What I did on my Christmas Vacation

I have been away from the loop for a bit, but now I'm back, and ready to fill you in on my week in Texas. We had a Bangle family Christmas in Austin, with 12 of us staying at my brother's house. Lots of good times were had by all. We saw a Christmas play (Santaland Diaries); we went to the movies (True Grit - excellent); we had some Texas BBQ at Salt Lick, and lots more good home-cooked food, and drank a lot of wine and other concoctions. Watched some football, opened some presents, played some games...just a really nice time for family togetherness. I am pretty lucky to have a totally non-dysfunctional family, if I may use a double negative.
But you probably want to hear about the running stuff. Well I managed to get in three runs in six days, so that's pretty good for a family vacation. Day 1 I did 10.3 miles alone along a nice bike path/trail. Averaged 8:20 with much of the run at MGP.
On Day 6 I ran 5 miles with my brother, which was fun and brought back memories of when we ran together in high school.
And on Day 4 was a 5K. Both my brothers and one nephew ran it as well and everyone else showed up to support, so that was a nice treat. Never had such a big cheering section (except for loopsterfest). I hoped to meet up with SavageTXGirl but after much searching before and after and watching everyone come in  to the finish, I did not see her. She also has not responded to my phone or email messages, so I guess she got a better offer on Christmas day and disappeared. For the record, I did not bury her in a lonely Texas cattlefield. Hopefully she will 'splain herself later for standing me up. Or maybe I just missed her. (Oddly, TexasRunningFool has also been missing from the loop. Maybe I better get a lawyer.)
Anyway, the race was fun. A little hillier than I expected. I hoped to PR under 20:54, but the hills made that a little too tough. I had to settle for beating my brothers (not too tough) and racing my nephew who is 17 and runs cross country. Mile 1 the dear nephew (DN) pulls ahead by about 50 yards, and then stays there. I keep him in my sights and we seem to be going the same pace. Mile 1 was 7:08 with 2 hills. Mile 2 started out downhill, and I briefly saw 5:45 on my Garmin - ha! Hung on to a good pace, and went through 2 in 6:48. The PR was out of range, but at about 2.3, DN started to falter up a hill and I knew I would catch him. We ran together for about 1/4 mile, but I was accelerating and pulled away with 1/4 to go. At this point I felt kind of bad because I didn't really want to beat him, but I was going to give it my best anyway, and hope it helped him push himself. I knew he probably had the kick in those young legs to catch me at the end. I'm pushing good, passing people, can't hear him behind me, but then, sure enough, he blows by me with no more than 10 yards to go and beats me. I was happy for him.
I finished with a 7:07 and the last bit at 5:49 - total time 21:48. My Dad said I was 62nd, but it was an untimed fun run. Had a nice time. Not even really tired after I recovered.
So here are some pics:
Flying in to the finish

DN flying even faster

Big Bro shows off his pump!

The Brothers Bangle (and DN)

Now I am back home and back to marathon training. Oh, my last run put me over 1,000 for the year! Best year since 1981! Woo Hoo!