Regardless of the threat of bad weather at noon and after checking the conditions for the evening, we decide to get together for the first Trek the Trace of 2009.

A good crowd of pacers and non-pacers showed up at 6:00 P.M. yesterday for the two miles predicted time event. We had about 15 kids running this time, and a couple of them cycling the ½ mile distance. After listening to the only one rule for kids "Just have Fun" they went the distance and got nice yellow Southern Miss freebies, courtesy of the USM Alumni Association.

Later, the 40 runners lined up without watches or musical devices to run and check how close they can get to their predicted time…as always most runners ran faster than they thougth,(Terry Lawhead, Audrey Jackson,Vicky Copeland, Jim Coll,Ben Hudges,Robin Ryder,etc..) others paced themselves better walking than running, some feeling that went out too fast, ran the last part on Zig-zag, trying to make some time (Nestor Anzola) …But everybody finish happy and completing a good workout.

As winners we had a tie between the always fast Sheril Chatfield and the new and active pacer, Melissa Ravencraft. They were close to their predicted time by two seconds.

It was good to see a lot of people with their families.Everybody enjoyed the run, the food and the camaraderie of the fellow runners. We were glad to see, again, Jim Coll, Frank Barrett, Dawn Smith, Kelly Spiers, The Turner Family, and a bunch of new pacers. We also had the presence of former PBP president "El Jefe" Tony Mozingo promoting his book "The Longleaf Trace Companion".

I want to give special thanks to Hollie Ryder who was the time keeper.Also, a special thanks to Charles Jackson, who worked really hard with all the logistics and Nestor Anzola for compiling the results.

Next week, the event will be called "Find your Running Partner" (wait for details in a couple of days). Also, we will have a brief orientation about developing the runner’s center core using Pilates.

I hope to see you again next week, so we can stay in shape and have a good time!!!

© Kily Garcia