Mom, daughter fete birthdays in style
Nanci Jenkins, left, and daughter Calena Lawson recently ran in a half marathon in Orlando, Fla. The pair were celebrating Jenkins’ 50th birthday and Lawson’s 18th birthday. (Courtesy photo)
SANDPOINT — Looking for a fun and memorable way to celebrate two milestone birthdays, Sandpoint’s Nanci Jenkins and her daughter Calena Lawson decided to run in Disney’s Princess Half Marathon recently in Orlando, Fla.
Neither mom, who was celebrating her 50th birthday, nor daughter, who turned 18, had ever attempted a half marathon, but that didn’t stop them from flying across the country and not just finishing, but faring rather well.
Out of more than 17,000 runners, the Sandpoint pair finished a respectable sixth among 241 mother-daughter combos.
“We wanted to do something memorable and special together,” described Jenkins. “I will always treasure Calena’s face at the end when we got our medals and she said to me ‘Mom, that was so fun. I totally want to do another one.’”
Lawson clocked a 2:16, while mom was not far behind at 2:20, and they were able to run most of the race together. The times were slow, as much of the beginning of the race was spent dodging people on the race course, which ran through the Disney park. Jenkins was surprised at how fresh they were at the end of the race, joking that she expected to be crawling at 13 miles.
Lawson, who runs on the SHS cross country team and also plays softball for the Bulldogs, proved fairly adept at swerving through the large crowd of runners, including more than 200 brave men pounding the pavement among the princesses.
“I have to give a lot of credit to Matt and Angie Brass,” said Jenkins of the Bulldog cross country and track coaches. “They taught Calena how to run through crowds.”
While it might have been the first ever half marathon, it was far from their first race together. Jenkins started the popular Jacey’s Race in 2001, as a benefit for her daughter Jacey Lawson, then a 4-year-old fighting cancer who is now happy and healthy. Older sister Calena, then 7-years-old, ran along with mom in that first race.
A decade later, Jacey’s Race is still going strong, and still raising money to help local families with children being treated for cancer. Jenkins is hoping her daughter Calena can serve as a role model for other young girls in the community.
“Maybe it will inspire some other little girl to try the race this summer,” said Jenkins. “And then go on to take good care of her body so that she too can run a marathon one day.”
The 2011 Jacey’s Race is scheduled for July 10 in Sandpoint, offering both a 5K and 1K race.
Information: www.jaceys-race.com