Peachtree Recap

Tuesday I worked until around 5:45. Stopped by the library on the way home. At Goodwill I passed on a Star Trek-themed ugly Christmas sweater. Anna arrived home from Athens just after we had eaten Ceil's homemade pizza. Watched the game and went to bed later than I should have, around 10:45.

Woke up around 4:40 am on Wednesday. Got ready but Anna was dragging, and we didn't leave until after 5:30 am. Picked up MC's brother Thomas and drove down to Morningside. Parked in the back of MC's uncle's house on Elmwood. Will picked us up and drove us up to the PetSmart near the Piedmont / Peachtree intersection. Watched the start of the race then walked up Piedmont to the Buckhead Loop, behind Phipps Plaza to Weiuca Road and finally Peachtree. Anna and Thomas had used the bathroom at the Kroger so we were short on time. I missed starting with Group L but went off with Group M.

Did y'all see the fighter jet fly over Peachtree just before 7 am? It flies low and fast, and is always an amazing sight. While we were watching the race start I noticed several people with numbers standing on the side of the road, waiting to jump into the race. They'd rather not deal with the congestion of the start. They wouldn't be able to post an official time, but they didn't care. There were only 54672 official runners according to the AJC results page, but I doubt there were more than a few hundred jumping in after the start, at the most.

Super crowded at the start. I hadn't trained much and had the hurting heel. As late as Tuesday I had considered not participating. I took along a camera to document the day. After a quarter mile the pack thinned out a little, and I felt good running. Usually I'll run hard for thirty seconds, then walk a little. My mind was still on walking most of the way, and that made me not have a better time. I've also been reading a book that talks about checking your heart rate during exercise. My rate was reasonably high, though I really didn't have anything to compare it to. In the end it was my heart rate concerns that kept me from pressing harder.

At Peachtree Methodist I saw the two chairs sitting empty in memory of the two elderly sisters who had always dressed in red, white, and blue to cheer on the runners. I stopped to take a picture, then saw Catherine Sanders' mother (Grace?) sitting nearby. I lingered to talk to her for a bit. Not sure how many people I recognized at SPdL besides you guys. Said hello to Alex and Pam Mullen.

Heading up the hill, coming up on Benihana, I looked left and saw Will and Thomas passing me. I ran over and sprinted past them, as if I had been running that fast the whole way. Chatted with them as they ran, then let them go on off ahead of me. The whole way I snapped photos of where you could see the crowd of runners ahead. Of the Darlington Apartments population sign, construction at Piedmont Hospital, and other things that grabbed my attention. Near White Columns I stopped at the water station to talk to former coworker Ellsworth. In all I figure the stops and picture taken might've slowed me down by as much as 4-1/2 minutes.

After finishing I found Anna near our prearranged meeting spot. Took us awhile to find Will and Thomas. Walked over to 10th Street to get drinks. Runners and walkers were still entering into the park, a sea of people that keeps flowing for over three hours. Our half mile walk back to the car was much shorter. Taking two cars was a much better idea than walking the extra mile before and after the race to fight the MARTA crowds, though by the end of the day I had covered over ten miles and 20,000 steps.

Went home and crashed. Ceil was going to get lunch from Chicken Salad Chick (Anna's favorite), but it was closed. Instead they went to Whole Foods and Target. I had the Braves game on but kept dozing off. Lunch instead was hot dogs, fries, cole slaw, baked beans, and watermelon. I edited over one hundred pictures down to under forty, and downloaded them onto my laptop. Also deleted several hundred old pictures from the old phone. We watched several episodes of JAG. Supped was burgers, pasta, and salad. Stayed up until 11:30 messing with those pictures.

Barney doesn't like staying outside long when people are shooting off fireworks.

Steve Edwards (former SPdL associate pastor Wayne Edwards' 54 year old son) was one of the few people who run the second half of the Peachtree faster than the first half. Andrea Irwin Nickell ran the second half of the race in exactly the same time as she's run the first half. Other SPdL runners included Kelly Curran Johnson, Jimmy Light, Chad Eaton, Mandy Mullen, and Danny Downing. Need to check to see if any other Irwin's ran, and Craig McKenzie. 

Both the Tuesday and Wednesday Braves Yankees games seemed to go on forever, probably because the Braves were behind most of the time. Lots of empty seats at Yankee Stadium. I'm going to start recording Acuna's fielding mistakes. Too many walks by Braves pitchers.