The Hottest Half and 10k

I sure picked a special race this week, The Hottest Half and 10k August 15, 2010 at Norbuck Park, White Rock Lake, Dallas, TX. Of course I picked the 10k. The race was set to start at 7:30am. Both the 10k and half marathon started together. At a point in the race, you could choose to go right for the half marathon, or left for the 10k. Some people who had signed up for the half marathon decided on the spot to play it safe and do the 10k instead since it was so hot.

I arrived early to find a parking spot close to the event. After the sponsor booths went up, I made my rounds, and checked out the Run On!, Jamba Juice, and Tom Thumb booths. Since this race was a Mellew production, Mr. Lewis George, the man that started the Dadfest 5k 7 or 8 years ago, was in attendance. As most of you know, I'm a 3 year cancer survivor, so Dadfest is very important to me. When I started running, it was my goal to run Dadfest. Less than a year later, here I am in my 30th race.

I took a few pictures of myself by the finish line before the race , did my usual stretching, and short warm up run, then headed to the starting line. Most races count your chip time as your final time, but this race used the gun time as the final time, so I knew that it was important to start toward the front. I always run in my USMD sponsor T-Shirt, but in the heat I thought it would be best to run in my cut off technical shirt that I got from the Too Hot To Handle race. I did wear my USMD shirt to the Texas Rangers game on Friday night with over 48,000 in attendance. I spent some time walking around the ballpark talking to people about prostate cancer.

The race announcer got the race started on time, no 20 minute delay this time. I usually start out at a fast pace but since this was a 10k run in the heat, I just took off at an easy pace. It was a back and forth run. We had to share the track with people that hadn't signed up to run, just out for a morning run. I was running at a slower pace than usual, but I was still getting tired. I passed the 1 mile mark and crossed over a bridge on the lake. At this point, my feet and legs felt a little weak. When I got to the 2 mile marker I just kept running at a slow pace.

I saw people already coming back from the turn around on the left of me. I wished I could have been on that side, but I still had a long way to go. I hadn't run a 10k since I had gotten injured in the Butterfly Boogie 10k a few months ago. I finally reached the turn around and knew I was only half way there. A friend of mine, Mark, who follows my blog (www.runningforacause.tumblr.com) told me I shouldn't run this race since it was going to be so hot, and another friend told me that some Army reserve soldiers needed medical treatment after a training run on Saturday. With that in mind, I decided to stick to my philosophy which I discussed with Debbie Fetterman when we discussed the Dadfest 5k in June, "Just finish the race"! Check out Debbie's article about me and Dadfest on the Dallas Morning News website.

With all that in mind, and seeing much younger runners stopping to walk, I decided to do the same. I had to walk about 4 or 5 times, to make sure I didn't over do it in this heat. With diabetes, a pacemaker, and all of my other ailments, I just wanted to finish and be able to run another day. While going back over that bridge, I had to hold on to the railing because my legs felt like they were going to collapse. Soon after crossing the bridge, I came to the big turn, and boy I made sure that I went on the 10k turn and not the half marathon. Somehow with I mile to go I told myself to have the heart of a champion, and took off as fast as I could to the finish line. It turned out to be my slowest 10k, but the others were run in the winter or fall, and I didn't have to deal with so much heat. My final time was 108:03:40

If running this race in the heat was not bad enough, I went to the Texas Ranger's baseball game after the race and spent another 3 hours in the heat to see the Rangers defeat the Red Sox. Monday I went to my Dr. who first diagnosed me with prostate cancer on June 6, 2007, and who is also a prostate cancer survivor himself. He was very proud of my new slimmed down look. I thanked him for finding my cancer early so I could change my diet, and start exercising before my cancer spread to the rest of my body. My grandfather and uncle both died of prostate cancer so finding mine early gave me a better chance for a longer life. That is my basic message to men, and women who have male loved ones to get screened early; every year get a check up. Maybe my message will save a few lives along the way as I run in my races. Thinking about that makes me very happy!

September is prostate cancer month and one of the prostate support groups that I attend every month for men and their wife or caregiver will honor me for my running. and a little volunteering at Baylor Hospital on Gaston Avenue. Thank you Polly Candela and Alan Wright who run the support group and get us great speakers every month and kindly encourage me after each of my runs.

Results can be seen on the Run On! website here.

Pictures can be seen here (bib #1076)

Div Place: 4/9

Bib #: 1076

Overall Place: 237/569

Age: 58

Chip Time: 1:08:03:23

Gun Time: 1:08:03:40

Pace: 10:28