Alarm went off at 4:30. Saw where Will had gotten home from work at 2:40 am. Construction on MLK west of his house, so I had to take 75 to Northside Drive to get to his house. Arrived at 5:53. Drove to the West End MARTA station, where we saw a beautiful sunrise behind downtown Atlanta.
Rode the train up to the Buckhead station. Will saw a couple that he knew. Saw a lady preparing to run the Peachtree in Air Jordan 9’s, a high top model. On the train I realized I hadn’t left my glasses in the car, so I ran the race with them on. Didn’t have much problems with them. Did you hear the jets fly over Buckhead? We were on the MARTA train and missed the flyover. Andrea Irwin and fam probably saw it.
Disembarked around 7:05. Since Will had to return to work at 4 pm, I wanted the race to go as quickly as possible. So instead of running with group P at 8 am, I “took off” down Peachtree from MARTA.
Saw Batman running down Peachtree. Also a Chickfila cow. Made it to SPdL shortly after 7:30. A nice chat with Reid, and later Edie. Said hello to Barbara Brown and Nancy Kelly. Drew had caught a bug in Texas, and stayed home. Had a chat with Deborah Light, who was not running in the race this year – a rarity.
Took off and ran down the hill past Peachtree Battle. The third mile would be my fastest. Saw several ladies stopped at the Mile 3 sign, posing for pictures. Their friend had passed the sign, and was standing there looking back at them, waiting with a “good grief” look on her face. Then the long trudge up the hill past the Shepherd Spinal Center and Piedmont Hospital. Tried to catch the eye of several of the Spinal Center patients. Made eye contact with one guy and smiled, and pointed to him. He smiled and pointed right back.
It’s interesting to run the Peachtree every year to get a ground floor view of what has changed in the past 12 months. I hadn’t realized a new Chickfila had opened on the northwest corner of Peachtree and Piedmont. More and more skyscrapers all down the route, giving more cool shade to the road. So many new skyscrapers between 10th and 14th Street. Seemed like a ten degree difference between the sunlight and shade.
I had been looking around for Will, to see him pass me. He had weaved through Group G to start at the back of his Group F. He had made it to Bellwood Coffee before me. Bellwood is situated between El Azteca and Mellow Mushroom, in the stretch between Collier and Pershing Point. I gave big hugs to Millie and Shivonne. Mill Mill was wearing her new Peachtree Junior t-shirt. Will gave her the two Shepherd Spinal Center wristbands he’d been given, and she loved them. When I dropped one of my wristbands, Millie picked it up and put it on as well.
Willis Norman and Charles Norman were there. Charles’ wife Annie (below, in green) had copped a high number, and had dashed past before even Ceil had arrived. Becky Norman did not arrive until later. David Norman’s wife Beth was running in the back of the pack.
Will and I hopped back into the race around 8:11 am. Will said he’d run with me, regardless of my pace. I usually tried to run fast for 30-45 seconds then walk for a minute, but there always seemed to be something that slowed us down. While we had stopped the flow of runners had slowed, and had gotten more crowded, making it tougher to weave through the crowd. Near White Columns I looked for a former coworker manning a water station, but he was no where to be found.
We were walking past the High Museum my coworker Steve Garrett passed by and said hello. Amazing we were able to find each other during the race. He’s run the Peachtree over 25 times and we’ve never seen each other.
At the turn onto 10th Street Will spotted our friend Brent Smith – father of Will’s sister in law Holly (as well as former Oglethorpe basketball star Connor). We waved, never seeing his wife Carol down on street level, taking our picture. Headed down the hill to the bridge of photographers. The sun was right behind the cameras, so I didn’t know if my glasses had a bright reflection or not.
Picked up our pace as we headed to the finish. Crossed the finish line around 8:40 am. Deducting the time we had stopped at Bellwood, my time was right at 90 minutes. Not bad, considering I had taken it easy and stopped for several minutes at SPdL. Will’s time was 80 minutes. Then the post race adventure began.
They re-engineered the finish area of the race. After crossing the finish line I stopped my watch, but then started it back again to record our walk back to MARTA. In the past the finishers would take a left into the park, get water and a t-shirt, then take a right back into the field, where there was the awards stage, photo ops, and peaches and other fruit. Then straight on to 10th Street across from Grady Stadium, where the road was lined with ice cold tubs of water, Powerade, and Cokes. Runners would grab a drink then take a right on Monroe, then the next right at Sig Samuels Cleaners on 8th Street for the long uphill march to the 10th Street MARTA Station.
But this year the finishers first grabbed a water, then continued down 10th Street before taking the right into the park for t-shirts. It was evident the Powerades were no longer on 10th Street, along the previous route finishers took back to MARTA. Will and I searched for the drinks. First there was a super long line for the one photo op place. Way over to our left was Chickfila handing out peaches. Finally we climbed the hill back into the park – an area even further away to the route to MARTA. The Powerades and Cokes were at the top of that hill, in a crowded area that made it hard to get a drink. It was almost as if the didn’t want finishers to rehydrate after the race (or to consume so many drinks). Will grabbed two bottles and was reprimanded by the volunteer: “one per person!” he exclaimed.
Not sure how coworker Steve made out getting drinks and back to MARTA. Some, but not many, took the route back that we chose – from the drinks we went west toward Lake Clara Meer, crossing over the bridge past the swimming pool, then up through the middle of the large flat “Active Oval” to the 14th Street park entrance. Along the way I described to Will how the race used to finish inside the park.
We walked up 14th to Colony Square and Peachtree – where the endless flow of runners continued. We ran across Peachtree, avoiding runners as we went. As we did, my legs cramped. Then down the hill on 14th and right on West Peachtree to the Arts Center MARTA station – a walk of 1-1/2 miles from the finish line. We took the southbound train back to West End. Got off the train at 9:39 – about the time I would’ve been finishing had I started in Group P.
As always, the race had its differences from previous years. Another adventure in the books.
More Peachtree info tomorrow!
