Early morning sites and sounds

One of the coolest things about being an athlete living in a big city is watching the town come to life in the morning. I see this a lot on the weekend when I customarily leave around 6 am to go cycling. The interstates are silent. And then I return only to face the chaos. More intriguing are the days that I choose to ride in town on some of the city's major arteries. Riding through Buckhead and Midtown is quite exciting at 7 am on a Saturday.

Running is much of the same. The past two weeks I have gotten up extremely early to log a solid run before work. This morning I departed shortly before 6 am. Running in the dark presents a number of challenges but it allows you to see and hear things that typically go unnoticed.

On each of my runs I have headed north on Peachtree Industrial through Brookhaven and into Chamblee. As I am going out, traffic is light. The only sounds are the marta trains whizzing by. When my sidewalk runs out, I easily gallop across 5 lanes of traffic to the other side of the road. My primary concern is not tripping on the sidewalk and the occassional turning car.

However, 6:30 is the time that the city comes to life. Traffic picks up. But what I find really interesting is that you can tell exactly where everyone works by where they are driving.

1. If they turn onto Ashford-Dunwoody or Johnson Ferry it can be inferred that they either work in Sandy Springs (probably near the King and Queen building) or Alpharetta.

2. If they turn down Clairmont or Druid Hills then they need the interstate so they work Downtown or Midtown.

3. If they continue south on Peachtree then they work in Buckhead.

On my return traffic is much heavier. There are a number of cars turning off and onto Peachtree. There is no more running across 5 lanes of traffic. Instead I am forced to wait at the crosswalk. The Marta station is busier and busier as busloads of people are dumped onto MY sidewalk. Grrrr.

I guess I will need to start even earlier. I am willing to bet less people will be there when it gets cold. It is really cool to watch the city come to life.