Congrats to
Chad and to
Tracy -- loved the jingle bell photos, Tracy. Awesome PR, Chad.
Just a quick report from me on the Run to Victory Half Marathon (formerly the Victory Junction Run) in Randleman NC. Went to the aiport Saturday to pick up my friends from NY (Disney Deads Dave and Eileen).
Jeanne (
jeanneg) and DH
John were kind enough to pick up our race packets while I took Dave and Eileen to vist
Old Salem and have a marvelous lunch at the
Tavern there. Later, I also got to have dinner with Jeanne and DH John in Archdale (so I got to visit both sets of friends). Got back to the hotel and crashed. Woke up very early for this morning's race. Not much to tell that I haven't reported in previous years. (Here's my
race report from the inaugural race and from
last year.) I finished the half right about where I'd anticipated (3:15 was my estimate; I think I finished at 3:14 clock time).
My friends Dave and Eileen fared much better: Eileen (who finished around 2:00) won her age group and Dave (at 1:45) placed 3rd in his, so they both got very cool age-group award tiles made and presented by the
Victory Junction Camp kids (which NASCAR's
Kyle and Patti Petty took the time to autograph). Dave and Eileen were completely wowed by the camp and are already talking about coming back next year and bringing their friends. One "side effect" of having very speedy friends is that I didn't get to see Jeanne and John finish. I'd already made my NY friends wait an
hour for me to finish and I felt I needed to get my guests back to their Raleigh hotel. (As it turned out, they both said afterwards, "No! We would have loved to see Jeanne and John finish!" -- Next time I'll ask!)
Tomorrow Dave and Eileen have an early morning flight to...
WDW to take in 5 days of Christmas special events. I wish I was tagging along!
I will say that when I saw Jeanne and DH they were motoring along a little ahead of their planned pace, so I trust they finished well. I'll also say that both Dave and Eileen said that was the
hardest course they'd ever run (I've done this race all three years and it has been a different course each year) -- and that's saying something based on all their years of race experience.
Jeanne's DH, Me, and Jeanne (jeanneg) at the start
Me just after entering the camp with a race cheerer/volunteer
This year's medal was smaller/lighter weight and did not include the Penguin logo on the reverse (instead it had the camp logo).
I think the economy is hitting everyone really hard -- including the folks staging these races. It seems most of the race fields are smaller this year, the goodie bags lighter, the medals smaller. Looks like Disney may buck that trend though!
Oh! And I also saw WISHer Christa's
good buddy Ron Horton at the race again this year. I've known Ron for around 10 years -- and he's just an awesome guy. He had a pretty big running group with him this year -- I took their group photo. Amazing to think how many people I've come to know and love during these years of doing distance events -- even as slow as I am. A notice to all you newbies, it really can be life changing.
I met a very nice couple (whose names I've already forgotten) who remembered me from the Charity Chase Half I did very early this year. More specifically -- they remembered my WISH shirt! Again,
kudos to those who designed the logo and decided on the slogan -- so many folks comment on it! I always love wearing it too -- I really
live that slogan.
Sorry this took so long.
GO! WISH Team GO! 
Great job on the race -- thanks for sharing. Love reading the reports!
