TIFTON — When Ernest Lang lines up today to run the 40th annual Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, he will begin his 31st consecutive Peachtree event

The race is a 10 kilometer road race, which is equivalent to 6.2 miles.

“I love running,” Lang said.

And although many converge on “Hotlanta” to race, Lang sees it as an opportunity to “just run the event.”

“I used to run it as a race but now days, I am just too old to run it like a race,” Lang joked.

Over the last 31 years, Lang has seen the Peachtree event blossom each year, growing from around 10,000 runners in 1979 to 55,000 expected at today’s event.

“There are too many now,” Lang said.

“But it is well organized and it runs smooth.”

Lang was a football player at Tift County High School under Kermit Perry and Tommy Guillebeau from 1962-1964 and was also coached by Ray Broadaway.

Guillebeau served as the Executive Director of the Georgia High School Association, while Broadaway served as the Executive Director of the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association for 21 years before retiring in 2008.

Lang will start near the front due to his qualifying time from earlier this year.

“The first group to go out is the world-class runners, then the sub-seeded groups, which are really fast runners,” Lang said.

“Then I will get to start. I am in time group one. There are nine time groups, and each group waits around six to ten minutes to start.”

When asked what his first memory was in his first race, Lang quickly responded.