| This week, I chose to run in the Komen Race for the Cure in Dallas on Saturday October 16, 2010. I wanted to support the Cancer Support Community of North Texas (formerly Gilda's Club http://www.cancersupporttexas.org/) and ran as a member of their team, which was lead by Melissa Garner. My younger son Edward also walked in the 5k with his girlfriend. I ran to honor all of the survivors at the Cancer Support Community as well as the survivors at my exercise center Fitsteps for Life. org (http://www.cancerfoundationforlife.org/). I work out at their Dallas location which is in the Cancer Institute of Dallas in Duncanville. One of the doctors there, Dr. Charles Lee, also ran the race, and finished in twenty something minutes. I can only dream of running that fast. Dr. Lee sets a great example for all of us. I also saw a former nurse named Cyndi, that ran a great race, as well as a survivor that I train with at the Fit Steps for Life, and her grand daughter. My son and I drove to the Cancer Support Community so that we could ride the bus to Northpark Center for the race. We walked over to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America tent (https://www.cancercenter.com/), who had a drawing for a $100 gift certificate. The team of volunteers, lead by Lou Ann York did a great job at the tent. They must have given out thousands of free canvas shopping bags, each with the word HOPE printed in pink. The Cancer Treatment Centers of America are one of the top sponsors of Cancer Support Community of North Texas. They send a group every other month to the center to discuss nutrition as it relates to cancer patients and other great topics. I wanted to compete, so I needed to get to registration and pay an extra $5 so I could get chip timed, and get closer to the start of the race. My son told me that it took him and his girlfriend about 25 minutes just to get to the start line for the race; there were so many people at the event. I started out close to the announcers, well behind the group of elite runners who were separated from the other chip timed runners. At the start line, I met a guy named Sean, who I had seen at quite a few races before. Sean is a 20 something year old that can run a 5K in about 20 minutes. I told him to move up closer to those elite runners since his times are so good, and that's exactly what he did. At the start of the race is a small straight away with timed runners on the right lane and untimed on the left. Then there's a quick right turn to the corner where everyone jams up and mixes together. At this point the runners who have the speed can get out in front and get ahead of the crowd. I could only walk at first then a little trot then after I turned the corner I picked it up a little more. I told myself this was going to be a fun run so I just needed to take it easy and enjoy everything about the race, especially all the beautiful women. I was daydreaming about talking to some of them after the race, but forced myself back to reality. There were many neighbors who came out to welcome us. My favorite was the "dog watering" stand where a couple of neighborhood kids were giving water to the dogs that were at the race. There were also some cheering high school cheerleaders at different turns in the course. There was a large group of them at the water stop, where I ran through flashing my "deer sign" like my Texas Ranger baseball players do when they have a good play that results because of their speed. When I reached the 2 mile marker there was a large time clock for everyone to see how they were doing. I made it at 18:55 which is a bit slower than I wanted, so the competitive spirit in me said "lets go". I took off at as fast a pace as I could and tried to keep it there till the finish line. There was a long downhill area, so I made up some time there. I passed many runners as I got closer to the end, then ran the last few turn to the home stretch to the finish line where there was a huge group of people and volunteers cheering. Its a wonderful feeling to have that kind of support when finishing a race. I high fived everyone after I finished... especially the beautiful women. I could not go to my car to ice my feet and drink my after race drinks like I usually do, so I drank water instead. I went back to Cancer Treatment Centers of America tent where the nice lady gave me a bag, which I started filling up with goodies from the other sponsors. I went back to the finish line to see if I could see my son and his girlfriend as they finished, but couldn't find them, so I went back to the CTCA tent. At this point, they had run out of bags, but I was supposed to meet my son there after the race. I was a little worn out and when they didn't show up, I decided to go back to the bus, thinking they might be there. No luck. I started walking back to event, and met them on the way. We walked to the Half Price Books parking lot where my son's girlfriend works, and whom she ran for. We drove back home, and I took a quick shower and went with my son to watch the Texas Rangers win their first home playoff game against the NY Yankees (wearing the white Jerseys, not the unlucky Red ones of course). We were both very tired, but had a wonderful time at both events. I'm looking forward to getting to my first Texas Rangers World Series game. We're almost there. I took a few pictures at the Rangers game, but I could not bring my camera on the bus to the run. One picture is of the Stand up to Cancer sign which is sponsored by Major League Baseball. Well this is my mission now, to get the word out when I run. Maybe someday I will be blessed with a grandson like my two sons, and they will be able to say grandpa thank you for standing up for me and doing something to make a difference. My final line in men 55 to 59 division: Bib Class Position Men Overall Overall Total Chip Time Gun Time Pace 1381 4/14 217/349 376/939 28:32 28:37 9:09/m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com |
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