Another Peachtree in the books

Well, on Friday, 55,000 runners and walkers (there seem to be more walkers now than runners) hit the Peachtree Rd pavement for the 39th running of the 10k. It always amazes me how they pull this race off, I am sure it is a logistics and security nightmare! Especially this year with the revised finish. But again, the Atlanta Track Club did a great job. There were few areas of congestion walking from the finish line to the Civic Center where runners met up with family and friends, but for the most part it seemed to go pretty smoothly. I will say the last mile or so on Juniper St. was brutal! I definitely prefer the almost downhill finish into Piedmont Park over the hilly finish on Juniper. That definitely made the race tougher! OK, I will say it, that new finish just sucked! I sure hope we get enough rain between now and next July to move the finish back to the park. But as usual, the crowds on the road were great, the volunteers were awesome and I am glad it is over. My only complaints are about the jumpers and the walkers who feel the need to go 5 and 6 wide and take up a great deal of the road. The people who jump in a mile or two or even three into the race, that is just cheating and disrespectful to the honest participants. Also, I know the walkers are a major part of the event, but please be considerate and move to the right. That is all I ask! The shirt this year was pretty good, it was one of the two finalists that I liked. The design is shown at the top of this post.

My official time was 50:13, that is the time from when the gun goes off until I crossed the finish line. But my net time was 49:05. That is the time my foot crossed over the start line and then again over the finish line. Since I was in time group 1, I got a time chip. That is what records the net time. Only the runners in time group 1 and better (seeded and sub seeded runners) got chips. So using my net time, I guess I beat my goal of finishing under 50 minutes. Here is my official place and time from the Atlanta Track Club site:

Place Name Age City State Official time Net time
1907 ALAN R. ROBERDS 37 ATLANTA GA 50:13 49:05

Meg and her dad had a good run as well. They finished the 6.2 mile course in just over 70 minutes. That is right about the same time as last year. That is not bad considering the year that Meg had and that she was only cleared to start running again about two months ago. I am very proud of her and she continues to amaze me with the things she has concurred in the last year.

Also, I want to send out my admiration to all of the troops who participated in the running of the Peachtree Road Race in different areas of the Middle East. About 950 runners participated in shadow runs held in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Congratulations to all of the runners (and walkers) who finished this historic race and I will see you all next year!