Thoughts on my 1st Peachtree Road Race

I first began running on a somewhat regular basis during the 2009-10 winter season and did pretty well through the spring, however I completely fell off the wagon over the summer. I hated the humidity, the heat, the sweat, everything. But I LOVED the feeling I had when I finished a winter run, especially when the temperature neared freezing, and so I started getting back into it in December of last year. In February, we got the news that Avery was on her way, and in line with many fathers-to-be, I decided to take getting in better health more seriously.

With the help of the Couch to 5K training program, I ran my first 5K in May and then turned my focus on today's race. Having lived here in Atlanta for 19 years, it was about time I ran the Peachtree. I've always felt a twinge of jealousy every time I see someone wearing a Peachtree Road Race t-shirt, so this year was going to be MY year. So after running the PRR today, here are some thoughts from my first experience with it:

• I'm not sure there's a good way of getting to the race. Everything in print says to take MARTA because you're talking about getting to and leaving a 60,000-person race. I took MARTA, and while I'm sure parking at Piedmont Park would have been a nightmare, getting back to MARTA after running 6.2 miles STUNK!!! I'm guessing it was about 1 mile to walk back to the 10th street station and the majority was walking up a hill that was worse than ANYTHING on the actual race course.
• Speaking of hills, the rumors of "cardiac hill" (also known by some as "heartbreak hill," "pill hill," etc..) are fairly true in that it's no fun at all. That being said, I didn't think it was any worse than the other hills, they're all absolutely no fun.
• Guys, if you have Sherwood Forrest on your back, shoulders, arms, legs, and heaven knows where else, sleeveless shirts are not kind - to you OR anyone else.
• Walkers, I'm going to try to show some restraint here......WALK ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD!!!! (Right as in the "right-hand" interpretation, not "right-correct") There is plenty of room on the road for people to run and walk, and it is clearly stated on every website and print instructions pertaining to the PRR that walkers are to stay to the right. Seriously, the most. annoying. part of the whole experience for me were the people who insisted on walking side-by-side on the left side of the road where we were running.
• Very fun atmosphere. Bands and DJs along the whole route, spectators cheering the entire way, plenty of water and misters. Aside from the aforementioned walkers, it was pretty fun to be out there with the crowd and it wasn't too hard to settle into a comfortable pace.
• My goal was to finish the race in 1 hour and 15 minutes. My official time was 1:14:59. Wow.
• I got my t-shirt. That might be the best part of the whole experience for me. Every bit as good as a trophy to me.

When I first started running in '09, I said that I just wanted to experience what it felt like to finish a race. I've finished two now and it's pretty cool. Gonna take the rest of the week off and figure out what I'm going to do next. One option is to begin working up to a half-marathon. I've got some good momentum now on the running and I really don't want to lose  it, especially after how hard it was to start up again this past December. On the other hand, I've been thinking about borrowing the P90X program from one of my friends. I don't know anyone who's finished the program, but I figure it's worth a shot and who knows, it could possibly help with my running. I'll decide later this week and get at it next week.