Greetings and salutations to every one on this very American Holiday. As I have done for the last 14 of 17 years, I spent my morning running down Peachtree with a bunch of hotties. My 14th Peachtree Road Race started off pretty well and ended, not so well (that may be relative though).
All the training and hydration was done, the best I’ve done since my return to Peachtree in 2008. I slept well, I had none of the usual angst and in fact I was pretty chilled. I made my departure time, saw the remains of the full moon from the interstate and thought, oh this is going to be a good day. Upon arrival at the Doraville Marta station, there was none of the usual jam of folks at the Breeze card machine. Things were looking mighty fine at this point and once on the platform, I met some nice folks.
This couple (my assumption), was running their second Peachtree together.
This family whom I will call the New Balance family (they all wore New Balance running shoes), are multiple Peachtree veterans.
The wait for the train was not long, maybe 5 minutes and we were off.
At the next stop, Chamblee Station, we were packed in.
Then we arrived at Lenox, and that’s where things got a little bit funky. The runners and walkers are routed up the side streets leading up to Peachtree Road. This year, was the same but my start wave was routed much further down then we had to back track to get to the wave (L in my case). Once queued up I got my usual case of the bubble guts. Everything settled down once we hit the start line.
The run was pretty good, mile one started at usual pace, mile 2 a bit faster. Unlike last year every time there was a water station, I drank, not that warm water they serve but the Powerade that I was carrying with me (as I’m a sweaty diabetic runner). Mile 3 I was feeling good my pace was good, enough for me to post a better time than last year. Then just after the 3 mile mark, it hit me. I started feeling dizzy. I slowed down and then walked. Caught my breath and got my bearings back. I stopped, drank and walk after every mile thereafter and was not at all pleased. Especially considering that the weather (though humid) was nowhere near as bad as last year because it was overcast during the time I was out there. I ran about 5.5 of the 6.2 miles.
I did get the shirt.
I didn’t hang around and take any of those finisher photos this year, but I did manage to get this guy to take a photo of me.
I stopped at the medical tent for good measure. I thought I could make it home fine but stopped anyway to get my blood sugar checked and it was SKY HIGH. Honestly I think it was a meter problem. I could eat cookies and cake all day and not hit 198, I’d just had labs done last week and had an A1C of 4.8 so this was really flukey to me. When I got home, I was in the 70s. At any rate by the time I got home I had an additional problem, one that I felt approaching while in the medical tent.
That didn’t keep me from eating though and getting my traditional post race nap.
Overall Peachtree is the same as it ever was, hot, crowded, but fun. It’s unfortunate that I spent a half of it not feeling well, hence the title of this post. For two years in a row, I didn’t feel well, even after all the training and doing everything right (I did do something wrong yesterday, yeah that spinach salad). I’m thinking at least right now, that this might be the end of me running in races of this size in the summertime. The jury is out on this decision until March, that’s when registration for the 2013 race takes place.
If you ran in the Peachtree Road Race or another race for this 4th of July, let me know how you fared in the comments.
Until next time, see you on the trail.
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