DRC Breakfast Bash 5 mile

My race this week, which was free to members of the Dallas Running Club, was the DRC Breakfast Bash 5 mile on Saturday, September 4, 2010. The race was held at the beautiful White Rock Lake, and included a free breakfast after the race. Registration began at 7:00 and the race started at 8:00. The kids' race started at 9:00 so most of the parents who were racing in the 5 mile event would be able to watch and cheer on their children. Over 700 people pre-registered for this popular DRC race, and the tunout was huge. I had signed up as a volunteer to take pictures before and after the race. I tried to include most of the great volunteers who gave up their Saturday morning on race day, and who make this and all DRC races special. It is an honor to be one of the many. My pictures and those of the other DRC photographer, George, are available free on the DRC Web site. I can't make any excuses about the weather this time; It was near perfect running weather at the race time, with temperatures in the 60s. I had some new running shoes to break in on this run, which I bought at my favorite store, Run-On! thanks to some help from my friends at USMD Prostate Cancer Center. Speaking of which, USMD will be holding an open house with special guest, NFL Hall of Famer, and former Dallas Cowboy, Bob Lilly, on September 11 at their center in Arlington from 10am to 2pm. You can find information about this event as well as others this month at the North Texas Prostate Coalition website (http://www.ntxpcacoalition.org/). I will be there as soon as I can after my race next week. I didn't want to push myself too hard for this race. After running in the Hottest Half 2 weeks ago, I felt dehydrated, and it took a while for my body to feel normal again. I lined up at the starting line about 4 rows back. DRC President, Greg Hall, started this race. Greg has done a wonderful job of leading the DRC, and will step down at the end of the year to make way for a new President. I took off at a slow and steady pace, which I maintained for 4 miles. It seemed like everyone was passing me up, but I kept to my slow pace. At just over a mile, we started crossing that dreaded bridge. This time, it wasn't so bad. My friend Walter passed me up, and I told him to go for it. This time, I made sure to pick up some water from the water stop located at 1.9 miles into the race. Those new New Balance shoes really came in handy. I got a half a size larger than what I usually wear since I have been having trouble with the front of my feet swelling up after races. I was still pretty far from the turn around when I saw the first runner on his way back. We all cheered the runners on as they passed us by. When I finally got to the turnaround, I was amazed to see that there were still a lot of runners behind me. I knew this was only about half way through the race, so I decided not to slow my pace at all. On the way back, I didn't stop for water. I just kept running my pace to make sure that I had enough in the tank so that I wouldn't have to walk like I did during the last race. Going back across the bridge, my legs felt a little weaker than the first time crossing over. I saw my friend, and fellow volunteer, Walter up ahead of me. This gave me some inspiration, and I sped up my pace. As I passed Walter, I encouraged him. At this point, I gave it all I had left. Before the race, I met the two Herrera brothers, Ramon and Mario, who I had ran with in last months DRC relay race. Ramon was at the finish line, ready to cheer on his brother Mario. When he saw me, he started cheering for me, which felt really good. After I finished, I walked uphill back to my car to get my drinks that I use to re hydrate after a race. I immediately started cooling my feet so that I could keep the swelling down, then I got my camera out so that I could take some post race pictures. I got some good pics of the crowd of runners who had finished the race, and were getting in line for their breakfast. I also took pictures of the award winners. Remember, September is Prostate Cancer month, and with so many free screenings being held, there's no better time to get screened. Women, encourage the men in your life to get screened. This is what my running is all about, to create awareness to everyone I can that early screenings are an important part of keeping up with your health. Pictures can be found here. Results can be found here. Age Group Place Bib # Men Place Overall Place Pace Time 19/27 4914 242/359 350/721 9:36/m 48:00.47 I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. Visit my blog