What better way to spend a Saturday morning than taking over the roads of Atlanta with over 55,000 of your closest friends? I can’t think of many better things, which means I’ll probably be running the Peachtree Road Race for the next few years!

I found myself waking up at 5:30am, which was quite a shock for my body as I still feel like waking up at 8:30am is waking up early. After grabbing a quick bite and showering, I headed out the door to walk to MARTA. I happen to live 100 meters from where the race ends right along Piedmont Park, and people were already staking out their spots to watch the finish. The train was quite crowded once I made it there, but everyone seemed quite excited. It was quite a site to see getting off the train, with masses of people in the street streaming towards the start.

I had never done this race before, and it was amazing to see so many people out at the start of a race. A giant American flag was draped over the starting line, and the first time group started as I walked up. As this was my first 10K in over 8 years, I did not qualify for any group, and got randomly assigned to Time Group 4, which had a 7:59AM start. I found a short line for the bathroom, and then made my way to my starting herd. We eventually were shuttled up to the start line and I found myself in the middle of the pack (which in this case meant there were nearly 2,000 people in front of me). I had heard rumors about how in the Peachtree it was so crowded you couldn’t run your pace and it was just a mad house. These rumors were running through my mind as I waited to start.

Soon enough, the flag dropped and we were off. New to the race this year was the fact that every runner got a ChronoTrack timing tag, which meant that every runner would have accurate timing results. I crossed over the mat, and true to the rumors, it was quite a cluster of people for the first bit. Much to my surprise, after less than 800m I found ample open space, and it would be like that until the last 400m!

A bit surprised that I was going to be able to choose my pace, I quickly tried to settle on the pace I wanted to run. I just let my body choose what pace felt comfortable and checked my watch to find myself running with a 10:00 pace, with my heart rate staying under 170. I decided just to monitor my heart rate and drop the pace to keep it below 170 to ensure that I finished the race. For the next few miles I just kept moving my legs and enjoyed running. I got to see a lot of different businesses along Peachtree Street that I had never seen before. At mile 3, I had to veer off to the side and make a quick stop for the bathroom. Soon after this was a hill known as ‘Cardiac Hill’, which is right by Piedmont Hospital for anyone familiar with Atlanta. I did notice the steep hill (as did my heart rate, since it jumped to 185) but it didn’t seem to phase my legs much at all, which was great.

Once I hit mile 4, I found my time was under 40:00. I started to get excited, as there was a chance I might be able to sneak in under 1 hour for the race. I knew that mile 4 would be the deciding factor as the entire mile was a gradual uphill. If I could keep a decent pace for that mile, I was confidence I could make it under an hour. I kept grinding, and made it up the hill with time to spare. At this point I was back in the area around which I live so I was much more familiar with the landmarks and knew exactly how much time was left. The last (and only) turn of the course is from Peachtree St. onto 10th Avenue, and that this point there is ~0.6 miles left. As soon as I made the turn I picked up the pace – looking at the data later I saw I was running between 7:00 and 8:00 minute miles that last bit – nothing to write home about, but quicker than I am used to! I was so busy trying to get to the finish line, and weaving around people, I forgot to pose where all the photographers were. Oops! 10th Street seemed to drag on forever, but soon the finish line was in site. My legs were getting tired, however, I was able to keep up the pace. I soon saw the official finish clock, and was coherent enough to tell that I was going to have an official time under an hour! Crossing the line, my watch confirmed this fact as well. I ended up with a time of 58:46. For any data junkies, you can view the entire race here.

I’m very pleased with how my race turned out. My goal for the race was to run the entire course, and finish. I figured I would have future races to try and worry about the time. In the back of my mind, I thought if everything went perfectly there was a tiny chance I could finish in under an hour. I happily made that expectation, even with about a minute stop halfway through for a bathroom break! The weather was absolutely perfect for the race at about 70 degrees. I hope to be back for next year, and with a few more 10K races under my belt, hopefully one of which will get me into one of the first couple of time groups!