Peachtree Road Race

Stuck in time group 8 again, this year Will and I better timed our arrival for the Peachtree Road Race. On our drive downtown we listened to the wheelchair race on the radio, arriving at our parking space near the finish line just as the winner was finishing the race. Perhaps next year we’ll watch the wheelchair finish before heading to the start.

As we rode MARTA to Lenox Square, you could see the helicopters hovering over the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center…the leaders of the footrace were nearing the 3 mile mark. By the time we had exited the train and walked to Time Group 8 at the corner of Peachtree and Weiuca, the winner had finished the race. We didn’t cross the start line for another 37 minutes, and it was so crowded that we walked much of the first mile.

We ran past the second mile marker and stopped to visit friends at Second-Ponce de Leon. Chatted with Reid and Edie Whitaker, the Irwins, Danny Starnes, Debra Light and her mother, David Hall, all the Head kids (Don & Angela, Debra, Steve, and Staci), the Wisenbakers, Wells Maddox and his mother, and many more. Later we saw Maggie Tadros and Denton Harris watching near their houses, and state representative Preston Smith from Rome, who I used to teach in high school Sunday School. After hanging out for well over ten minutes, we jumped back in the race.

The nine o’clock sun was beating down, and the late hour made it the hottest Peachtree I could remember. Will enjoyed the watersprays, and I made use of them as well. It was the first time since a rainy Peachtree that my shoes were soaked. We ambled on, Will sometimes a few steps behind, only to race ahead with a burst of energy. I had never seen so many walkers, and we had to weave around them.

We finished the race in little over an hour, not bad at all, considering the crowd and the heat. We picked up some Poweraides and shuffled to the car a few blocks away. After a stop at the Phipps Plaza Niketown for two nice Peachtree/Nike mini-backpacks, we headed home.

Will was so exhausted that he took a nap, but I managed to help Anna strip wallpaper in her room. She also did some painting.

In the evening we went up to Roswell High School for music and fireworks, meeting our small group and several other families we knew. The police managed the crowd well. Atlanta’s Banks & Shane provided the music, though Anna disliked all the ‘country’ songs. The breeze was nice, and we missed the thunderstorms that marred the fireworks at Centennial Park, Lenox, and the Braves game. It had only rained a little at our house.