Twelve Months of 10K Racing

After completing my first marathon in 2024 I needed a new exercise goal for 2025 that did not involve running another marathon. Cherish wanted to travel more, and I wanted to try running in new locations. We decided to combine the two goals.

The plan we came up with was that I would run one 10K race a month, but it would need to be a race we have never done before, and it would need to be in a different location than our hometown of Georgia. Cherish thought twelve races was excessive so she agreed to join in for all twelve mini-vacations, you know, for emotional support. Cherish also decided that each race location had to be somewhere warm, no running in the cold. Here’s how that plan worked out for us:

January 25, 2025 – Miami Beach, Florida – Cemex Quarry Quest 10K

Escaping the Georgia Winter meant heading south for the first 10K. We debated how exotic the travel part of the equation needed to be in terms of destinations. We spent some time looking at the cost of plane tickets and quickly decided that this was going to be a US-based travel adventure.

First stop: a four-night trip Miami Beach Florida.

To attempt to create a consistent training schedule we decided to aim for the races to be at the end of each month. That helped us narrow down what races to participate in. We found the CEMEX Quarry Quest 10K https://runsignup.com/Race/FL/Miami/2ndAnnualQuarryQuest5K and thought “how can we miss the opportunity to run inside an actual Quarry!!!!” Like wouldn’t that be amazing????!!!

We decided to bring Haley along for this first trip since you know… it’s Miami! This was a first time visit for Haley and Cherish and this is where we quickly discovered that the first challenge to travel running: how to do mix the vacation part, which means eating lots of yummy new food, drinking lots of fun beach drinks, and staying out late seeing all the sites, when you need to avoid all of that to stay in a good condition to run a race? We decided to try and solve this by arriving a day before the race, racing, then spending a day or so after the race in vacation/celebration mode.

We flew down the night before the race, and shortly after landing received an email from the race organizers telling us the race was postponed due to hazardous conditions. It had rained a few days prior and because it’s an actual dirt quarry the rain created an unsafe ground conditions…. so we had to pivot. We did not have a backup race in mind so this became a quick vacation instead of a race.

We did decide to run two 5K runs that Saturday and Sunday morning along the beach, so in the spirit of running a 10K it was as successful trip but not the start to the racing year we had hoped for.

We would continue working through how to balance the vacation side with the fitness side for the remainder of the year.

February 8, 2025 – Dunwoody, Georgia – Tartan Trot 10K

When we got back from the Miami experience we looked at how much that trip cost us, and based on some of the other destinations we committed to later in the year (Montana and Colorado) we decided we were not going to be able to fly out to twelve different states without going bankrupt.

We pivoted to driving instead of flying and overall that saved us a bit of money. By the end of the year instead of visiting twelve states, we ended up visiting four, but that’s getting head of ourselves.

For February I ran solo at the Tartan Trot in Dunwoody. This is where I established my timing benchmark for the year. I finished 4th in my age group with a time of 00:55:40.

March 29, 2025 – Little Rock, Arkansas – Capital City Classic 10K

Mini-Vacation round two!

This time we headed to Little Rock, Arkansas. This was our first road-trip in the Telsa, something I had been looking forward to since buying the car and something Cherish was going to tolerate, but was skeptical about.

To break the driving up we decided to make a night stop in Memphis, Tennessee where we first toured Graceland, then we spent the night in the Bass Pro Pyramid at the Big Cypress Lodge. You should definately check out the Big Cypress Lodge if you have not seen it https://big-cypress.com. This trip was lot of fun!

19 hours and 17 minutes to drive 1,212.49 miles with 10 hours and 18 minutes spent charging the car. Cherish would later admit that while she was initially frustrated about the idea of having to stop to charge the car, she ended up enjoying the breaks that it introduced. And we let the car drive itself for long stretches of the trip.

I ran solo on this race as well. It was raining for most of the morning. There was a brief stop of the rain where we all lined up at the start line, and almost on queue as soon as a majority of the runners were on the street ready to go the bottom dropped giving everyone a good soak. It poured long enough for us to all get soaked, then stopped and mostly cleared out. There was some light drizzle through the rest of the race.

I finished with a time of 00:54:01, a minute faster than the previous month, squishy shoes and all.

This was a good validation test to confirm the Peloton Training plan I followed was working as intended.

At this point in the year my personal goal was to enjoy the runs, not set PR’s, but I also believe in being consistent so I didn’t want to stray too far from the previous benchmark.

April 5, 2025 – Charleston, South Carolina – Cooper River Bridge Run 10K

The year prior we ran the Cooper River Bridge Run for the first time and could not pass up the opportunity to run it again. As the 3rd largest 10K in the United States, and the race with the most swag we have ever received from a race, we were excited to try it again. We decided to drive up and take a two-night stay in Charleston making this our second road trip in the Telsa. My mom and her best friend Debbie joined us for the trip.

10 hours and 59 minutes to drive 670.24 miles, stopping 3 times to charge each direction.

I was most excited about Cherish joining me for the run. She finished in 01:05:04 and I finished in 01:05:03, which I attribute to my stride being longer than hers.

May 26, 2025 – Boulder, Colorado – The Bolder Boulder 10K

This turned out to be our biggest vacation run of the year.

We picked this race because it’s the second largest 10K in the US (maybe the world???) so it made sense to us to go ahead and run the Top 3 10K’s. It works out that the timing of each race happen in reverse order. Number three is the Cooper River Bridge run, number two is the Bolder Boulder and number 1 is the Atlanta Peachtree.

While we were excited about visiting Colorado without snow, running in the Rockies is not something to take lightly. To attempt to acclimate, we arrived five days early then gave ourselves an extra night of recovery after the race, for a total of six nights in Bolder. Having never attempted to run at this elevation, we decided the vacation part of the trip would be mostly about gentle walks and casual dining. In hindsight this was the only vacation where we mostly laid around in bed and watched TV.

We did get out and enjoy the scenery though. We visited Boulder Mountain Park next to the University of Colorado. While it was hard on the lungs it was beautiful.

We visited Red Rocks, also amazing, so it wasn’t all binging on TV shows:

Race day arrived and a heavy rain that morning turned into a light misting that continued for the entire race. This was now the 3rd race in a row in the rain/mist. This was not a pattern I was looking forward to for the rest of the year.

The race finishes inside the stadium which they had lined turf with this flooring. It was slick from the rain. I love this image of us in synchronization.

The most impressive thing to me of all the races for the year is that we both clocked identical chip times of 01:03:51.

I’m proud of Cherish for not only sticking this one out in spite of the rain, but for also shaving two minutes off her previous finish time.

June 21, 2025 – Roswell, Georgia – Possum Trot 10K

Running along the banks of the Chattahoochee River seemed like a nice way to tackle a June 10K in Georgia.

The funny thing about this event is that Cherish said she was NOT going to run this event. I signed her up by accident and neither of us realized the mistake until a couple of days prior.

I was most excited that there was no rain during this event.

Despite the last minute notice, Cherish dropped another minute off her finish time, crossing the line at 01:02:15 and I came in at 01:02:16.

We got to meet this thing at the finishers area:

July 4, 2025 – Atlanta, Georgia – AJC Peachtree Road Race 10K

The largest 10K in the US is the must-run 10K event in Georgia and we were back at it again this year.

This was my first time wearing patriotic colors for the event. I went with a T-Shirt and Cherish went with the socks.

Cherish continued speeding up, dropping another 2 minutes off her finish time. At this point in the year she was now finishing 5 minutes faster than she started, a wonderful achievement. She was more excited about beating her previous Peachtree time by 4 minutes.

August 16, 2025 – Roswell, Georgia – Area 13.1 Half Marathon & 10K

Shaking things up for August, while there was no travel involved, we found this 10K race which begins at 7:10 PM. The idea of running at night instead of the morning seemed like fun. And who can beat an alien themed run!!!!???

We stuck with the 10K version of this event.

And indeed the atmosphere was great at the beginning of the event!

Leading up to this event Cherish began experiencing what would ultimately be diagnosed as Plantar fasciitis in her left leg. This race would end up marking the end of her running for most of the rest of the year. Almost immediately after starting the race she was in pain, but she was determined to finish the event.

As the race progressed, seconds after passing mile five, a torrential rain storm hit, bringing heavy rains and lighting. In 30 years of running this was the worst storm I have been running in. In hindsight I was appalled that the race organizers did not end the event.

We finished the race: Cherish with a time of 01:05:55, and me at 01:05:54 thankful to have not been struck by lighting.

September 14, 2025 – Cumming, Georgia – Vibha Atlanta Dream Mile 10K

Earlier in the year we registered to run the Bozeman Half-Marathon & 10K in Bozeman Montana in September. It was the trip both of us were the most excited about as neither of us have been to Montana. Looking at finances and the fact that Cherish was no longer able to participate we gave up on additional travel runs for the year and decided to cancel the Montana Trip.

I was determined to finish 12 runs so I pivoted to only running local events. Disappointed about not being able to travel and run and that Cherish was out for an indefinite amount of time I decided it was time to shift my focus. Instead of racing for fun I decided it was time to set a new Personal Record. I found this small race close to home and decided to give it a try. There were no photographers for the event and I’m not big on selfies so no visuals to share for this race.

My plan to PR did not happen for this run as I placed 37th in this run with a time of 00:58:08, almost 4 minutes slower than Little Rock, but it kicked me into high training gear and gave me the kick in the rear I needed to get more serious about training hard.

October 25, 2025 – Cumming, Georgia – Fast Pace Race 10K

Heading into this race I was 13 pounds lighter than September. Me and Cherish joined our neighbors on “The Whole 30” food plan. This thirty day sugar elimination process worked beautifully.

It was also freezing (by Georgia temp standards). I don’t normally bundle up for runs but I found that without the extra body fat I was staying colder than I prefer so gloves and a hat have become a new standard for me. I was trying out some new hybrid gloves for this run in an attempt to keep my fingers from staying frozen. They worked ok but do add some bulk to the experience. Same goes for the hat, so I would be making some wardrobe changes moving into the next few races.

This course is mostly flat which meant it was going to be a nice one to attempt a PR on.

I felt great going into this one and one of the race photographers snapped this photo of me as his first photo of the race. Bonus points for an early arrival at the start line!

I ended up finishing 3rd place in my age group and won my first medal with a time of 00:51:53.

Until this point I had not even bothered to figure out what my PR was. Inspired by the age group win, I looked up my PR and saw that my 10K PR happened back in 2010 when I was 33. Back then I ran the Peachtree in 00:49:41. Comparing that to this time I began to believe I might actually be able to beat that!

November 23, 2025 – Cumming, Georgia – Get Basted Turkey Trot 10K

I turned 48 years old and celebrated by running this event. Hoping to PR I did not wear anything silly.

I finished in 00:50:00, shaving just under 2 minutes off my previous time. This race also marked another first for me as I finished 1st place in the Masters Category.

December 20th, 2025 – Buford, Georgia – Reindeer Run 10K

The year of 10K running was at an end. I was not in a different state, I was not warm, I was not with Cherish, but I crossed the finish line with a time of 00:49:09 breaking my PR from 15 years ago by 00:00:32 and finishing first place in my age group.

Proud of my effort and personal achievement, I was standing in line to pick up my finisher pins. I noticed an older man in front of me. He is 61 years old, 13 years older than me. He won 3rd place in the race with a time of 36:18:52 beating my time by 12 minutes. At 61 years old! Simply amazing! It was a perfect example of my racing philosophy which is that there will always be someone faster than me, and there will always be someone slower than me. But it does make me smile that I got beat by an old man.

January 3rd 2026 – Atlanta, Georgia – Polar Opposite Peachtree

So what about race number twelve? With Miami being cancelled I only got in eleven races for the year. I had not given this much thought until December, so I decided I needed one more race.

In 2025 the Atlanta Track Club decided to try a new race: reverse the Peachtree Road Race course. Oh and instead of running it in the July summer heat, hold the event in the winter. The first race back in 2025 sold out before I could enter the event. For 2026 they doubled the number of participants and I was able to register. This race violates Cherish’s “no running in the cold rule” so she was not going to participate.

After my PR in December I went a bit overboard in holiday celebration eating, and mentally I was pretty much ready to be done running so this was not going to be another PR attempt. I figured that after running the regular Peachtree for the last nineteen years this would be a pretty easy run. Boy was I wrong. It’s basically a never ending up hill run the entire race.

I ended up finishing the race in 00:52:58 and fought for every second of this thing.

So with 12 races now completed and 2026 off to a start it was time to kick back and chill for the year.

Then another Atlanta Track Club email arrived and I caught another bug to do something silly….