The 44th running of the Peachtree

Billed as the world’s largest 10-kilometer road race (that’s 10,000 meters or 6.2 miles, folks), the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta has been held every Fourth of July since 1970. Approximately 110 runners participated in the first one. In 1975 there were over 1,000 runners, and by 1980 more than 25,000 people participated. Golly gee whillikers, Mabel! Like Topsy, it just grew. (This is a reference to a minor character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom's Cabin and not to an elephant electrocuted by Thomas Edison in 1903. For those of you who are confused, join the club.)

This year more than 55,000 runners officially registered for the Peachtree, plus a few thousand more ran unofficially (that is, unregistered) just because they couldn’t stay away.

This year also, for the first time ever, a Rhymeswithplague ran in the race.

My second son, at the ripe old age of 47, decided to apply for one of the coveted slots a few months ago and was accepted. (A note to all the unofficial participants: Only official participants receive the equally-coveted official T-shirt afterward.)

Here are a few zanies from the 2006 race (click on photo to enlarge):

Licensed under the licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).

Well, the race IS held on the Fourth of July, after all, so a few Statues of Liberty are to be expected.

And here is a runner’s-eye-view of the 2007 race (click on photo to enlarge):

Licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0 ( Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

In recent years, both the Men’s and Women’s Divisions have been dominated by runners from Kenya and Ethiopia. No U.S. man has won since 1991 and no U.S. woman has won since 1995. Still, it is a fun way to spend the morning of Independence Day. Or so I’m told. I certainly will never find out on my own.

Here is my son (on the right) and his neighbor before the race:

My son, the young Mr. Rhymeswithplague, finished with the following electronically-timed stats:

Official time: 1:00:45
OverAll Place: 14474 of 55714
Gender Place: 9970 of 28032
Age Division Place: 1217 of 3307

Not bad, I would say, for someone who (a) is 47 years old and (b) began running for the first time in his life just a few short months ago. Needless to say, Mrs. RWP and I are extremely proud of him.

And here is my son (on the left) and his neighbor after the race:

I don’t know whether their faces are registering joy, relief, or sheer pain. Did I mention that my son is 47?

To read more about the Peachtree Road Race, all you have to do is click here.