The day before my 13th Peachtree Road Race we were greeted with news that the Atlanta Track Club increased the race's alert level to red because of high heat and humidity.
On race morning, it was 72 degrees out. It just seemed like another day for the streak. Still, I decided to wear the lightest singlet I owned, a simple Mizuno top.
Once again, thankfully, my father-in-law drove us race morning up Piedmont Avenue as far as he could go. We got out and the walk was about a mile, making our way up to Peachtree Street and around to the Lenox Square parking lot. I had a lot of trouble getting a warm-up last year because of the crowds and I noticed people doing laps in the parking lot. Since we'd already walked a good distance, I decided to not do a warm-up.
My thought this year was to not try to run at the pace I did two weeks ago at the Possum Trot but one that was a little easier given the weather conditions. So when the race began, I had my sights set on a 7:20/mile pace.
I could feel immediately in my shins that the muscles were not getting loose and I really lamented not doing a warmup. In the first mile you frequently dodge people, even in Group A, and I ran it in 7:27. I continued on and down the course. Mile 2 was 7:20, what I'd expected to run.
I should have known that my running was going to be off today, as I ran Mile 3, which includes the start of the slight hill before Cardiac Hill, in 7:26. In previous years I've run that mile a little faster than miles 1 and 2 because of the steep decline to the base of Peachtree Battle and it's usually the place where people speed up, only to hit the hills.
Going up the hill I focused on a steady pace, my plan to conserve as much energy as I could here to be able to negotiate the double hill that leads up to Mile 5 later on in the race. As I climbed Cardiac Hill, I clapped as we passed the Shepherd Center, as it's always inspiring to see people here in wheelchairs cheering everyone on. My shins finally seemed to unlock but I wasn't really running too fast anymore.
When Mile 4 came I ran it in 7:56, which was not the worst thing in the world but not the best. I pulled out my race straw in the middle of this mile and got a cup of water. (I carried a GU gel that I didn't eat also thinking that I could have used a boost near the end of the Possum Trot).
My plan for Mile 5 felt ok, I just couldn't run very fast. I kept on going and crossed that mile in 8:06. Soon I could see 15th Street and it seemed here we were on top of the very last hill on the course (it actually dips a bit and there is a slight rise to 14th Street).
Here I hoped to run steady for the last mile. I didn't feel like I did last year when it was so warm out that I just wanted to quit the race. I made the turn onto 10th Street and started calculating how much race was left. I really just wanted to truck it in until I saw the Mile 6 sign (I don't know if there actually is one at the end of the course. My Mile 6 was 7:27).
Finally the downhill came and I put myself right behind a taller guy and we trucked it in to the end (my watch says I ran the last .32 miles of the race at a 6:31/mile pace). I finished in 47:45, my third fastest Peachtree I've run but kind of a shock when you've run 45:26 a few weeks earlier.
I hadn't trained for this race, especially this year when it fell right between the half marathon I ran at the end of May and a new training block that will start soon for some fall races. But I was still a little disappointed, as I thought I was properly acclimated to the heat and maybe I still had a little bit of the pace I ran the Possum Trot in.
I've also had trouble with multi-block hills since the start of the year in many races. I'm not sure what I will immediately do to remedy this but this somehow has lit a fire under me. It's only taken me 13 races, but I plan to be ready for the 14th.
Maybe. Depending on what else I'll be running for next year.
Time: 7:30 a.m.
Temp: 72 degrees
Gear: Singlet (Mizuno, blue), shorts (Brooks), cep compression socks, Newton Gravity V.
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