The online registration for Atlanta's 2009 Peachtree Roadrace begins March 15, 2009. If you're in town, I definitely recommend doing it at least once in your life. The letter below is an email I sent about my Peachtree experience in 2007. I hope to get better at posting my thoughts in this blog...real time or at least within the week of my writing. ;-)

Family and friends,

I just wanted to share a photo and some thoughts about the Peachtree Roadrace that I ran with my girls, Wendy and Jeanetta from the PGF crew on July 4th. We got up early in the morning to run 6.2 miles with tens of thousands of people down Peachtree Street here in Atlanta. This was my second time running the race and when I got up at 6 am, the thought of running another 10k weighed on my mind as pointless. I questioned myself, “why I would do such a thing?” I mean, I wasn't racing to win; I wasn't advertising the business nor was there any novelty about the experience. In fact, as the three of us waited with our group to start the race, I was the grumpy one of the bunch complaining about everything it seemed. In my defense, I had very little sleep from a bout with insomnia.

However, as I ran up the first hill (did I mention we ran the whole way!) my mood began to change. It was helpful that music from various bands played along the way and that a few times during the route the roadracers roared with excitement and joy. At one point we even participated in the arm dance commonly done with the Village People's YMCA song. I looked around me and as I observed the people I was sharing the experience with- people of all ages, races, body types and lifestyles- I realized that I was part of something bigger than myself. This was a collective of individuals who sought to achieve some individual or group goal.

We were walking or running examples of the strength of human will, perseverance and determination. There were people walking with disabilities who did not let a limp, walker or cane stop them from participating. There were men and women well within the retirement phase of life, showing us all with their athletic prowess that the body can continue to work beautifully in harmony with our heart and soul even when the world has told us we are too old to matter. There were obese men and women who decided that they weren't giving up on themselves and that despite the world looking upon them with disapproval, they could push pass the discomfort and achieve something difficult. There were babies mounted on top of dads next to mom having their first race together as a family. Naturally, there were those who had trained their bodies either to compete in the race or just to push it to the next level. And to round out the experience we had a host of onlookers that did their part to encourage all participants to keep going…we had everything from a priest throwing holy water on runners that past his church to a drag queen in cheerleading attire on a building shaking what his mama gave him.

In us all, I saw that the human body is a beautiful servant to the human mind and that if we decide with our mind that we will and can do something, the body will obey.

Have a great weekend.