How we celebrate the 4th of July in Atlanta

Today Chris and I (and 60,000 other people) participated in the Peachtree Road Race. This race is the world’s largest 10k and it was our first time running it, or any race for that matter. We had a really fun time and will definitely be participating in it again next year, lottery permitting (the runners are chosen based on a lottery system).

Ready to go!

A few of our friends were running in the race as well (& they had run it before) so we met up with them at 6:00 am to head down to the race. Since we didn’t know what to expect/where to go, we wanted to be with some people who knew what they were doing. Being in one of the last “waves” of start-times, we had PLENTY of time to hang out & watch the beginning of the race.

Waiting..

The first wave of runners

People were dressed in all kinds of costumes!

Our wave: “U”

It’s go time!

Throughout the 6.2 miles, there were thousands of people through whom we had to weave in and out of while running. Following the simple “slow runners/walkers stay to the right/faster runners & pass on the left” rule seemed to be too much for the majority of people to understand. Afterwards, Chris and I both talked about how annoying it was to dodge in between walkers while trying to keep a steady running pace. Along the way, however, there were also hundreds of spectators/business owners handing out water & goodies and cheering us on along the way! That (and the mist areas) was the best part of the race!

Piedmont Park at the finish!

So, how did we do? Well as a self-proclaimed non-athlete-defintiely-not-a-runner, I ran the W.H.O.L.E thing! I made quick stops along the way at the water stations, but other than that, my butt was running. I was pretty darn proud of myself. Chris, of course, ran the whole thing. My time was 1:16:45 and Chris’s was 51:58. Not too bad for our first race, ever! We are both convinced that had we started earlier, we would have had better times because we wouldn’t have to weave in and out of slower racers not following directions. Maybe next year!

Done!

Me, Chris, Ashley, Kyle & Brandie after the race

The girls

My pictures seriously do not even do this race justice. There were so.many.people!! Check out our local news channel’s coverage of the whole day to get the gist of the energy, excitement, and the massive number of participants of the day! It was crazy & so fun! We’ve already talked about how we definitely want to (try) to do it again next year. We’ve even played around with the idea of making our next race one that’s a little longer, a half marathon (13.1 miles) perhaps. Maybe this Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day?

I’ve heard this running/racing thing can become quite addictive. We’ll see!

Hope you had a great 4th! We’ve spent the rest of the day representing our new & much-deserved tshirts and recovering!

Our sweet t-shirts

xoxo

Ash