diff --git a/nsqd/nsqd.go b/nsqd/nsqd.go
index e4267a292..0a161b88d 100644
--- a/nsqd/nsqd.go
+++ b/nsqd/nsqd.go
@@ -430,9 +430,17 @@ func (n *NSQD) Exit() {
 // GetTopic performs a thread safe operation
 // to return a pointer to a Topic object (potentially new)
 func (n *NSQD) GetTopic(topicName string) *Topic {
+	// most likely, we already have this topic, so try read lock first.
+	n.RLock()
+	t, ok := n.topicMap[topicName]
+	n.RUnlock()
+	if ok {
+		return t
+	}
+
 	n.Lock()
 
-	t, ok := n.topicMap[topicName]
+	t, ok = n.topicMap[topicName]
 	if ok {
 		n.Unlock()
 		return t
diff --git a/nsqd/topic.go b/nsqd/topic.go
index 65d0b71f0..62f604e28 100644
--- a/nsqd/topic.go
+++ b/nsqd/topic.go
@@ -389,7 +389,13 @@ finish:
 
 func (t *Topic) AggregateChannelE2eProcessingLatency() *quantile.Quantile {
 	var latencyStream *quantile.Quantile
+	t.RLock()
+	realChannels := make([]*Channel, 0, len(t.channelMap))
 	for _, c := range t.channelMap {
+		realChannels = append(realChannels, c)
+	}
+	t.RUnlock()
+	for _, c := range realChannels {
 		if c.e2eProcessingLatencyStream == nil {
 			continue
 		}