Blog Archives
SUMMER SNIPPET #4: “PEACHTREE DOWNPOUR”
A rainy snippet today.
“Damp” Peachtree .
On July 4th this year I ran the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta along with 55,000+ other runners.
Peachtree is a near annual tradition for me (it was my first race ever back in 1994) and 2015 was the 11th (or 12th) time I ran it.
I’ve written about Peachtree quite a bit in past posts. You can read about it here.
But this year I encountered something new at the Peachtree (and for any race).
SHAZAM!
Lightning.
Now I’ve run plenty of times in the rain before. I even had a downpour fry one of my iPods. You can read about that here.
But it’s always just been water falling from the sky. I haven’t been in a race before where Zeus decided to lob down some fireworks from Mt. Olympus.
Let me Reader’s Digest it for you.
Rain was in the forecast for the race… a 50% chance. Flip your coin. Heads for dry. Tails for not so dry.
It came up tails. Read the rest of this entry
TAKING A BREAK & SHAKING THINGS UP…
Last weekend was the OC Marathon/Half Marathon, a race that I’ve run the last two years and had planned to do again in 2015.
Whoa boy.
But I didn’t run it.
Instead, I slept in that morning and then read about and congratulated a bunch of my friends who completed the race (and did well). Why, you may ask, did I skip a race I wanted to do?
Simple, I’m a bit burned out.
Sometimes you gotta take a much needed breather.
And sometimes you gotta shake things the hell up.
Basically, that’s where I am right now in regards to racing and running. Read the rest of this entry
JACKPOT…
Hi Trippers!
My soon to be casa!
A quick tidbit today as I’ve got some good news.
I WON THE LOTTERY!
Yup, time to quit working forever and buy that tropical island where I can drink massive margaritas, lounge on the beach “au natural” and hunt humans for my general amusement. Woo hoo! Suck it civilization.
Oh, wait a second. I won “a” lottery. Not “the” lottery.
Um, forget what I said about hunting humans. Read the rest of this entry
“THAT’S A WRAP” ON 2014!
Hi everyone!
…auld lang syne anyone?
I hope you all had a fun-filled Christmas and that Santa gave you mounds of great presents (perhaps some cool running gear or a new GPS watch).
As 2014 draws to a close and Baby New Year prepares to make his grand entrance, we all naturally take a look back… at the good and the not-so-good. The resolutions kept and the ones that fell by the wayside.
But before I finish the final chapter and close the book on 2014 (and start a new one for 2015) I wanted to give a recount of my running year that was.
And it was a doozy.
Here are some of my running “highs” and “lows.” Read the rest of this entry
THROWBACK THURSDAY: “PEACHTREE ROAD RACE”
Hi Trippers!
Throwback Thursday (not to be confused with “Taco Tuesday”) seems to be all the rage these days on social media as people dust off old weatherworn photos from yesteryear and post them for all to behold… and chuckle at.
I’m not immune to this trend.
A few years ago my mom asked me to digitize all of the slides my parents and grandparents had taken over the decades, dating as far back as the early 50s. I eagerly said yes, not realizing that scanning in a half century’s worth of images could potentially take a little bit of time. Cut to the next month when a massive box packed with over 2,500 slides showed up at my door (and this was after my mom had weeded out several thousand rejects). Scan away Scotty!
REVIEW: THE PEACHTREE ROAD RACE
Optional Peachtree Race Bling.
July 4th means different things to different people. But for the folks in Atlanta, Independence Day always begins with a bang courtesy of The Peachtree Road Race. Started back in 1970, the race originally featured 110 runners. It’s gotten a bit larger over the years. It now reigns as the biggest 10K in the entire world with a field of around 60,000 participants. This year’s edition featured 57,170 finishers with winning times of 28:25 in the men’s division, 32:16 in the women’s division, 20:30 for the men’s wheelchair division and 23:17 for the women’s wheelchair division (some very very fast athletes). An additional twist this year had Boston Marathon winner Meb Keflezighi starting dead last in an attempt to see how many people he could pass as a way to raise money for charity (FYI, he passed over 22,500 people).
THE PEACHTREE ROAD RACE EXPERIENCE: POST MORTEM
Hey Trippers!
Run on Atlanta!
So today’s Peachtree Road Race marked my 10th or 11th time running the race (I honestly can’t remember) over the last two decades. The Peachtree holds a special place in my heart as it was indeed the very first race I ever ran.
On July 4th, 1994 I ran my FIRST Peachtree.
On July 4th, 2014 I ran my BEST Peachtree.
I was a tad concerned yesterday about the race because my runs this week in the humid conditions were less than impressive (huff and puff and blow this runner down). And on Thursday I picked up a bit of a cold, complete with scratchy throat and headache.
MY PEACHTREE NEMESIS
On Tuesday I posted a story about runners voting for the final design of race shirts and medals. You can check it out here.
The Shirt of Mystery…
Today’s post is a bit of an epilogue… but an epilogue of evil!
In the story I made mention of the Peachtree Road Race tradition of runners voting for 1 of 5 different shirt logos. The winning design is kept secret (like Academy Awards/Price Waterhouse secret) only to be revealed to racers as they are handed their shirt after they cross the finish line.
That’s right, during the race you have no idea what the shirt is. As you sweat buckets pounding along the searing Atlanta asphalt, you trudge forward with only the mystery of the Peachtree Road Race shirt pushing you on (sounds dramatic, right).
PICK AND CHOOSE…
Make up your mind, will ya’!
Democracy is a wonderful thing.
Who doesn’t love that whole “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness” deal?
We get the right to bear arms and arm bears (or something like that).
And we get to vote.
To decide the President of the United States.
To decide the winner of American Idol.
…And now to decide on the style and color of our race medals and shirts.
I’m sure this is exactly what the founding fathers had in mind when they told England to “Suck it” back in 1776.
“YEAH, BUT IT’S A DRY HEAT.”
Hey Trippers!
Even the ice cream man is not immune.
I arrived in Atlanta last night for a week of quality family time and also to run the Peachtree Road Race (a great “near-annual” tradition for me).
Of course running in Atlanta during the middle of summer is not for the “faint of heart.” In fact, if you’re not careful you damn well could faint.
It’s hot in Atlanta during the summer… how hot, you may ask? Enough that people give it the snickery nickname “Hotlanta.” Temps here are expected to be in the 90s this week. Now those of you in Arizona or New Mexico probably think that a 90-degree day is a cool wave compared to where you’re living. But the Southeast has that nasty ace up its sleeve so it can hit you with a double whammy.
It’s the “H-word” (and it should be considered a curse word)… humidity.
10 UNDER 10…
Hey Trippers!
Celebrate 10 injury free miles.
A quick post this Saturday, as I need to go pack for my trip to tomorrow morning (for those of you who know me, I am lousy at packing… truly awful).
On the upside, it’s a happy post. Last Saturday I did my first road run back since injuring my hamstring… a challenging 10K. I think I must have left one of my lungs at home that day.
After an okay week working out at the gym, I decided to up my mileage for today to 10 miles in order to get ready for the Peachtree Road Race coming up on Friday.
DO YOU FEEL LUCKY?
“Forget the lottery. Bet on yourself instead.” –Brian Koslow
What are the odds of running Chi-Town?
When I wanted to sign up for the Chicago Marathon in 2009, it was pretty straightforward. I jumped on the website, filled out the registration form, gave ‘em my credit card info and just like that, I was good to go.
The times they are a changing.
This week the Chicago Marathon joined the growing trend of races moving from open registration to the lottery method.
The switch comes in the wake of last year’s snafu where the Active.com registration site for the Chicago Marathon crashed due to the mad rush of applicants on opening day. BTW, here’s hoping Active.com used that “hard-earned” convenience fee we begrudgingly pay each race to upgrade their servers.
Tripping The Kenyans 