Worlds Largest 10K

When the gun goes off, keep your strides short and your hands in front of you. There is a great opportunity to be tripped and trampled. We like moving quickly to the right side of the road. We split the medium in front of the InterContinental. Once we cross Piedmont, we are able to relax and get into the rhythm of our pace. The fist mile is just past PRUMC. The crowd will be loud in the first mile. We may or may not hear our time for the first mile. No matter what the time is, RELAX. We want to run our own race. We want to stay within ourselves, comfortable in the rhythm of our own stride. Move to the Left after ONE and seek shade.


The second mile comes at Church Turn. We like to take a deep breath, relax our shoulders, drop our chin just a bit and lean forward. The third mile is down hill. We want to let gravity do the work for us. Somewhere around here we want to start grabbing water. We do the three finger pick up and dump it all over our heads. We may drink a little. Again, relax our shoulders and gaze at the wonder of the spectacle.

The Third mile marker is just past E Rivers. Take water again. Stay left in the shade. We lean in and shorten our strides. We pay a little more attention to our arm swing. We pump our arms a little harder to provide more power to get up the hill. When we crest the hill we make a conscious effort to quicken our pace. Most of us will realize that we are passing a ton of people. This is because we started slower and we are better hill climbers.

The 4 mile marker comes just before the bridge over I85. We are entering the Bermuda Triangle of the Peachtree Road Race. That hill is tiny but really hurts. Get more water, take inventory of your body. Our brains are going to be saying STOP. We need to occupy our brains with a little game. Take a personal inventory. How do my legs feel? How is my breathing? How do my arms feel? Am I going to die? What we find out taking our inventory is that we are okay and we are not going to die. Get more water.

Those of us who appeal to a higher power may want to take an opportunity to acknowledge His Grace and ask for the power to over come the difficulty of the obstacle in front of us.

The hill to the 5 mile mark is tough but having the knowledge that it leads to the final mile makes it easier to gut out. When we pass the 5 mile mark at the High Museum, there is a mile to go. We train our asses off. This is our opportunity to take advantage of our fitness. Everyone will be falling to pieces. We will again take special attention to our running form and start passing people. Every person we pass will give us energy to pass another person. We keep getting stronger and passing more folks as we chew up asphalt. We take a left turn. This is the home stretch. Wait for it. Keep passing but don't go crazy. Smile for your picture. When you can see the finish line, drop your chin and start pumping your arms like a crazy legged convict in a jail break.