I’ve been sticking mostly to trail races these days, but I couldn’t pass up on the Peachtree Road Race.  It is one of the largest 10k races in the world with 55,000 registered runners and an Atlanta tradition since 1970.  I missed out on getting a coveted race number last year, but was able to snag one this year under the new online registration scheme.

A few fellow GUTS members planned to meet at the finish and run to the start before the race.  Since Parker Rose woke me at 3:30 AM anyway, I thought I would join them.  I drove down early and got a nice space near the finish line, met up with the others and away we went.  We got to see the wheelchair division fly by us as we ran.  Supercool.  Otherwise, we just took a nice easy run to the start.  After a few minutes in the start corral for my time group, I spotted yet more GUTS members and chatted it up waiting for the start.

I ran pretty easy considering that I had already run the race distance once today, but ended up with a better time than it felt like I was doing.  I ran it in 50:42.  Had I paid attention to the fact that I was that close to 50:00, I would have pushed it.  That would have made registering easier in future years.

After the race, I stopped by my car, changed clothes, grabbed my cooler, and headed to the park to meet up with all the GUTS folks.  We rehydrated the only way we know how, with beer.  Kind of an odd thing to have already run 12+ miles and had a few beers by 10:00 AM.  I guess that is what holidays are for!

Since it is Independence Day, a quote, though probably apocryphal, from one of the founding fathers seems appropriate, especially as it justifies hydrating with the use of adult beverages:

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” - Ben Franklin