After 9 days at Disney and a 8 hour car ride home, I was prepping my race day stuff before I even unpacked the night we got home. Even though I would have given about anything to stay in my warm bed just a bit longer, it was race morning.
I surprisingly felt great - I thought I would be totally exhausted from the past week (especially the drive home yesterday). The first mile actually ended up being my fastest race mile ever! The 5K made a u-turn at about the 1.5 mile mark to head back towards the finish while the 10K continued ahead for another 1.5 miles before making the turn to head back. The course is pretty amazingly flat for Atlanta standards, but the true beauty of the course is that the last 3/4 mile is slightly downhill (with a small hill in the middle of it).
With my fastest mile the first mile along with two consistent miles for 2 and 3, I crushed my PR by a minute! FINALLY! Third attempt was the charm. What is funny is that this was an official PR attempt for me. While I was trained for my PR, I mentally didn't think it would happen due to my exhaustion. It is funny how your body works sometimes though.