ATC PTC 10K Race Report

The 2013 Atlanta Track Club Peachtree City 5K and 10K was Saturday, January 26th, 2013 at 8:30am.  This is a low key race which is part of the ATC’s Grand Prix Series.  That just means ATC members can run in certain ATC races to earn points toward some sort of award at year end.  As an ATC member the race was free for me.  There were no t-shirts or awards.  That’s what they mean by low key.  The race did have chip timing though.  My running buddy Jim Macie and I both signed up for the 10K race.  Jim paid only $10.  Jim ran the Key West half-marathon the weekend before so he was feeling a little weary of his performance. I hadn't run at all in two weeks.  I guess I would categorize myself as well rested.

I had run the race in 2011.  The 2013 course had been changed since then.  The new course started at The Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater.  This is the same location as the Peachtree City Classic 15K race in October each year.  The 5K and 10K courses both finish on the cart path a short distance from the start.  Here's a link to my 2011 Race Report.

My race results for 2011 were pretty good. I placed 4th in 45-49 age-group with a finish time of 42:10.  One thing I noticed about the new course was that the tunnels didn't seem to bother me as much as they had in the past.  That's probably because it was slightly overcast and my eyes didn't have to adjust as much as if the Sun were super bright.

Jim and I arrived at the registration table shortly before 8am.  The temperature was around 40-degrees with the Sun occasionally peeking through the clouds.  We both tried to limit our clothing for the race knowing we’d both heat up soon after the start.  I decided on tights and a long-sleeve Under Armour shirt.  I left my jacket, beanie, cap, gloves, and a pair of running pants on the tree near the start.

I put on my Garmin 910XT and heart rate monitor strap just before the start.  My goal was to record my heart rate during this full-out 10K race.  I’d heard that a good way to identify your maximum heart rate was run a 10K and use the average heart rate as your maximum for training purposes.  I gave Jim, who was a few feet behind me at the start, a quick wave. 

The race started and I was off.  As always I wanted to keep the front runners within sight.  Within the first few hundred yards a group of 8 to 10 runners separated themselves from the rest of the field.  I was, for a brief time, the next person in the field.  My pace at the 1-mile mark was 6:01.  Shortly after that I was passed by maybe a dozen runners.  My pace was too fast during the first mile and I blew up.  As the race proceeded I got passed by one, another, and then a third female runner.  I was passed by more male runners too.  As I ran my HRM strap slipped down from my chest to my waist.  That, coupled with the fact that my watch hadn’t synced up with my HRM until well after the race started, meant that my heart rate data from the race was unusable.  I should have tightened the strap and used some water to dampen the strap before I put it on.  The cold probably had a good bit to do with my haste and subsequent data issue.

I finished the race in 5th place in my 50-54 age-group and about 51st overall, including male and female runners.  My finish time was 43:16 which equates to a 6:58 pace.  Jim also finished his race well. After the race we headed back to the race registration area at The Fred and we got some Muscle Milk.  I got a bagel too before we hopped back in the warm car and left for home.  We both noticed that the sun had gone away and it seemed colder at the finish than the start.

Thanks for reading.