July 4th is a day to celebrate our great nation, and in Atlanta, Georgia people do that by running the Peachtree Road Race! Every year since I have known Britt we have said we were going to watch the P'tree Road Race on the 4th of July, but we never did. It was always "too early" to wake up to go watch a race of people whom we did not know. The last few years I have contemplated signing up for the race, but never actually did. This year I decided to sign up for the lottery, and I was one of the lucky 57,171 people to get selected! In case you aren't aware, the Peachtree Road Race is the world's LARGEST 10k. That's crazy to me! Being that the race is so large, I was nervous about running in it by myself, but I survived!
Britt's parents live right behind Lenox Mall, where the race starts, so we spent Thursday night before the race with them. I was able to walk up to the starting line and find my wave with no problem. There are seeded and dub-seeded waves, and then there are waves A-Y. You are placed in a wave based on your finishing time in past races that you've run. I was wave F, and we had a 7:55am start time. Believe it or not, we actually crossed the starting line right at 7:55...I was thoroughly impressed with how organized the starting area was set up and run. And can I tell you how absolutely perfect the weather was on this fine Fourth of July morning? It was about 67 degrees with almost no humidity--that is unheard of in the south, in the summer!
A nice man took my picture at the starting line.
Looking in front of me at the starting line...
and looking behind me at the starting line. That's a lot of people, y'all!
This big, pretty flag was blowing in the wind at the starting line. What a beautiful sight.
I always find it intriguing to run races in the streets of the city where I live. Every day I drive around and I'm zoned in on where I have to be next. I never fully take in the beauty of Atlanta. It was nice to run along Peachtree and notice all of the things I am usually to busy to see. We really do live in a beautiful city!
This cute cheerleader was waiting on me at mile 3 {so were Britt, Debbie, and Al}! I stopped for a quick picture with him :)
6.2 miles later, the race ended in Piedmont Park. I wish you could see and experience how seemlessly this entire race was setup and executed. I crossed the finish line, went directly to one of the many t-shirt lines, got my shirt {no waiting at all}, then headed to the "family waiting area" to meet up with Britt and the rest of my people. All of this took less than 5 minutes. I was astonished at the ease of it all!
Yep, I took a shameless selfie when I finished the race.
And I'll shamlessly tell you how proud I am of myself. I have been working so hard to break a 10:30 minute pace since I had Chapman, and I finally did on Friday!! I finished in an hour flat and my pace was 9:39. I finished 15,409 out of 57,171 people--that ain't to shabby in my opinion. And I finished 4,820 out 28,693 women--even better. I finished 680 in my division, but for some reason they don't tell you how many people are in your division?? Anyhow, I'm proud of myself for finishing as well as I did!
Look who was waiting on me in the park!
My two favorite people!
We hung out in the park for a little while after I finished the race.
Checking out all of the action at Piedmont Park.
We went to Another Broken Egg for post-race brunch and Bloody Marys!
Mr. Patriotic!
We took a different spin on hamburgers this Fourth of July. Instead of grilling burgers, I made cheeseburger pie. If you have not ever had such pie, I recommend you making it. It's delicious.
We also made homemade onion rings.
For dessert, I made my Nanny's banana pudding recipe. It is the best I've ever had!
Thanks to a messed up nap schedule, this little boy was able to stay up late enough to go watch fireworks. As I mentioned earlier, Britt's parents live right behind Lenox Mall, and Lenox puts on a beautiful fireworks show. We were worried that Chapman would not like the fireworks because he is terrified of loud noises, but he loved them.
He was mesmerized.
Watching with Daddy!
Chapman also turned 10 months old on the fourth!
We are so thankful to live in the Land of the Free. I hope you had a fun and safe Fourth of July too!
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