FULTON COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Wednesday's annual Peachtree Road Race may be one of the hottest race days in the history of the event.
Nearly 60,000 people are expected to take part in the race, with Peachtree Road closed down from Lenox Square Mall to Piedmont Park.
But because of this year's heat, the event's organizers, like Tracey Russell of the Atlanta Track Club, have decided to adopt an Event Alert System, using different colored flags to let runners know how severe the heat is.
"It's encouraging our runners to be cautious, be mindful of their pace and listen to their body - it's going to be warm out there," Russell said. "We encourage folks to pay attention to those colors because we may have to up the level based on what happens during the morning."
Russell said the race will likely start out with yellow flags, which means the heat level is moderate, but could advance to red flags if the heat level is high. Red flags encourage runners to slow down, observe the course changes, follow official instruction and consider stopping. The system was developed after the 2007 Chicago Marathon, which was canceled because of heat.
Some runners, like Steve McCrady, already started preparing for a possible scorcher on Wednesday and shared his advice to other runners.
"Drink some fluids tonight and just kind of relax," McCrady said. "Just tell yourself that you're going to make it. It's just a mental thing."
Others, like Angela Gallman, walked around today's Peachtree Road Race Exposition with a CamelBak filled with water and ice.
"I've been training the same time that I'll be going in the morning that way my body will be ready for it," Gallman said.
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