My main goal going into this was just to break 42. My last 10k was 41:34 but I was worried that would be tough to beat with the crowds and hills even though I am in far better shape. I figured if I finished close to that it would be pretty good for the conditions.

I tried to take it easy the first couple of miles because I sort of forget how to pace myself for a 10k. It was hard because the first miles were sooo easy! My goal was to stay at 6:40 pace the first three then speed up if I had anything left.

I ended up at 6:47 for the first mile was Very slow as I was contantly having to dodge people. Surprisingly there was a huge crown in front of me, even though I was able to get into the subseeded corral. There were people in there who seemed to be running very slowly considering they had to submit a time to be in there. Anyways, I digress. I didn't have to worry about being one of the "slower" people in there! Next year if I haven' t moved up, I will get there early to get closer to the front/side of the corral!

The second mile I sped up to 6:26, then 6:20 for the third. The miles were sooo downhill that I felt a bit of dread for what I knew must be coming. Indeed the fourth mile by Piedmont felt long and huge. I used to visit Piedmont every day for sales calls, and I never ever noticed Any hills in a car.

It was around this time that some radio announcer was asking all the passing runners if it was anyones first Peachtree. I raised my hand and we talked back in forth for a minute. In retrospect, I should have saved the effort for working on the hills!

I had set my watch to beep at me every 6:40 and I was pretty much on task throughout. I got way ahead of that the first three miles then miles 4,5 were 7:01 and 6:57.


The last mile was still up and down and I tried to kick it in but was breathing really really hard by then. I crossed the line just under 42 but Garmin showed the real time was several secs faster.

I was excited to get a card for a mug, too. All in all it was a fun tradition to take place in, an I would love to do it next year. I think my running has improved a lot since November and hopefully that will show in other races I do this year. I ended up only 11 secs off my qual time and saw that a lot of other faster people finished off their top seeded times down with me. That tells me that even though the winner, sammy, pred most people don't pr at peachtree!!!

The only bad thing is that I ideally wanted to break 41 but I knew after starting that it probably wasn't going to happen. The mass of runners made it impossible to cut corners and it was still necessary to dodge people up front.



The only thing I would prob do different is not stop to get water to pour on myself twice bc in a crowd that size it always slows me way down.

I ended up 65 out of the open women and 78 when you include the elite women. My goal was to be in the top 50 to 100 so I was okay with that. Hopefully I can aim for the top 50 next year!


There were tons of volunteers and they were all very excited and cheerful.