Independence Day

      Happy 234th birthday America!

• Finished my third Peachtree Road Race 10K foot race in 55:37. That's a 14 minute improvement from last year's time.  Took it real easy and didn't break a sweat until the last mile.  Good enough for me.  To me this event is a celebration of Running, Independence, Freedom, Fitness and Community all coming together as one.  It's a few times in Atlanta when you see all the diversity, ages, groups and ethnicities out in force to witness and participate in an activity.  I had goosebumps from seeing the supporters on the sidewalks and patients from Shepherd Spinal Center out in their wheelchairs cheering  in front of Piedmont Hospital at around Mile 3.  There were numerous bands/performers and radio stations broadcasting live along the way, this is why I didn't wear my MP3 player.  Water sprays were abundant-they would ruin your camera or iPhone or MP3 anyway. The crowds were great, nonstop for the entire six miles.   Cowbells, Flags, homemade signs, Vuvuzelas, Free T-shirts, beers, watermelon slices, smoothies, coffee and other stuff lined up the sidewalks.  Little kids were out yelling and shooting their water cannons.  Ahhhh, there were the adult beverages offering at Mile 4, I kept hearing about those in previous years, finally I witnessed it this time.  Free Pizza at 8 AM seemed a little weird, but I did enjoy the smell of fresh dough when I passed by Mellow Mushroom also around mile #4.  I smiled a lot more and made an effort to slow down and not worry so much about racing or beating a time.  There were actual room to move around this year, I had to dodge and weave around less since I ran in the second wave out of 20 total different groups. I enjoyed having the entire six lanes of Peachtree Road to run from start to finish.
• The Breeze Kings- a blues group were kicking it.  One band played Survivor's Eye of the Tiger AKA Rocky's theme.  Conundrums-an all-female percussion ensemble sounded groovy just before Mile 5.  Members of the West Stride Running Club, which I belong to, met up at Park Tavern on Piedmont Park after the race.  I got a water bottle, a banana and bagel and walked a mile and a half back to my car. Later I found out they had peaches and even ice cream.   
•  I actually did not have to be there so early this year, but got up at 4 AM anyway.  Having almost 2 hours to spare might be a bit much, I was too sleepy at the start, I needed more coffee or a stronger caffeinated drink. For some reason this year the infamous Cardiac Hill didn't seem that tough.  Talk about making a mountain out of mole hill.
• Monday, July 5th I start on training for next year's Peachtree.  Time to get serious:  I plan on running around 25 miles per week with one long run on Saturday (6+ miles), easy/hard schedule, speedwork, intervals, free weights & core work at the gym, hills work, fartleks, and drills.  My goal is to run MY AGE for my next 10K, which is 46 minutes, OK, I will be 46 when I run Peachtree next year, but realistically, I'm shooting for a 50 minute 10K race in the near future.  My PR is 52:32 currently.  A sub 23 minute 5K is definitely possible and a 7:30 mile pace in general.  I think it's reasonable and achievable.  We'll see.