The Expo
The Peachtree hosts one of the largest expo's and its free for even non entrants into the race which I think is a nice touch. Although traffic was a bit insane around the expo we eventually were able to park and make our way over to the hall, I had met up with a friend who I would be running the race with so we could carpool to the expo. Bib pick up was a breeze with plenty of volunteers to handle the crazy amount of people. This is the worlds largest 10k with over 60,000 registered runners. After getting our bibs we made our way through the various booths, there wasn't anything there that you wouldn't find at most other expo's but I did pick up a nice mizuno Peachtree 2015 tech shirt that I will add to my running attire rotation (The finishers shirt while awesome is cotton and not great for actually running in) other than that I didn't find anything I couldn't live with out.
Race Day
I met up with the same friend early in the morning so that we could again carpool down to the MARTA (Atlanta's public transit system) train station. With 60,000+ runners you can imagine what a nightmare parking might be so public transit is definitely the way to go not to mention that this is not a typical out and back course but rather a straight-line so you finish 6 miles away from where you started, just another reason public transit was the way to go for this one. Luckily we where able to pre-purchase our tickets at the expo and only had to wait a few minutes for our train to arrive. The station that we got off at had a bit of a walk to get to the start and as we got off it begin to rain a bit, I was hoping that it would not rain during the race but it appeared that this was not going to be the case. It stopped by the time we made it to the start area however. My time that I had entered had gotten me a bib in the B corral but I would be dropping back to J to run with my friend so we made our way to the corral and waited for the start, I must say I was impressed with how many volunteers I saw and they even had water stations at the starting area's for any pre race hydration needs. As with most races the corral control was pretty poor and I saw plenty of people lining up in J that probably shouldn't be there, This is one of my pet peeves when it comes to races that use a corral start, moving back isn't really an issue and most races allow it but, by in large there is a reason that you have been placed in whatever corral you have been placed in and people that move up when they shouldn't only serve to clog the start even more but I digress...it wasn't to long before the race officially began with the elites followed by the rest of the corrals as each corral started we would slowly walk forward until eventually it was our turn.
Having to much fun pre-race
Somewhere between the start of the race and our wave it began raining again but we were not going to let that dampen our spirit. Since I was running with a friend I would not be running this race for time but rather enjoying the company, the course and the amazing atmosphere.
Giant Flag Selfie
As we got started we fell into a pretty good groove and enjoyed the many sights and sounds along the course. The Flag at the start line is huge, about 2700 square feet and running under was pretty awesome. As we left the Buckhead starting area and completed the first mile the next key sight was historic Buckhead Theatre which opened in 1931. Mile 2's highlight was The Cathedral of St. Philip where you could have holy water sprinkled on you if you chose I was getting enough holy water from the clouds. Miles 2 and 3 were downhill and really made you feel like you were running faster than you were which was nice but then we hit the famed Cardiac Hill which rises more than 12 stories in elevation but honestly once we got over it, I thought "well that wasn't so bad". Another cool sight here came as we passed The Shepherd Center which treats spinal cord injury patients and there are some of the patients along the course cheering. I made sure to go over and shake a few hands and thank them for being out there it was a pretty moving experience. Mile 4 features an awesome view of downtown as you crossover Interstate 85 then it was through the Arts District and down toward the finish, one left turn at around mile 5.5 and a downhill sprint to the finish at Piedmont Park and we were done. I tried to capture myself crossing the finish line but my phone was not cooperating with me so it didn't happen. After crossing the finish line it was on to get our famed finisher shirt and our food box and the.n try to make our way out of the park and back onto MARTA. Because of all the rain the park had become a giant mud puddle and so the walk back was not the most pleasant experience but hey its only mud. there were plenty of signs pointing the direction we needed to go, but I didn't realize quite how far away the station actually was, We kept thinking we were going the wrong way because it seemed to far but the crowd was all going the same direction so we figured it must be right. It actually took us back by the course so we got to cheer on runners who were still going which was nice. Eventually we made it to the station and again they had plenty of people direction everyone to make sure you got on the right train.
Final Thoughts
Even with the rain I had a great time and I am glad that I can said I did this race at least once. I was impressed at all the volunteers on hand and how well they manage to handle the crowd I guess after 46 years they have learned a few things. The ultimate question I guess is will I do it again? I don't think that I will do it every year as I am not a fan of running in big crowds but I think maybe every other year or something like that might be fun. As a final note here is really cool time lapse of my starting wave, I'm in there somewhere on the left hand side towards the front...not that you can actually pick me out but I am in there.
