Hemingway Days 5K Sunset Run

July 29, 2010

Hal, Mags, Jen, Betsy & Kathy





Hemingway Days 5K Sunset Run

One of the longest running of the annual Hemingway Days events is the Sunset Run. The 18th annual run was held last Saturday on a hot and humid evening, starting and finishing at the Southernmost Point and following a path that lead down Whitehead before winding around the Truman waterfront and back. Kathy had decided to run the event along with a group of friends and I went along to root her on and to attend the wonderful post-race party at the Southernmost Hotel.

Kathy

Karen

The race started at 7:30 PM but it was still sunny and warm and the runners had to deal with temperatures in the high 80s and high humidity. Not all that unusual for July in Key West, but still somewhat challenging. Kathy was joined by her friends Betsy, Jen and Mags (who was joined by her son Hal).

Hal

Coffee & Flo

Mags and her husband David and children Hal, Max & Flo are here visiting from the UK, David & Mags lived in Key West once upon a time and are back here together for the first time in years. Max was also planning to run, but after spending a day in the Key West sun, wasn’t feeling exactly like running and through some technical foul-up with registration, Betsy ended up running under his registration allowing her to compete in the 9 and under male- category in the race, for which she placed second.



Nan, Coffee, Flo & Rosie

Hal lead the way of our group, with a time of around 27 minutes, good enough to actually place 2nd in his age group and collect some hardware for his good showing. The rest of our group were close behind all finishing near the 30 minute mark, a successful run all around. The winning time was from a man from Terre Haute, Indiana at 17 minutes 28 seconds with the fastest female finishing at 19:18.

Elizabeth & Mike

There were 375 participants in the race, making for a big crowd at the wonderful post-race party and awards ceremony. The Southernmost Hotel & Barbara Wright Productions know how to throw a party and it was a fun, packed event with food, drinks, prizes and awards for the runners.

Hal

Rosie & Flo

The morning after the race, we all gathered for the annual Tour de France wrap-up waffle breakfast at the home of our friends Nan & Mark. It was here that Betsy was given her award for placing 2nd in the 9 & under male division and Nancy wrapped up her victory in the annual Tour de France betting pool. Nan finished first overall in the pool that involves picking the winner of each days’ stage as well as the overall jersey winners.

Betsy gets award!



Mark finished at the opposite end of the spectrum, failing to capture a single point after placing his faith in Lance Armstrong. After a very slow start, I closed quickly during the last week, correctly picking the final 4 stage winners, and the overall winner, and I finished just out of the money in 4th overall- not too bad for my inaugural entry.