Friday, July 5, 2013

Peachtree Road Race 2013 (w/ Lex)

Lex finished her first Peachtree Road Race!  I am so proud of her.  I had a lot of issues getting her to train with me.  She never wanted to go out and when we ran, she complained a lot.  We even got to the point where I was going to give her number to someone else.  But we stuck it out and she was able to complete the race.

My main worry going into the race was actually the rain.  The forecast was calling for rain and I kept checking to see how it looked around 8am (since our start time was 8:05am - I was in Corral D but she was only in H so I moved back to hers)  I wasn't actually that worried about her finishing since I knew she could walk if she got really tired.  It was just a matter of whether that would be with or without crying!  (Her first 5k, the last mile or so was me trying to get her to finish and her crying - she did finish in ~32 which I thought was great for a first 5k)

We got to Lenox around 7ish and it felt very subdued.  It definitely wasn't as crowded.  Of course, it was drizzling as we made our way to the start.  We had our picture taken several times - I think because the photographers were just looking for people.  

Coming out of Marta

Then we took some silly shots.

Not sure what we were doing here

And one that I liked of the three of us.
Father-in-law, Lex and me

We got close to our corral right around 720 and went to find the restrooms.  We listened to the National Anthem and then waited - but the wait for the restrooms was like nothing.  There were two long lines in two spots but then just a bit away was the huge area of porta potties and no wait there.  That is the first time I've ever been at a race where I didn't have to wait forever! 

Went to our corral - and waited for the start.  I was looking around for anyone Lex's age.  We did see a couple of younger girls near us but not a whole lot.  I think there were about 900 or so 14-younger girls who finished.  

It was strange for me to be at a big race like this with other people.  Kaiser is the only race where I actually run with another group of people.  Most of time I start alone and run alone.  And most of the time, I get really nervous right before the race starts.  I had none of that nervousness.  And by that time, it had stopped raining so I was pretty happy about that.  I think the fact that I knew I wasn't trying for a PR helped too.

We started at 8:05 and had a good pace for the first 2 miles.  Lex did have to go to the bathroom again and I told her we'd have to wait for mile 2 since I knew they usually were there.  But even that was awesome since no one was waiting for those either.  We got done and back on the course super fast.  However, I was having issues since I realized my GPS wasn't on!  I had started it but it didn't have the satellites - so I spent the next couple miles waiting for it locate them!  It was way after mile 3 that they finally came on - I wish I had my times for the first few miles though.

Once the hills started, Lex had to slow down - we started to do more run/walk combos.  But she really impressed me since she would walk but then come on strong again with the running.  She had a lot of encouragement from other runners too - I think that really made her feel good.  

When we got to 17th Street I told her we didn't have that far to go as the turn was at 10th Street.  She said she was going to try to run all of mile 5 (she did end up walking some but not much).  At the turn, I think she finally realize how close she was. 

Shot down 10th Street

Then it was not much to the finish and we ran in - holding hands - it was kind of my goal to finish that way!

Official time was 1:10:29 (it was cool since we all finished at the exact same second)  I think that is a pretty good time for someone who never trained.  I want to say that my first 10k, I only finished in 1:05 so she's already doing pretty good (not that I am very fast)



Only issue after that was walking through the muddy park.  We even got to sit on Marta.  I really think the rain kept some people away but they missed out on a great race since the weather was cool and it didn't rain.  I really think had I run alone, I would have PR'ed just for the fact that it was so cool out.  But I wouldn't miss running with my daughter.   I hope to run other races with her soon!





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