Warning: Do not take it too seriously.

This is an Atlanta tradition on July 4th and it is the second year that I am taking part in it. (Last year’s post here.) It is a run for everyone. Yes, everyone. The elites, the athletic, the young and the old, the fat and the lean.

People turn out in families and parties of friends. When you see women showing up in made up faces and mascara-covered lashes, perfectly coordinated Nike outfits, complete with a pair of Chanel sunglasses for a 10k road race, or when you encounter the hordes of walking participants obstructing the way in front of you while you are trying to run, and then you see the tireless volunteers offering drinks and calling out splits, or the cheering holiday crowd lined along the course, all out to have an enjoyable July 4th morning, you tell yourself that this is a holiday event, so do not take this race so seriously.

Nevertheless, I still ran hard. I was quite tired after crossing the finish line. It could be due to the hot weather. The race started at 7.30 in the morning, but it was not until 8.20 that our time group got to start. Because of the large number of participants, we were divided into time groups and each group got to cross the start line at at fixed time intervals after the previous group. So, I was running during the hour spanning 8 something to 9 something in the morning, which was definitely not as friendly as the milder 7.30 or even 8 o’clock morning weather.

I also did not expect the wait get to the start to be that long. I completed my warm up 50 minutes before actually starting to run and I finished all my fluids by 7.30 as well. I actually started to feel dehydrated during the wait and was delighted when I arrived at the first water station after the run started.

While waiting for the start, I was commenting that it did not matter which time group we were in since it would not make us run faster by joining a time group ahead of us. I take back my words. If there is anything that I can change next year, I hope I can start with an earlier time group so that I can run in more favourable temperatures. Still, I hold the opinion that the Peachtree should be taken as a holiday event, not too seriously.