The pain in Suzanne Culver's chest nearly four years ago— not a case of indigestion as she first believed — was the sign she needed. The subsequent diagnosis of a mild heart attack and the heart-catherization procedure after that gave her no choice but to do something about her health.

"That got my attention," the 54-year-old from Conyers said. "I got my butt in gear and did something about it."

SCOTT BERNARDE / AJC (ENLARGE)

Conyers resident Suzanne Culver got a wake-up call in 2004 with a minor heart attack. She decided to do something about it and with the help of the Peachtree Road Race and a regular exercise program, she has lost about 50 pounds and is in much better health. Jump-starting a healthier lifestyle is a common thread among many Peachtree runners.

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That included participating in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race, the 10-kilometer event that many have used as a springboard to a healthier lifestyle. The annual Independence Day event has turned couch potatoes into serious runners, overweight people into slender versions of their former selves, and yo-yo dieters into nutrition-minded calorie-burners.

"I've met thousands who've changed their lives in a positive way because of Peachtree," said former Olympian Jeff Galloway, the Peachtree's first winner who has become of the country's leading running experts. "Most of these folks began training so that they could get the T shirt, put it on the wall and retire.

"It didn't happen. The training experience triggers so many positive experiences that they couldn't stop — better vitality, improved attitude, improved self image."

Culver, who will walk the Peachtree for the third straight year July 4, has lost 70 pounds and exercises five days a week, with strength training and three-mile walks around the neighborhood or at Rockdale County's Johnson Park.

Culver's story is not that uncommon for Peachtree participants. For the past decade or so, Janet Monk has read many of them. As the point person for the Atlanta Track Club's online effort to elicit personal Peachtree stories, she has read those stories of losing weight, quitting smoking and increasing fitness. "Sometimes, they make me cry," she said. "You can tell it comes from the heart."

Culver's heart is stronger in part because of the Peachtree, even though she acknowledges that she was concerned before her first race — "I wondered if I might have another heart attack doing it." Now she says the Peachtree motivates her to keep going.

"I'm going to walk the Peachtree. I know that doesn't sound exciting to runners, but it is to me."