#WW #ajcprr I'm a Finisher

Recap of my run at the Peachtree Road Race #ajcprr

I ran the Peachtree Road Race for the second time last Friday.  I didn't train for it as well as I should have, so I couldn't decide if I really wanted to run.  In the long run, though, I challenged myself to finish with what is my normal walking pace (15min/mile).  I started in corral L (an improvement from last year's corral P), but even so I didn't actually start the race until after 8a. 

This flag was hanging just before the actual start line.

At the start, I took a photo of all the runners behind me.  That was a LOT of runners.  Supposedly Meb was behind me somewhere.  The goal was to watch him pass me by.  I can honestly say I never saw him.

This is all the runners that were ahead of me by the time I hit the last big stretch.  The course is always hard but oddly enough enjoyable.  I missed seeing the 1 mile & 4 mile markers.  Oddly, that actually helped.  Along the route, though, the spectators and volunteers make it fun.  I will admit that I love seeing the patients from the Shepherd Center out cheering us on.  It motivates me to run that much harder.

I didn't get any photos of me at the finish on my phone.  I'll have to wait until the official photos are available before I can see/share those.  After getting to the MARTA train station, though, I had to get out my Breeze card.  Sweat & paper transit cards don't necessarily agree.  Some of the sprinklers I ran through may not have helped either.  Fortunately, it still worked to get me home.

All the effort goes to the shirt and the bling.  For those that haven't run, the bling costs extra, the shirt comes with the run.  Now to figure out how to display it.

Unfortunately for me, the app I was using on my iPhone errored and didn't record my run time.  My unofficial time from the race is 1:27 (found it on the road race web site).  2 minutes longer than last year.  I didn't hurt as much after, though, so that was good.  My knee decided to swell and hurt once I got in the car and started just sitting for a while.  Fortunately, rest and tylenol seem to have helped that out.

Next run is the Decatur/DeKalb 4 miler that the Atlanta Track Club is hosting. 2 weeks to get my act together and actually work for it.

Wordless Wednesday - Playing in a photo booth #ajcprr #WW

These were taken at the Fitness Expo for the Peachtree Road Race. I think they speak for themselves.

My view of the Peachtree Road Race #ajcprr

I had the opportunity to run the Peachtree Road Race on the 4th of July. I did considerably better than I expected. What was funny, though, was that even though I was wearing this (and I had quite a few photographers stop me to get pictures):

Most of the runners noticed my feet first. I had on a pair of my vibrams to run in.

For anyone interested, my skirt came from SparkleSkirts and is wonderful to run in.  I had a couple of other runners end up saving the site for future reference.  The shirt came from Amazon.  I had on two Sleefs (one said Boston, the other was a flag) and compression sleeves on my calves. 


This is the view of the crowd from somewhere at the front of my wave.

Enroute.  This is a bit after the start line (I didn't have my phone out), but before the 1st mile marker.

I did better on my time than I'd hoped. I finished in 1:25.57. I was hoping to finish in 1:30 (a 15 minute mile average), so I'm happy with the results. At the end, though, the results of lots of rain and a huge number of runners ahead of me had turned the finish line and field at the end of the race into a mud pit. My shoes took the brunt of that.

Along the way I saw multiple servicemen in uniform running the race, one in full gear.  One stopped at each mile marker and did push ups (sorry, no photos).  I also enjoyed seeing some of the patients from the Shepherd Center out on the course cheering everyone on, definitely a good motivator. I have to admit I wasn't sure what to expect. I've run at Disney and had a blast because of the cast members and general public out there. I was happy to see a lot of the same support on the Peachtree from businesses and public.