Parsenn's Debut

Despite the fact he's still overcoming a bad case of pneumonia, Parsenn made his debut effort in the 400 meter walk yesterday afternoon on the historic Riverview Drive Out-and-Back Course. He broke the tape in 17:37 and still looked fresh as he headed to the elite competitor's recovery area (his kennel). Parsenn overcame not one, but two potty stops in the home stretch (and another dog, roughly 6 times his size, barking at him) to still run a negative split (9:31 1st half, 8:06 2nd half). Parsenn struggled a bit out of the gate, as he's trained solo the entire 9 weeks of his life, and the addition of a pacer (me holding the other end of a leash attached around his neck) took a bit of getting used to and caused a pretty choppy early gait and pace.
When asked how he was going to celebrate such an amazing debut performance, he barked, which I think means he's going to take the first opportunity presented to pee on our kitchen floor. When asked to compare this debut performance to another recent and historic first race (Ryan Hall's 59 minute Half Marathon American Record), He whimpered, then coughed up a bit of guk from his lungs.
In other, much less exciting news, I ran 10 miles in 1:12 for a 7:15 pace.