Team Holland had double coverage with Adriene at the finish line with the digital camera and me running with a disposable camera. Here are Adriene’s pictures at the finish line.

I completed the Peachtree Road Race on July 4 along with 55,000 other runners and thought I would give some mile-by-mile thoughts about the race. The Peachtree Road Race is billed as the largest 10K race in the world and it is an Atlanta institution. The t-shirts that are given out at the finish line are worn like a badge of honor around the city.

START
I arrived out of the MARTA station along with the crowds of people and as we walked down Peachtree Street, the wheelchair racers, the first to start the race, zipped by. I can’t tell you how much admiration I have for these racers. The arms on these guys and girls are chiseled out of stone and they have amazing upper body strength. You couldn’t help but applaud as they zipped by.

Overheard at the starting line: “OK, the strategy is to start off slow … and ease up.”

I was in Time Group 4. After the wheelchair group and the elite runners, the first two time groups are released from the starting line. The elite runners carry microchips which activate when crossing the starting line and save their time when they cross the finish line. I’m not fast enough for the microchips (but looking at the results later, I see I’m only a couple minutes behind the last timed runners), so I’m in one of the groups behind that. The Road Race has 9 time groups. The last made famous by radio talk show celebrity Clark Howard who embodies the non-serious side of the back of the race. This year, the Peachtree Road Race also added Time Groups 10, 11, and 12 for soldiers in Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Iraq as they ran their own race and received t-shirts overseas. I have nothing to complain about in this 74-degree heat when the runners in Iraq completed their 10K in 95 degree weather. We’re released at regular intervals underneath a gigantic United State flag. I’m starting off at Lenox Mall surrounded by tall, luxurious hotels. I’m amused to find people watching us from the balconies, including some with race numbers! How do they plan to get down to the starting line? Parachutes?

MILE 1
The first mile is always so crowded that it’s a half walk-half run. I start off not quite shoulder-to-shoulder with other runners, but not much more spaced out. The first mile is a mostly level cruise where everyone is starting to figure out just how they feel? Do the knees hurt? The ankles? How is the weather? This year the weather is incredible. It’s very humid, so I’m sweating like crazy, but it’s overcast and under 80 degrees. Very pleasant.

MILE 2
The second mile begins as you turn into the bar district of Buckhead. Even at eight in the morning, the bars are open and people are sitting on the front decks and cheering for you. Here I pass the ESPN Zone and The Cheesecake Factory. I also pass places that were favorites of mine in college that are no longer there, such as Swinger’s and John Harvard’s Brew Pub. There’s also the infamous Lulu’s Bait Shack and Fado, an Irish pub that I’ve been to a time or two. I also pass “Jesus Junction” an intersection of three churches on Peachtree and Andrews Dr where the priest of the Orthodox church Cathedral of St. Phillip sprinkles holy water on us as we pass by. Holy or not, it’s very welcome.

MILE 3
Somewhere around here I saw a sign that says, “The Kenyans have already finished”. True enough, by now the winner of the Peachtree Road Race has already been crowned. No matter,I’m not here to win this. Cruising down towards Peachtree Creek, the adrenaline and endorphins have me thinking I can conquer the world at this point. This is what it feels like to be alive. Now I’m passing by the expensive condos of the Atlanta noveau riche. Elton John apparently had the top floor of one the buildings here at one point, but I believe has since sold it. It’s hard to resist kicking the pace up a little bit, but I’ve got to save some energy for what comes next.

MILE 4
“Cardiac Hill” Anyone who runs the Peachtree Road Race knows exactly what you are talking about. Some people fear it. There’s no reason to fear it, you just drop it a gear and chug away. After crossing Peachtree Battle Creek, you begin a slow uphill climb that at first seems a gentle grade. However, it just keeps going and after a half-mile, the slope increases and taunts you as the gauntlet is laid down. I pass a group from a local bar running together with a sign that says “Water = Bad. Beer = Good.”

MILE 5
Appropriately, the top of Cardiac Hill is crowned with Piedmont Hospital where runners joke you can carry them off. The Sheppard Spinal Clinic is also located here and the staff brings the patients out to cheer on the runners. I’m sure the wheelchair racers must be an amazing inspiration for them. They’re an inspiration for me right now as they cheer me on. Once at the top, I say, “the hard part’s over now!” and I’m picking up the pace again. Here, I pass memorable places, such as Cafe Intermezzo where Adriene and I first decided we were on to something more than a friendship. We’re now approaching our fifth anniversary of our terrific marriage. After crossing over I-85 past the chiming bells of Peachtree Christian Church playing “God Bless America”, I’ve left Buckhead and entered into the skyscrapers of Midtown.

MILE 6
Entering into Midtown and crossing 17th Street, I can start to count the streets down to 10th Street where the race will turn to the east. The crowds on the sides of the street start to swell and the cheers and bells and noise keep me going as strength starts to fade. I pass the High Museum of Art and Colony Square. Then, it’s time for The Turn. The only part of the race that turns off of Peachtree Street, the race now turns onto 10th Street and begins a downhill race to Piedmont Park and the finish line.

THAT .2
The last section of the race is deceptive. When I ran in 2003, I was fooled and thought the finish line was closer and started my sprint to the end too soon. I almost fell for it again as I crossed Juniper Street and cruised down the end. I saw Adriene on the sidelines cheering for me as I neared the end. Finished! I crossed the line and went to pick up my t-shirt. My final time was 67 minutes, a slight disapointment from the goal I set in January, but not bad at all. I was very pleased with the run. I felt good at the end. No pain. No heaving. I had achieved a six month goal and lost some weight along the way.

As we walked back to the MARTA station to go home. Two runners were now celebrating their run with cigars and beer. They stood on the sidewalk of the racecourse near the finish line and raised their drinks to the runners and puffed on their cigars, “think healthy, y’all!”