay cool and pull some people in. I was relieved to see that by the time I hit mile 6, I'd be comfortably under my goal time of 33:00.

So even though I finished 79th overall, my worst finish in any race since last year's awful Peachtree, I'm happy with the result. It was my best time on the course by almost a minute, and I managed to control my effort and suffering in the dreaded second half of the race. I ran a cooldown afterward with Melissa, Wilson, and Pacers' Andrew Dumm, and then a little more with fellow Westminster alumni Tyler and Knox.