Today's Tee-Shirt Tuesday is honor of the 2023 Peachtree Road Race. The Peachtree Road is one of my favorite races. The distance is perfect for July 4th and I love running with 60k of my favorite run buddies. This year didn't disappoint. This year also marked by 10th consecutive year of running the race in recent memory. Another great thing that happen this year, was I returned to an in-person In-training Peachtree Road Race Run Lead to train participants for the race after a 3 year hiatus.
In-Training for Peachtree (12 weeks before race day)
This year I joined the Southside (Lee + White) site for training. I reunited with some of Run Lead friends that I haven't seen in while. We trained on the southside Beltline and had a dedicated group of participants. I lead the 12:00 min interval pace group. The location was isolated from cars so we didn't have so many issues with crossing streets. It was flat, but I will take flatness and safety over hills and cars. The weather was temperate for most training. After 12 weeks of training, it was safe to say that everyone was ready to conquer the Peachtree Road Race course.
Peachtree Expo (2 days before race day)
The Peachtree Expo has always been my favorite race expos. There are so many vendors and opportunities to interact with Adidas, the Atlanta Track Club Shoe sponsor. The race expo was held at its normal location, the Georgia World Congress Center Building C. I took the MARTA to avoid paying for parking. There were also other events going on, which resulted in higher than normal traffic.
Packet pick up was quick and easy. I was assigned to corral E with an estimated finish time of 1:10:00. The bibs were organized according to corral and number. After picking up my bib, I walked through the huge Adidas store. There was everything from shoes to shirts for sale. Outside of the Adidas store, there were other appareal and race vendors. I took pictures with the props and caught up my run buddies. Since I was in the neighborhood, I ate ice cream at They Yard (best venue for card loading).
Race Day
I followed my normal Peachtree Road Race transit routine to travel to Lennox. I represented Team Beef for the race and was in corral E. I wore my patriotic outfit for the race.
The race was a bit humid, but the temperature was fine. My favorite part of the Peachtree is being blessed by the Holy Water and running through the sprinklers. I ran through all of them. My shoes were soaked after the race from all the sprinklers. The crowds and costumes made the race so much fun. I finished the race 1:10:35, right on target. After finishing I headed to the post-race party and to get my tee-shirt.
Post Race Party
The post race party had plenty of peaches, tee-shirts, and the newest item-Atlanta Track Club bags. Whoever came up with the bag idea deserves a raise. Every year we are always looking for bags to carry all the post-race goodies and usually have scavenger boxes and whatever we can find. This year we had small reusable bags that were perfect for carrying all the drinks and other items. Chick Fil A also gave out peaches and coupons for the peach milkshake.
As always I had a great time at the Peachtree Road Race and look forward to running it each year.
