My race this week was Dadfest 5k June 12, 2010 at Galatyn Park in Richardson, TX. Over 2 years ago, I set a goal to run in this event. I started my training at Fitsteps for Life, and got myself into the best shape of my life. My 2 sons decided to run this race with me, which made me very proud to be a father. This is my youngest son, Edward's 2nd race and my older son, John's 1st race.
This race means alot to me, because it benefits Urology Research and Education Foundation, which is 1 of 3 regular prostate cancer support groups that I attend each month. Every month, they hold meetings where they have speakers that lead discussions on various topics regarding prostate cancer. They also provide free meals at the meetings, and it's a great place for survivors and their families to meet others and gain support from each other.
Anyways, I arrived early so that I could volunteer before the race at the Urology Research and Education Foundation tent. They had a free prostate cancer risk assessment, a free massage, and a Fitsteps For Life representative that handed out info on their free exercise program which is available to cancer patients and their caregiver. Me and my sons dedicated this race to my younger brother Jimmy, who recently had to be put on a feeding tube (we are praying that he will get better, so the doctor will be able to take the tube out), and my 84 year old mother living in a nursing home Alzheimer's unit.
I helped set up the UREF tent, and got a free massage. Then I stretched out while waiting for men to get the risk assessment or to ask questions. A little while before the race, I checked out some of the great sponsors there, including Run On who I wanted to thank for helping me promote Dadfest. For months now, I have been visiting their stores all around the area, putting out fliers promoting the event. They even put me in contact with Debbie Fetterman of the Dallas Morning News, who decided to write a story about my promotion activities. Anyway, I went back to the tent for a while, and went to the starting line area to do a little short running to warm up before the race.
I lined up on the 2nd row, and the race started. I had no idea how this course would be, so I just followed the people in front of me. Thankfully, it was a little cooler than last week, and we had a nice breeze blowing on our backs. Instead of slowing down, as I usually do after a quick start, I tried to keep up a faster pace. About a mile into the race I was getting tired, probably because I don't usually run that hard at the beginning. But I wanted to take advantage of the wind at my back, so that's what I did.
I knew there was a turnaround in this race, and it wasn't long after the 1 mile mark that I saw the front runner coming back. I tried to keep up my pace as best I could, and reached the turnaround. On my way back, I saw my sons. John give me a fist bump and told me to go for it. Man, if that doesn't make a father feel good then I don't know what does. At this point, the wind was in my face and there was a small hill to climb. I just tried to keep up, but ended up slowing down a bit.
I saw the 2 mile marker, and kept a steady pace. I saw a Friend of mine, Ken, from the Dallas Running Club ahead of me. He always runs faster than me, so I tried to keep pace with him, so that I could have a good finishing time. When I got to the home stretch, I started running harder. I kind of wish that I had started my kick sooner, but I was pretty tired. I just did the best I could. Another friend, Sam, from the DRC cheered me on from the finish line. He was injured, and wasn't able to run, but still came out and showed support for Dadfest. Heading into the finish line, I sprinted the fastest I could. I looked over at my final time 27:26. Not bad.
After my run, I went to my truck to cool down, and went back to the finish line where my sons were resting, and cooling down. Since we didn't finish at the same time, I wanted to simulate the finish with all of us so that we could get a picture together. After a few tries we got a decent picture (see attached). We and the people around us had a few laughs doing that. It was fun. I really wanted to get a picture at the stage where they had a father son lookalike contest, but we wasted too much time and missed out. I was a little disappointed, but at least we got some great pictures together. My friend Jerry Glover, of Jerry Glover Photography, also took some great photos which you can see here. Also, you can see a few more pics of the event at the Dadfest website, here.
There were tons of activities after the race, and we enjoyed quite a few of them. There were some basketball goals set up (courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks) where you could shoot againstopponentnant. There was a bean bag toss, a fake mountain climb, a golf putting area, and several booths with cool giveaways (like t-shirts, food, DVD's, etc). On the stage, there were even mgiveawaysways including some tickets to see the Texas Rangers baseball team play against The Boston Red Sox. I disappointednted that I didn't win, and I'm sure those tickets went to a Red Sox fan.
After the last thing was given away, they started the awards ceremony with the survivors category going first. Normally, I run in my age group (55-59), but since this was a race promoting prostate cancer awareness, I decided to run in the prostate cancer survivor category. There were only 5 survivors in this group and my time was good enough for 2nd place. The 1st place winner was 62 years old with a time of 23:01. Way too fast for me young man. I receivebeautifuliful plaque for 2nd place. My friend Marty, who ran with his son and his grandson, was awarded 5th place with an excellent time of 38:30. I only hope that I am in as good shape as Marty when I'm his age. Seeing him run Dadfest 2 years ago is what inspired me to try and race in the event myself.
After everybody receitheirhier awards, the 5 of us survivors went on stage where they us each a medal and took our pictures.
This was on of the proudest and happiest days in my life. To run at my age with prostate cancer and other health issues with my 2 sons was a great experience, and we are all looking forward to doing it again in 2011. I want to say thank you to everyone that saw my Dadfest fliers and signed up. Happy father's day to all you fathers out there. Every year at Dadfest we are taking another step to win the war against prostate cancer, so that our sons will sufferufer from it. I want to thank everyone that signed up and joined me at the event.
Final results can be seen at the Dadfest website, here.
My final line:
Place Overall Bib No Age Age Group Chip Time Gun Time Pace
2/5 155/643 334 58 109/434 27:25:00 27:26:00 8.47/m
