Bret

Peachtree Road Race 2026.  Not bad under the very warm humid red flag conditions.  I nearly didn't even get to the start - the Marta train broke down and everyone had to exit on the way down to Lenox.  I looked at the time for the back-up train and called an audible - and summoned an Uber to get me to the start - literally had the driver drop me off on the highway before the exit and used the remaining distance for my warm-up.  All good.  👍 

Tried to run conservatively but failed.  Ended up with a decent first half split and then did my best to mitigate the losses on the uphill second half. Heart rate was way up due to the high dew point and heat with the hills - but I just kept my concentration and focus to get to the turn for the last half mile where it goes downhill.   I may have run about 40 seconds faster last year but at much lower effort and heart rate.  The reverse version of this race held in January was 30 degrees cooler and nearly 3 minutes faster.   
 

Still pleased with where I ended up in the top 1% of my age group.   I age up in less than 3 weeks.   And I have run this race for 12 years (missing a few when traveling) and this was not my worst time - though on the upper end - I know that my age will probably be the single most factor in slowing down- and I'm totally at peace with that.