Bret

2023 Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta - quite surprisingly I ran better than I expected.  I was about 10 seconds faster than last year and the last 3 years have basically been the same mid 45 minute range.   This year was more relative effort - the temps were warm but there was cloud cover for the early waves which was good, but the humidity and dew point were quite high and so I measured my effort in the early downhill portion in order manage my more challenging uphill miles in the second half.   Never blew up but was also very aware of the effort.   Had a little snafu getting to the race - the plan was  to pick up Dan and his daughter Lily (college aged) and from there to pick up my son-in-law Marcus.   The three of them were in the F wave and I was in the earlier A wave.   We were nearly to Marcus' house when Dan and Lily realized that they had left their numbers at home and so we had to circle back to get them.  This added about 15-20 mins to the trip which then got a little delayed with the Marta train taking us to start from the North Springs station.   Basically got off the train and when we exited I did my warm up of about a half mile to the starting corral - arriving just as the National Athem started.   Two minutes later the gun went off.   So I had very little time to think or get focused on the normal aches and pains - particularly the Achilles tendon issue.

Yesterday I went to the doctor/walk-in clinic to see if they'd give me a cortisone injection in the Achilles, but after some miscommunication in which I thought they would provide that service, it turns out that they would only provide a general anti-inflamatory injection.  I went ahead with it, and it did result in less swelling in the Achilles - which translated to less discomfort, but unfortunately it also had a side-effect of insomnia - the night before the race! 

Anyway - I was pleased with the result given the limited specific training and training volume for the last several months and also considering I am not getting any younger - the fact that I can still run 7:15 pace for a 10k in the middle of the summer - is something I am good with.   

Dan, Lily and Marcus all ran together to Lily's pace at just under 11 mins per mile and I met them after they finished and we headed to the Marta station to get the train to take us to the car.  On the train ride the skies opened up to quite a storm - and when we got home there were text messages from the race that they had to cancel the event due to lightning - safety concerns.  

Happy Independence Day!