In 1998, after quitting smoking and beginning to run for fitness, Lizz Norman entered the T-shirt design contest for the first time and was chosen as a finalist. She also entered the race for the first time, at the urging of a friend. It was the first road race she had ever run.

When she finished, she thought, "Hey, I'm a runner now."

SCOTT BERNARDE / AJC (ENLARGE)

Peachtree Road Race T-shirt designer Atlanta resident Lizz Norman, a graphic designer with Bigelow Advertising in Buckhead, is one of five finalists in the Peachtree Road Race T-shirt design contest.

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Since then, the 46-year-old Brookhaven resident has run in eight Peachtrees, several other 5Ks and 10Ks, the Atlanta Half-Marathon, and the ING Georgia Marathon. She has also taken up cycling.

"I'm crazy athletic girl now," said Norman, an associate creative director with Bigelow Advertising in Buckhead. "Nobody in high school [Roswell High] would have believed that."

She also has continued submitting T-shirt entries, around three a year, and has been a finalist two more times, 2005 and this year. She plans to run this year, despite a stress fracture in foot. The cast comes off in mid-June, "so it might be a slow Peachtree for me this year."