Day 1,646: The Peachtree 10K as a training run

With the wife's knee still iffy and a very warm start to the Peachtree 10K facing us, I settled into this year's race thinking what I usually think about this event: It's a reward for a year of running.

That's because with 60,000 people, the race can be a mad dash of runners and walkers, something that's usually not pleasant.

But as I described in last year's column on the Peachtree, being in the very first wave -- Group A -- has its privileges. First you start when the gun goes off, so you have the advantage of the coolest possible temperature to start.

And next, no one really walks at the start when you're in Group A, making it nice that you don't have to dodge people.

This year I basically wanted to have the wife dictate the pace of the run and I would keep up.

It turned out to be a really pleasant thing. It reminded me of our training runs and when the hard hills came I opted not to just charge up them when I met them.

By doing this, I was rewarded with lots of energy and no trepidation when the second set of hills came near Mile 5 and right down to the end of the race.

We were able to finish together, which was my goal. Our time was only three minutes from last year's and given that nearly everyone I know ran a few minutes slower than last year because of the heat, that was a great thing. The race would qualify us for Group C of next year's event but my Group A status should last for a few years and I'll definitely be back at the Charles Harris 10K in Tucker in February to try to requalify.

One nice touch of this year's event is that we were able to get into the Atlanta Track Club sponsors tent area after the race since we joined the ATC this year primarily to have a guaranteed Peachtree 10K entry instead of having to do the lottery.

Inside, Waffle House was giving out either a sausage or an egg and cheese biscuit. The ATC also gave out a Peachtree Road Race insulated lunch bag, which was nice, and the water they had was much colder than what was given out to finishers.

In the regular finishers area, the peaches were back and I enjoyed the Blue Bell ice cream sandwiches. Also back was my favorite -- a Diet Coke to cap off a nice running season.

Time: 7:30 a.m.
Temp: 79 degrees
Gear: Tech T, short (CS blue), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 27.