Jenny was over in Orlando this morning with her mom and 3 sisters, starting out on the Disney half marathon as I was driving to Starkey park for my Saturday run. I got the first 5K update for Jenny just as I was getting there (I had signed up for text messages to my cellphone). 29:31 for the first 5K - a little bit slower pace than she wanted but I knew how crowded the start would be for her.
Keith and Dixie had gotten to the park early and had already started out when I got there. Eric was there so he invited me along to run a couple of miles with him. He was doing 15 and I'm not quite yet ready to keep up with him for an entire run. About 1.2 miles into the run my phone pinged again for another update. So, I said good bye to Eric and pulled my phone out of my belt to read the next pace. 10K time was 59:32, a little bit slower. I didn't think it would still be crowded at 10K, but I would later find out that it was. I ran into Keith and Dixie heading back in so I turned around and ran with them for a bit. As we were getting back near the parking lot, Nelson was heading out so I switched directions again and ran with him for a bit. He wasn't going very far today so I was soon on my own again. My phone pinged again, Jenny was holding her pace. I made it out to my turnaround point and headed back in. I ran another mile and stopped to retie my shoe on my right foot, it was starting to hurt me. Retying it seemed to help. I saw Bob up ahead but he was pulling away from me as I was stopped. So, I picked it up and caught up with him and ran in with him the rest of the way. As we ran back to the end I got the final update for Jenny, she had made it in 2:10:42 for her first half marathon. It was a little bit slower than what she wanted (she was hoping for between 2:00 and 2:09), but I think it was good especially considering the crowds that she had to fight through. All of her sisters and her mom also finished in the times they wanted. Between the cellphone pages and the different people I ran with it was definitely not a boring run for me. Average pace: 8:08 I headed back home and took my mom and my kids out to breakfast at the Village Inn. Thanks mom for coming over at 6:30 this morning to watch the kids for me!
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