Complete Running Failure

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As I look back on the past week there is only one way to look at it from the perspective of running – a complete running failure.  As I type this I am getting ready Sunday night to run for the first time since Monday morning when I went out for an easy two miles to kick off the week.

This past week had obstacles I knew would be there as I wrote in my blog post last Sunday, however that post makes this confession that much more embarrassing.  You see, last week I wrote about how many obstacles I have had over the past months and how they had gotten the best of me.  I also mentioned the upcoming obstacle of long work hours and the challenge they would be, but was very positive on how they would not win over my determination and drive.

Running The Steep Hill After The Valley

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As runners we are always talking about the ups and downs of running.  We may talk about how hilly a course was, how bad “that hill” was, or how much the hill repeats we did last night took out of us.  Some of us talk about loving hills, while others talk about how much they hate them, but unless you never leave the track, the truth is we will all run them.

Hills are just one example of the ups and downs we go through as runners, and in fact are not the ones I am writing about today.  The other all too familiar ups and downs we experience as runners are the roller coaster rides our training, running ability, and overall fitness seem to take us on as our running career builds over the months and years.  If runners were completely honest about it, every one of them would tell you they experience varying degrees of these ups and downs for more reasons than we can even begin to touch on in a short article.

13.1 Atlanta Announces Course Changes

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The 13.1 Marathon Series stop in Atlanta for the first two years was centered around Oglethorpe University.  After some issues with the start in the inaugural running in 2009 some changes were made to the start of the race for the 2010 running which turned out to be more troublesome than the original start.  While I believe there are still some changes they could make to keep it at Oglethorpe, the challenges were big and the running community was starting to lose confidence that they would be able to pull it off.

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).