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| There off! |
As the story goes a little engine once lacked confidence in
his abilities. To overcome the
challenges he faced he set goals and recited, “I think I can” as he slowly made
his way to success. Every time runners
lace up their shoes for a run or a race they face a challenge which may
question their confidence. Challenges
are a way of life to a runner. Without
them how do we measure growth? Noted
author Helen Keller once stated, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing
at all”. The ATC Spring Tune Up 8K/15K
was such a race with a daring adventure.
I’m sure by participating in this event made that little engine proud of
what all the runners accomplished that day.
At 7:30AM it was a balmy 41 degrees, but that didn’t deter
all the runners from lining up at the start for what would be a challenging run
through the Inman Park and Freedom Parkway area of Atlanta. Given all the recent snow storms in the area
it was a great day for a run. If you’re
in the middle of your Spring Half Marathon or Marathon training this event was a
great tune up race to see how your training is going.
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| You've got this!! |
From the start of the event the course takes the runners
through Inman Park, snaking us through Krog Street and Irwin heading towards
the Historic Fourth Ward Park. From
there we were presented with our first ‘little engine’ moment as we turned on
North Avenue for the half mile climb (death march for some) towards Freedom
Parkway. I think for many, at least me,
this was definitely a “come to Jesus moment”.
Whose idea was this
anyway?!?! After that hill I’m sure
many runners where glad that was over. For
the most part the rest of the course was filled with your usual road challenges
you face in Atlanta, a hill here, pot hole there. If you were one of the fortunate few that signed
up for the 8K you only had to do the North Avenue hill once. The few daring soles, like me, got to benefit
the joy of seeing it twice. Yea!!!
So while the North Avenue hill was a mammoth
of a hill… the overall course, the many volunteers, police officers, and
runners made this event a great experience.
The weather was outstanding and the organizers, the Atlanta Track Club, and Inman Park community hosted a great event. If you’re doing a Spring half or full marathon next year, or just want a
good challenge then you should definitely add this event to your racing calendar. And, like I always say… Keep Running!! ~ Big Rome
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| Hey! There's a race going on! |
