Run Run Away

Question:

This year I was able to get into the Peachtree 10K Road Race for the first time. I do not live in Atlanta so I know nothing about the course difficulty. Can anybody give a good description of how the course is? Any hints by anyone who has run the race would also be welcome. Thanks! Eric

Response:

The first three miles are flat to downhill. These miles can be very fast as the course drops about 250 feet. Mile 3 through about 3.75 contain a step-like hill that climbs about 150 feet.  Then from mile 4 through 5.2 or so the course has a long gradual grind (in front of the Art Museum) of 80 feet.  Its this section that will kill your time.  The last mile is flat to downhill. Of course unless you have a seeded or sub-seeded number (i.e., in  the first group of 5,000), Peachtree is not a race for time.  Just you and 54,999 of your closest friends! It’s quite an experience. P.S. Atlanta+July=HOT and HUMID.  Train in the heat if you can. See you at the race, I’ll be the guy in shorts with running shoes.

Response:

This is a GREAT race!  This will be my fifth year.  I agree totally with the guy before me about the course.  The hills are not bad.  Last year was the first year that I was seeded, and I was able to clock a good time.  If you are in the rest of the pack though, just take it easy and have fun.  Being from Atlanta, I can tell you that it is VERY hot and VERY humid in July in Atlanta, even that early in the morning.  Be sure to check out the race expo the day before.  It is chock full of shoes and clothes and free goodies.  You’ll have a blast!  Good luck!  

Response:

This is a GREAT race!  This will be my fifth year.  I agree totally with the guy before me about the course.  The hills are not bad.

They can’t be that bad since Kimani set the world record for the road 10K there with time of 27:04.    -Phil

Response:

They can’t be that bad since Kimani set the world record for the road 10K there with time of 27:04.

Oh, BTW this record does have an "a" next to it. As set forth in rule 185.5 a record cannot be set on a course that drops more than 1 meter per kilometer or on a course where the start and finish are separated by more than 30 percent of the race distance if more than 50 percent of that course has a significant tailwind. Marks that fail to meet this criteria are annotated below with an "a".    -Phil

Response:

I was working the main medical that day (1996–Kimani did not even make the Kenyan Olympic team) and it was unusually cool and dry.  Somewhere I have the start temps and relative humidity for all the Peachtrees and this was nearly the coolest and driest on record. However, it was a statistical aberration. Also remember that you are in the starting corral for a long time with a lot of people who are generating heat and humidity so those factors in the crowds may be greater than the ambient conditions. Take some water with you so that you can keep drinking while standing around. Have fun, but think of it as an event more than a race.   On a side note, I am going to join 40000 runners on Monday for the Racist Race 10K (also known as Bolder Boulder).  I anticipate much better weather than Peachtree much a much lower PO2!!!! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – This is a GREAT race!  This will be my fifth year.  I agree totally with the guy before me about the course.  The hills are not bad. They can’t be that bad since Kimani set the world record for the road 10K there with time of 27:04.   -Phil

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