Race for the Children 5K

Like last week's race, there was no turnaround on this course. There was a starting line in front of the court house, and 3.1 miles away was the finish line on a street adjacent to the court house. I arrived early and took a few pictures in front of the court house by a statue of a giant horse and rider, and of some clowns who attended the event. I also took a few pictures with Cliff Couch, who was the announcer, and who has probably started a dozen of the 33 races that I have raced since I began almost a year ago. He always does a great job making it fun so that everyone has a good time.   I stretched and did a little light jogging before the race, then went to check out the farmer market one street over. While at the farmers market, I saw my son and his girlfriend who had just parked. I gave him my camera and he took a few more shots of me before the race (notice how they are all in focus). After the fun 1 mile run, it was time to get serious. I lined up on the first row, and waited for the start of the race.   Cliff sounded the starting horn, and I took off at a quick pace. I slowed down a little but still kept a faster pace than last week. It was another hot and humid morning and sweat was covering my glasses. I just wiped it off and kept going. At the 1 mile marker a volunteer called out the time. Mine was 8:48. I was satisfied with that, so I tried to keep that same pace. Before we got to the 2 mile marker there were a few inclines and hills. Some of the runners stopped and walked at this point. I kept running the best I could.   When I came to the 2 mile marker the volunteers (who I believe were from the Masonic Lodge) said my time was 18:20 or as I can figure 9:32 for the second mile. It was a little slower than my first mile, and I was getting tired, but I didn't want to slow down my pace. Actually, I tried to run harder. With only 1.1 miles to go I ran at my best speed to the finish line. Based on the final time, I figure I ran that last 1 mile in 9:14 and about 1:00 for the .1 mile for a total of 28:34, which was good enough for first place award in the 55 to 59 age division where there were 7 runners.   You can see the full results at the Run-On! website.   There were alot of free gifts given at random by bib number. My lucky streak continued and I won a gift basket with a ton of goodies, which I later shared with my family. Included in the gift basket was a gift certificate for Red Lobster worth $75.00. I took my son and his girlfriend and her daughter out to eat after the race, and gave the rest of the balance to my younger son and his girlfriend.   I'd like to thank USMD for my new compression Under Armor shirt . It felt great running in it; I almost feel like a runner now. Well, a very old prostate survivor runner anyway. Thank you for the kind comments about my blog, and remember that September is prostate cancer awareness month.   There are some pictures of me at the official race for the children website. Here are some direct links to the ones with me in them:   Photo 1 - Photo 2 - Photo 3 - Photo 4   Also, you can see more pictures from this event and others at my blog, www.runningforacause.tumblr.com   My final line was:   Place   Bib#   Overall   Chip Time   Gun Time   Pace  1/7     1433   51/169    28:34:00     28:34:00  9:09/m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. Visit my blog