"If you can't run with the Big Dogs, don't get off the porch!"

Peachtree Road Race Challenge
July 4, 2001

The big dogs were really barking before this race.  The sniping, yelping,  yipping, nose biting, and marking territory were just too much for most observers to take.  Big Dog Anderson, humiliated by his string of defeats, was barking trash about taking down the Top Dog Adams.  While Big Lady Dog Vlastnik confidently pranced around in the full knowledge of her consistent training, Anderson  was convinced she wasn't even a factor. None of them expected to take down Big Dog Finucan.  He had won every race that he entered.  These Big Dogs knew their only hope would be if Finucan encountered a large truck or something similar while he did his Iron Human thing.

The big day came.  Vlastnik was a seeded runner, which she rubbed in by howling from her front position over the rope separating her from all the others of the "slower" pack. From the start she had a five second advantage. Anderson, Adams, and Finucan were in the same sub seeded time group.  The day was hot, humid, and overcast.  Morning temperatures were in the seventies.  Humidity was about 85%.  Everyone was panting with their tongues hanging out their mouths.  Over 55,000 other dogs gathered to compete for the big prize of a T-shirt and maybe a mug for being in the top 1000.  At 7:30 am sharp, the horn sounded and the dogs took down Peachtree Street in a mass of canine fitness.
 
All the big dogs ran the first three downhill miles at a sub 6:30 pace. Finucan and Vlastnik even ran side by side through mile three. Then the hills came to separate the dogs from the pups. Finucan pulled away from Vlastnik at the base of the first hill not to be seen again until the finish.  The race for second was to be fought in the final miles. Anderson fell apart on the two long hills of the final miles and lost some ground.  Adams spotted Vlastnik about 25 meters ahead at mile five.  He closed the gap as they approached mile six, but Vlastnik's final kick in the last quarter proved to be too tough for Adams. She gained several seconds over him as she pulled away to the finish.
 
The winner was Finucan.  He ran a consistent race drawing on his endurance training and raw speed, finishing 47 seconds over Vlastnik and a minute over Adams.  Anderson was another 40 seconds behind Adams.  Humiliated and confused, Anderson went back to his porch to lick his wounds.  He was heard mumbling,  “You haven't heard the last from me yet!”  Finucan took back the Top Dog Trophy in a quiet ceremony at the Peachtree City Running Club Picnic.  Someone thought they heard him say, "Next time, they better stay on the porch."
 
The final times and place finishing out of 55,000 runners for the 6.2 mile race were: