AJC Peachtree Jr. T-shirt design contest and race
The AJC Peachtree Jr. is a healthy, fun event for kids May 17 in Piedmont Park that includes a 3k (1.86 miles) race for those between 7 and 12 years old, and a 50-meter Lil' Peach Dash for those 6 and younger. Like the race for adults, there is a T-shirt design contest that is open now. Get your kids drawing and send their ideas in to AJC Peachtree Jr Design contest, 3097 East Shadowlawn Ave., Atlanta, GA, 30305. Deadline for entries is Friday, April 4.
AJC Peachtree Jr.: May 17, 9 a.m. All finishers get a ribbon or pennant and a T-shirt. Parents may not run with children in the 3k. Parents may run with children in the 50-yard dash. Entry is $10 through February, $12 through March 17, $20 through May 14.
Getting ready for the AJC Peachtree Road Race
For those who want to use the ACJ Peachtree for a warmup, log on to www.jeffgalloway.com.
The AJC Peachtree Road Race takes place each year on the Fourth of July. Registration for the 2014 event will open March 15 through an online lottery at ajc.com/peachtree. 2014 will mark the 45th running of the AJC Peachtree Road Race. Those wishing to be one of the 60,000 participants selected can register for the event lottery online anytime during the eight-day period beginning Saturday, March 15 until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, March 22.
Regardless of the day or time of registration, all individuals and groups who enter the lottery during the eight-day period will have an equal chance of being selected for the 2014 AJC Peachtree Road Race. Entrants will be randomly selected after the lottery closes on March 22. All lottery entrants will receive an email by March 25 informing them of whether or not they were selected for the 2014 event. Searchable results of the selection process will also be posted on peachtreeroadrace.org and ajc.com/peachtree on March 25.
Have you ever wondered if you could run the AJC Peachtree Road Race, the annual 10k run along our city’s signature street?
Stop wondering, pal. Jeff Galloway knows you can. Here’s how you could pull it off by race day on July 4.
Walk, don’t run, to the nearest sidewalk, park or other place where you want to see the scenery roll past. Make sure you’re wearing good running shoes. Limber up.
Then, walk. After you’ve gone a half-mile, run … for five seconds. Yep. Five seconds. Follow that with 55 seconds of walking. If that effort doesn’t leave you gasping on the ground, repeat the process: five seconds running, 55 seconds walking. Do this for an additional half-mile. Total distance traveled: one mile.
Do this for one week and guess what? You are following in Galloway’s famous footsteps.
Galloway, 68, is a renowned Olympian, author and international ambassador for an activity that he says improves participants’ lives. He should know: 56 years ago, while attending the Westminster Schools, Galloway was forced to select an after-class sport. He chose track.
“I was a fat kid,” said Galloway, the driving force behind a half-marathon that bears his name taking place here on Dec. 14. “It (running) burned all the fat off me. I just got hooked on it.”
That initial hook eventually led him to Munich, host of the Games of the XX Olympiad, where he competed in the 10,000 meters, a grueling race that demands equal parts speed and stamina. He did not win, but went on to compete elsewhere around the world. He hasn’t stopped. These days, Galloway runs a marathon a month.
That brings us back to the Peachtree Road Race, established in 1970. Galloway, who won that first race, believes nearly anyone can get ready for the run with the right training.
Galloway calls his training regimen the run/walk/run method. It’s based on five decades of running experience, as well as reports from more than 300,000 runners who’ve followed his advice. Here’s how it works:
- Remember the five seconds running/55 seconds walking? Galloway calls that the 5/55. Do that for a week, walking the first half-mile, then finishing the second half-mile with the combination run and walk.
- On the second week, don't walk the first half-mile. Instead, do the 5/55 combination for an entire mile.
- Third week? Go for 1.5 miles daily. If you feel up to it, experiment with your run/walk ratio: try 10/50 (10 seconds running and 50 seconds walking), or maybe 15/45. It's whatever feels comfortable.
- On the fourth week, run/walk for 30 minutes, using whatever ratio feels best.
This is the literal first step in a training regimen that relies on gradually increasing running times until a trainee is hoofing along, doing six or seven miles at a stretch. It’s not hard; it just requires patience.
It also trains your body, hardening muscles and strengthening “weak links.”
“We all have them,” Galloway said. “For some, it’s genetic; others, it’s old injuries. Or both.”
And if you really stick with this, said Galloway, you could be running marathons before you know it. Imagine running from the Gold Dome in Atlanta to downtown Duluth, 26.2 miles.
The training, said Galloway, is seductive. Before you know it, the miles just roll on.
“In fact, once someone has done a 10K, it’s not that hard to move up to a half-marathon,” he said.
Or a race like the Jeff Galloway 13.1, a half-marathon bowing on Dec. 14. Galloway anticipates scores of runners will lope along some of his favorite routes — through Ansley and Piedmont parks, Virginia-Highland and Brookhaven neighborhoods, fleet-footed folks taking in some of Atlanta’s best scenery.
Of course, you have to make that first step. So, dear reader, get up from the La-Z-Boy. July 4 is coming up fast.
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