Kevin Khoo ran his first AJC Peachtree Road Race last year.
He liked it so much he’s become a Peachtree evangelist, inviting friends and family to join him this year in the legendary July 4 race.
Bringing others into the Peachtree fold has many positive results. You can train with your friends. You can have a cohort running with you during the race, whether you’re in Wave B or Wave Z. You’re encouraging a healthy habit in others.
But this year convincing friends to run the Peachtree has a special set of rewards. The Atlanta Track Club has created a contest for Peachtree runners who convince others to join called The Peachtree Invite Challenge.
Those who register five friends with a special invite-only link will get a gift card. Those who bring in 15 friends will get a pair of adidas running shoes. The prizes get bigger for the person who draws the most runners into the race, including tickets to see the Atlanta Braves play the San Francisco Giants the night of July 4.
As of Friday, April 26, Khoo was ahead of the pack, with 28 recruits.
Khoo, 33, a transportation engineer, said running the Peachtree last year was a positive experience. “I really highly benefited from it.”
He wanted to see others enjoy that payback. “I reached out to people at work, to friends, to family, to some of the friends I follow on Facebook. I said ‘Let’s train together, let’s get healthy’.”
For Khoo, the Peachtree was a return to the kind of physical conditioning he hadn’t pursued since playing club soccer at the University of Tennessee. In 2014, going one-on-one with a rather large opponent, he injured his ACL. He finally got it repaired four years ago.
Training for the 2023 Peachtree was a chance to strengthen those joints and also to enjoy that oxygenated post-run tranquility.
“I felt like it’s therapy, it’s good for the soul,” said Khoo. “We’re too sedentary with our lifestyle, whether its teleworking or whatever. Once you try it and give it a go, sometimes it turns out to be a great thing.”
Last year’s race inspired Khoo to step up his game, and last December he ran a marathon to raise funds for St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee, and then added a couple of half-marathons back in Atlanta.
As of Friday he was only four or five recruits ahead of his closest contender, Solimullah Kazi of Suwanee, so Khoo has continued to beat the bushes to find new runners.
As a traffic engineer, he works every day to make Atlanta’s roads safer and less congested. (Of Atlanta’s nightmarish commutes, he says, diplomatically, “I’m blessed to work in this challenging system.”)
But at the Peachtree Road Race, the crowds are the best part. “The crowd is like none other,” said Khoo, “the constant cheering, the support from fans and bystanders, and the end was fantastic.”
The AJC is looking for compelling stories of runners and running clubs who will be participating in the Peachtree Road Race. We want to know why you run and what the race means to you. Drop us a note at PeachtreeRoadRace@ajc.com
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