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Thursday, July 05, 2007

Independence Day 2007

I took off Tuesday afternoon because the Broadwells from Virginia came to town for the race…Ceil’s friend Dawn. We went to the Varsity and walked around downtown…Centennial Park, CNN Center, and around the Aquarium and new Coke Museum. We hadn’t made reservations, and it was too crowded to go in.

We drove up to Lenox, where 15-year old runner Kirk Broadwell wanted to go to the runner’s expo. There I saw Bill Dukes from Second-Ponce, whose daughter I had coached in basketball. That night we were worn out from all the walking. 

On the 4th we arrived at the start around 7:45 am…15 minutes after the race started. Myron and Kirk were in Group Six, so Will and I moved back with them. The group six area was already full, but we only had to wait ten minutes before the group slowly began walking to the start line. We started at 8:15, but it took a mile for the crowd to thin a little. Every year there are more walkers…most don’t know to stay to the right, making it hard for runners. 

We didn’t stop at SPdL, but I did see John & Margaret, Jerry, Marcine, Debra, & Steve Head, David Hall and his mom, Oeida Sara, Peggy Weisenbaker, David Sapp, and Mary Hubert. Since we ran the first two miles in 22 minutes, it sounded like I didn’t miss the Whitakers by much. 

Kirk ran ahead and finished in 53 minutes…weaving through people the whole way. His first mile took 11 minutes, the second took ten, so he averaged 7:37 for the last 4.2 miles. Myron, Will and I stuck together and pretty much ran with the pack, only weaving around the walkers. At the five mile mark Will took off and ran in, making it his best Peachtree finish ever. Myron and I finished with a time of 66 minutes, my best finish in over five years. We’d have to get back in one of the first couple of groups to run a faster time. 

Wednesday afternoon the moms took the kids to the pool while Myron and I fixed some drawers in the kitchen. Myron’s roommate in Columbia was our small group leader Lee, so his family came over as well. Will and Kirk grilled burgers and dogs, then we went to the fireworks show in Roswell. Afterwards traffic wasn’t too bad. With the Broadwells still in town, we’ll probably have another big dinner with the Earharts tonight.

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