For The 40th Straight Year, Roswell Resident Will Run In Friday’s AJC Peachtree Road Race, A Family Tradition

Friday morning, when runners from around the globe gather at Lenox Square for the world’s largest 10K competition, Roswell’s Greg Puckett will be ready to participate in his 40th consecutive Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race.

With elite world-class runners in front of him and as many as 55,000 other contenders all around, Puckett has made it a point to join the fun every Fourth of July since 1986, the year Usain Bolt was born.

Nothing – from injuries to a pandemic – has kept him from conquering the course he first tackled at 15 alongside his father, Larry Puckett.

“Back then I didn’t even have to train for it,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.”

After about seven years of competing with his dad, a longtime runner who died in 2005, Puckett is continuing the family’s Independence Day tradition with some combination of his own kids. Together, 24-year-old Madelyn, Max, 21, and 16-year-old Coe help him keep his “streak” alive.

Admitting he’s “done some goofy things to make sure I don’t break it,” the 54-year-old ticked off several less-than-ideal decisions. From running after late-night college “hydrating” excesses in the early ’90s to limping through 2014’s event with a torn meniscus, Puckett prides himself on always clearing any racing hurdle.

“One year my son had a baseball game at 8 a.m. on the Fourth that I didn’t want to miss,” he recalled, “so I arrived at the start line at 5 a.m. and ran down Peachtree all alone in the dark. It was a thrill to be the first runner to cross the finish line!”

Then, in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a “virtual running” of the race, Puckett was determined to keep his in-person record intact. He drove down to Lenox, began where the start line would have been, ran the 10K course and finished in Piedmont Park. Alone again.

“My family drove up and down Peachtree yelling at me from the car window,” the executive at a supply chain system integration firm happily remembered.

Although he admits he no longer runs quickly, he still relishes the challenge – not to mention the annual contributions to his home office décor. Puckett’s wife, Jesse, who has been cheering him on since they began dating over 30 years ago, frames all of his race numbers. And, for every five-year mark, she makes him a special shirt to run in, which she also frames.

Calling four decades of Peachtree Road Race numbers, shirts and photos covering his office walls “colorful memories for us,” he has his sights set on collecting more. Many more.

Although the longtime runner’s athletic focus shifted several years ago to marathon swimming, he says he plans to take part in the Peachtree Road Race till at least 2056, when he’ll be 85.

“I’d like to run at least 70 in a row if I can,” Puckett said. “I heard that a couple of 80-year-olds are doing their 50th consecutive race this year, so I want to keep going long enough to hold the record someday.”