This year’s Peachtree meant a lot to me but a lot of that has to do with 2014. That was the first and only year I could not run the entire Peachtree. I was breathless for most of the race coughing up mucus. I kept trying to run but had to walk again and again. I finished in 80 minutes which I’m not saying is a bad time for anyone but it wasn’t what I expected of myself. That evening, I saw my time on the website and a friend of mine asked me if I gave my race number to someone out of shape or older because that’s not a common time for me. I was hurt but I knew he didn’t mean it as a jab. Still, this became personal. Me versus the Peachtree Road Race.
A few weeks later, I learned that I was dealing with a lung exacerbation and that was likely the cause. I went on IV’s for five weeks and finally kicked it. But what I didn’t kick was the feeling that my running times were getting slower and slower and that wasn’t like me. I am a competitor and I was not accepting the fact that I was declining. That couldn’t happen anymore. I started slowly getting back into running but not once or twice a week like before but three or four days a week and soon every day. I went from running 3 to 5 miles a week to 10 to now 15 to 17. I went from a 13-minute mile to a 10-minute mile and now around
This was personal.
There were a lot of cool things at this year’s Peachtree but the most spiritual one was when I was in my group prior to the race wondering if I should really go for a sub-one-hour 10k, something I’d never accomplished. A woman suddenly came over to me and asked, “Are you going to run this race in under an hour?” I nodded and thought “How did she know?” She said “I’ll stick at your pace then. That’s my goal.” I immediately thought this could be the work of my older sister Wendy telling me to go for my goal…and so I did.”
Speaking of sisters, I managed to see my younger sister Emily right before we started which was awesome. We’d never seen each other before a race. There are 60,000 people after all. She did amazing today. Then about 400 yards from the finish line low and behold I saw Andrea. Somehow we managed to be together for the last tenth of a mile. How crazy is that? She’ll tell you I still sprinted out ahead of her but I did find her immediately after the race. Hey, I had a goal to reach.
It was personal.
Today I changed my strategy. I usually start slow and gain steam towards the end. This year I started fast and maintained my speed. I never moved to the side for water and didn’t stop to run in place and take pictures with my family at the 2.5 mile mark like usual. I did wave at them and yelled “I’m going for it!” but they didn’t see me so of course I felt bad. But I couldn’t turn back as I had a goal to reach.
I ran the Peachtree Road Race this 4th of July (2019) in 56:08. An improvement of 24 minutes or 30% from 2014. My first sub-one-hour Peachtree which was special because it was the 50th annual Peachtree Road Race and because I never forgot 2014.
And of course because it was personal.
Live your dreams and love your life.
Andy