My very first 10K, The Peachtree Road Race through downtown Atlanta. The 6.2 miles STARTed at Lenox Road @ Peachtree (next to Lenox Square) and followed Peachtree Road through Buckhead and Midtown before finally turning left onto 10th Street toward the finish line to END at Piedmont Park.
Nina, Carrie & Alisha wating to line up to start the Peachtree Road Race.
What a day! I was wave "W" so my start time was 8:55 AM. Which was good AND bad... :) The good was that it was late enough I didn't have to get up at 3 or 4 AM to get there. The bad was it was late enough that I was gonna hit the bulk of the rising heat of the day. :( BUT, we got lucky today as it was a relatively mild July 4th morning. With recent temps in the mid to upper 90's, we were blessed today with a refreshing 80 degrees near the end of the race which was for me by about 11 AM.
Alisa, Nina and I were in separate start waves. Alisha and Nina were in wave "U" (start time 8:51 AM) and I was in wave "W" (start time 8:55 AM). The girls tried to sneak me up into their start wave, but the volunteers caught me and quickly scolded and escorted me back to the "W" just behind them. I felt like a school girl getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar! haha
So, I had to begin the race all by myself and I was REALLY nervous! ;) There were a LOT of people there!
Waiting in the "cue" to start the Peachtree Road Race.
I was able to start in the front of the pack. But was careful to stay far to the right so I wouldn't get run over by all the speed demons. Walkers to the right... When "W" was finally released to start, my nerves had calmed slightly and I was beginning to get pretty excited! ;)
I had not had much sleep (due to my hectic work schedule) in the days leading up to the Peachtree, so I was especially nervous about that. And woke up feeling quite dizzy and had to fight that horrible feeling most of the day. I was definately over-tired. Note to self: DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" ;)
I had just crossed Piedmont Road / Peachtree as we were nearing our first water station when I came upon someone on my right and we started talking... Her STORY was very inspiring to me... :) Her name is Sherry and only 4 weeks ago, she suffered cardiac arrest from a bee sting! I was soo amazed at her sheer determination to be there that she chose to walk the race! :)
We agreed to walk alongside each other for company and support! We kept a pretty good pace most of the way and stopped for 2 potty stops along the way. I was sucking water down like a camel! Still feeling the dizziness, I wasn't sure if I were actually dehydrated or just plain exhausted from lack of sleep! But I pushed through it with Sherry's encouragement! It was really great to have someone to share the journey with. :) And she is quite a hoot! ;) Thanks, Sherry for keeping me going and motivating me to NEVER GIVE UP! ;)
I saw quite a few people today who were quite inspiring! I saw someone on crutches and someone with a prosthetic leg walking the race. In fact, he was keeping a pretty good pace! I saw elderly men and women walking the race and doing better than me and Sherry! ;) It was a great feeling to be there among the crowd of thousands and share this experience with them!
We're in the home stretch!
Finally, we crossed the finish line and it was a great feeling! It took Sherry and I about 2 hours, but we did it! ;)
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