During the summers, football Coach Kirk does double duty and wears the hat of baseball coach, so there was no way he was running a race and not a team on that Friday morning. By the way, who in Atlanta schedules anything at the same time as the world's largest 10K??
So the question then was, what do we do with our extra number? Peachtree Road Race numbers are coveted things, so I knew we could find someone to step in last minute. Tucker had a better idea- he wanted to run. I wasn't so sure at first. I mean the kid had never even done a 5K let alone a full 6.2 miles of heat, hills, and humidity through the streets of Atlant; But he really wanted to run the race, so early July 4th Tucker and I headed to the ATL to find a parking spot, a Marta station, and our corrals.
We started off strong, hoping to finish the race, head to Woodstock, and catch the last of Tanner's first game. Mile one came and went and we were strong. He was making me proud. Mile 2 he said he might walk a little. "You go on and I'll catch up with you," he said. HA! yeah right, like I'm going to leave you in the middle of Atlanta with 65,000 other runners and hope to see you at the finish. Let's go, Buddy! and with that we ran, walked, and jogged our way to Piedmont Park and all the goodies that awaited us.
I couldn't then and still can't begin to tell him how proud I am of him. I think he was pretty proud of himself, too. And who wouldn't be? You don't just get a PRR t-shirt for signing up and paying your money. You have to earn it and earn it he did, with a time of 1:08 on his first EVER 10K!
We ran together the whole way and I may have lost my spot in the B group for next year, but I am ok with that.
Because everyone needs a picture like this:
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