Peachtree Road Race 2011

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I normally do not admit to this, but this race report is way over due.  Work and life has been very busy and very stressful and this race report has suffered the consequences.  This Peachtree Road Race will always be a special one because I was able to line up and run it with both of my daughters, something that may or may not happen again.

As with every Fourth of July for the past 5 years my day started off much earlier than any sane person would allow.  I have been awake and out running earlier than this, but always with a reason that I was training for a marathon or something impressive like that, but the Peachtree Road Race gets me out of bed that early so I can make the trip to Lenox by 6:30 to prepare for a 7:30 race start.

Why I Run The Peachtree - Video Edition

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I will go into much more details soon, but I have to share this while it is still available on CBS Atlanta.  Watch till the end and you will see in my own words why I run the Peachtree Road Race each Fourth of July. They interviewed my daughters and I just 10 minutes before the start of the race from our Wave A corral, but I was sad to see my they didn’t make the cut in the spot they aired.  We saw them after the race as well and they continued the interview a little bit and Payton’s t-shirt did make the cut as you will see.

What The Peachtree Means To Me

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Tomorrow morning the Fourth of July will once again be celebrated by thousands as they make their way down Peachtree to the finish line at Piedmont Park in Atlanta.  The Peachtree Road Race is an Atlanta tradition which will be enjoyed by 60,000 runners and walkers this year, each with their own unique reasons for running the worlds largest 10k, and each coming away with their own unique stories and experiences.

I ran my first Peachtree Road Race in 2007, and have participated each year since making tomorrow my 5th year.  I did however finish quite a bit slower in the 2008 event due to a running accident resulting in a broken collar bone just a couple weeks before race day.  The run down Peachtree in 2009 was quite uneventful, while last year was quite exciting as I ran the Peachtree for the first time with my daughter Payton (at least the first 4 miles).

Father’s Day 4-Miler With All My Kids

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With today being Father’s Day what better way to celebrate the weekend than to run the Atlanta Track Club Father’s Day 4-Miler with my kids – all three of them!  The race was run Saturday morning at 7:30 starting just outside Turner Field in downtown Atlanta, and finishing between first base and the Atlanta Braves Home Plate along the dirt track.

Last year my daughter’s Ashlee and Payton ran it with me, but this year took it to the next step when my 9 year old son Brady joined us as well.  This was the first time Brady had run 4 miles so I anticipated there would be a few walk breaks to get the distance, especially considering the hills in the course.

A Horrible Time To Run

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Let me start by mentioning that if you are planning on telling me how you run in the early morning before the sun comes up during the summer, and that I really should do the same, thanks…. I know.  I will follow that up by saying, please feel free to still leave those comments and be as hard on me as you would like to because sometimes it takes me a while to learn or in this case re-learn from my mistakes.

Yesterday my three kids and I went out for a run as soon as we got home from church, before even getting anything to eat.  The original discussion was that we would run after lunch and a short break to let the food digest, but as I looked at the weather the temperatures were going to be climbing steady all afternoon and with the temperature already near 90 degrees I knew the sun was already planning some destructive behavior at the current temps.

Brady’s First Peachtree Jr. 3k

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This past Saturday Brady ran the Peachtree Jr. 3k put on by the Atlanta Track Club as part of the Peachtree Road Race that will run as always on the 4th of July.  He had a great time, and ran a great race.  It was cool enough, but very humid with a chance of thunderstorms.  Luckily the thunderstorms never came and the only ran we felt was right as we were getting to Piedmont Park shortly after 8 am.

Brady hasn’t been running lately.  In fact just last week when he ran a 5k run with me, it was the first time he had ran with me for around a year.  Since he had not been running I hadn’t even thought about entering him to run the Peachtree Jr. this year, but when a friend of mine contacted me on Friday saying that his son wasn’t going to be able to run I figured…. why not?  Their last name is also Wilson so I didn’t figure I would have any issues picking up the number, Brady would just have to be 10 instead of 9 and go by a different name this time :) Thanks Kevin and Noah!!!

My Son Brady's First 5k

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OK, I need to start by saying that this was not an official race, but rather just a run with dad. Given the fact that he had nothing pushing him but desire I think that makes it all that much more impressive.

Brady is my youngest and is 9 years old.  He has run with me plenty of times in the past, but it has been nearly a year since he ran with me last. At that time, about a year ago, he told me he didn't want to run anymore. I decided not to push him because he is active in other ways and if I pushed him he would get a negative attitude towards running and the chance of him coming back to it later would be hindered.

To Run Or To Smoke

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This week has been a fun week for me running even though I have not logged many miles.  I am still trying to recover from some muscle issues in my right thigh so I am still taking it easy and running a lot fewer miles.  The leg does feel like it is getting better, but I am still not completely out of the woods yet.

The thing that has made this week a fun running week has been the company I have had to run with.  My brother in law, Brian, brought his family from Indiana to spend spring break with us in Atlanta.  We have had the opportunity to run together four times, and I hope I was able to make a positive impact on him with running which will help him to continue and fall in love with running like I have.

Just Like The Secret Service

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I wouldn't have gotten up to run this morning since I ran yesterday and am still in a injury recovery plan, however I still got up and ran a mile with my daughters.

They both are running in a meet tonight and their coach wanted them to get up and run a mile before school just to shake things out a bit. Since they normally get up at 5:30 to get ready for school, this meant that they needed to get out the door shortly after 5:00 AM to get the run in and still have time to shower and get ready for school.

I won't let them go out alone on these non-lit roads at this time of the morning, but even with each other I am still very uncomfortable.  I woke them up at 5:00 and got ready myself.  I just put my shoes on and some warm clothes.  I didn't put a watch on or any of the other normal running gear since it was only going to be a mile.  As we walked out the door I did grab one piece of my running gear - the reflective vest with flashing lights.

Running Meetup With New Friends

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A few weeks ago I wouldn't have planned something like this because I would have never believed it would have worked out the way it did.  If you are part of the community at the 26.2 Quest Fanpage or if you follow me at either @262quest or @virtual4now you probably already know what I am talking about, but for the rest of you I  had the most awesome opportunity to run with some new friends..... from Australia!

You will recall about a week ago I posted about the Couple On The Run book, and the Authors Andrew and Sue O'Brien from Partnerunning.  Just a few weeks ago I didn't know them, but through the magic of social media last week I helped them with the virtual launch of their book, and this past Friday actually had the opportunity to run with them here in Atlanta.