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.

A Weekend of Roads and Trails

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A weekend like this past one doesn't come around very often.  The sun was shining all weekend long, unlike the rain that is coming down as I write this.  Sure it was Super Bowl Sunday, but since I am not a hugh sports fan, that wasn't the highlight of my weekend.  However, just so we are on the same page, hanging out with friends while the Super Bowl was on, was one of the highlights of my weekend.

Saturday was a little cool and I had the opportunity to head out for a Family Running time with my daughter Payton. We set out to run just 3 miles together and she ended up having to call it quits after a couple miles because her foot was hurting. She did however help me set a good pace so I continued at the same pace speeding it up only a little. It turned out to be a great 6 mile tempo run, and an unplanned one at that. I ran in my Saucony Grid Raiders which I don't run in much because they have somewhat of a ridged feel to them, but they felt good for this run. :)

Ten Mile Trail Run at Tribble Mill Park

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I usually like to get my long runs in around the house.  I know there are many other better places to run, and some very nice trails within just a short drive, but when it comes to a long run I like to run from home because I know it is already going to take me 90 minutes or longer to complete the run, and I don't want to add the drive time on top of that.

Since I really don't like to travel for my long runs, I wasn't too excited when my daughter Payton told me right before church on Sunday that she and her friend were going to go to Tribble Mill Park in Grayson to do their long run.  Whenever she tells me this, I know that this means I am going to make a trip to the park.  Since I had a long run scheduled that day already, I knew it would be crazy for me to not take advantage of being at the park to get the long run in.  When I asked her, she told me that they were planning on running 10 miles, so this put pretty much anything over 10 miles out of the question for me.  I don't mind asking them to wait five or ten minutes, but anything more than that I won't make them wait alone for me.

Life Isn't Always About Running

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These past few days have been interesting to say the least.  Some may be going stir crazy, but I am not sure that is how I would describe what has been going on in our house these past few days.

If you are from the Southeast what I am about to say is not news to you, and I am willing to guess most of the rest of the United States have heard and maybe even chuckled at our expense (unless you have been stuck in a airport somewhere because ATL has been closed as an airport, but open as an extended stay lodge)

Snow Running With The Kids!

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We got hit with nearly seven inches of snow last night followed by freezing rain this morning and into this afternoon.  This NEVER happens to this extent here in Atlanta so everything is closed and the roads are ice and snow everywhere. I can't think of anything more fun to do than to take advantage of it and go for a run...... with my daughters!

It rained (freezing rain) much of our run, but wasn't too bad because it was mostly frozen so it didn't get us wet.  The temperature was 27 with a feels like of 16 degrees.  The top part of the snow was crunchy from the freezing rain for the past few hours.  It was still easier to run in the crunchy topped snow than it was to run on the ice where the cars had been since it was really slippery (duh!) packed down ice. The exaggerative steps to get through the snow made it a more exhausting run than even if we had been going a minute or more per mile faster.

A PR Like No Other

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Last night was the big ending to the Fleet Feet Tuesday Night Group Runs. It was an end of the year race, with official race numbers, official course with police at every corner keeping the roads clear, and official timing. It was obviously low key but was also very well done with a great attendance. Age group winners got some really cool prizes, many of which were a new pair of shoes...... no I didn't win my age group.

Coach Wood Invitational

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The Cross Country season is drawing to a close and it just keeps getting better.  This is how it is supposed to be isn't it?  The last official regular season meet for my daughters was this past Saturday when they ran the Coach Wood Invitational at Gainesville College. The day was an awesome day for running.  It was a little cooler in the morning for us spectators, but by the time the running started the weather was great.

The course is a two loop course and is laid out pretty good, especially for the spectators.  We are able to watch the runners at multiple locations, especially if we want to do some running ourselves.  The starting was laid out a bit wrong this year and it ended up putting a protruding manhole directly in the path of some of the runners at the start.  Of course one of the lucky teams was Brookwood.

Another Two PR's - But Not For Me

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I can't believe the Cross Country season is almost over again.  I look so forward to this time of year and then it seems that it is all over as soon as it starts.  Now, sure, I would like to get my Saturday's back to do really important things like sit around, eat, and sit around some more...... but there isn't many other things I look forward to like I do Cross Country meets.  This is quite obvious when you find me driving 6 hours ONE WAY to watch my daughter's run.

This past Saturday my daughter's both ran in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, NC just outside of Raleigh.  This was a very competitive meet, so much so that the winner of the boys and girls races both set new course records at 15:00 flat for the boys, and Aisling Cuffe won the girls race setting a new course record of 16:40 and was almost a full minute in front of #2.

The first two cross country meets

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I promised an update on my two daughter's first cross country meet, and now the second one has occurred already.  I guess it is past time for me to get writing and put it into words before the memory starts fading.

Two weeks ago was the first official meet of the season, however it was not a typical 5k cross country distance. The Stage Races at River Green in Duluth are a series of 5 - 2 mile races, typically getting faster each stage till the 5th stage.  They are all scored together so it is best for the coach to put their fastest runner in each stage, that is not too fast to blow away the stage so they would be better used in the faster stage.  The boys and girls run these races together which also makes for an interesting dynamic.

My Daughter's Cross Country Time Trial

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This morning was Ashlee and Payton's Cross Country Time Trial.  This is the first officially timed race of the season to see where all the girls are and how they are doing (not to be confused with the pre-season time trial).  I am sure there is much more to it for the coaches.  They run the race at a local park and they only run against themselves as a team.

The park (Alexander Park) is just a couple miles from our house and I was trying to figure out how I was going to get my run in today with the time trial starting at 7:30 (dead in the middle of Saturday run time for me)  I needed to run 7 miles so I decided I would get up a bit earlier and do my 7 miles and plan it to finish at the park in time to watch both the boys and of course, the girls run.

Cross Country Time Trial

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If you have been reading my blog long I am sure you have read about my daughters.  Since they both started running they have been a regular and favorite subject of my blog.  Last year my younger daughter Payton killed it in Cross Country her freshman year, and both Payton and Ashlee did great this past Track Season.

Both Ashlee and Payton will be running Cross Country this fall and I am super excited.  As fun as Track is, Cross Country is still my personal favorite.  From a spectator's perspective it is sometimes harder to watch, but I think that is one of the things that find to be just that much more invigorating.  I sometimes get up to a mile run in just getting from one point to the other to cheer them on.