The Frisco 5K and Merry Mile

This week I ran in the 2010 Frisco 5K and Merry Mile in Frisco TX. My oldest son John, who lives in Lewisville, came to watch me run. I arrived early before the racing team set up, and started my stretching, then went over to get my registration package and timing chip. I injured my groin during a training run this week, so I figured I'd stretch a bit earlier than usual. After the Run Time racing team, lead by director Rocky, had set up the start and finish line, I moved in and took a few pictures, including one with Rocky (see attached). This was my third straight race with him and the Run Time organization. I checked out a few of the sponsors who braved the cold morning to be with us. The sponsors included AAA Texas, Centennial Medical Center, Slimming World, and Relay for Life which is an upcoming event that honors cancer survivors and remembers those that have lost their battle (you can find out more here). Also in attendance was Moving Pictures who is always at Run Time racing events; they take great pictures. There were more sponsors but some never showed up at this cold event.   Registration was from 7:00 to 8:00AM, then the merry mile started at 8:00. I watched with the other 5K runners and cheered on the runners, especially the young children heading for the finish line for maybe their first time. I know that feeling. Now, I just repeat it over and over every race. It feels great when you finish and you know you did your best, and had a lot of fun doing it. The Frisco Frosty 5K started at 8:30. I lined up on the first row for this race which had close to 1000 runners and finished with 794 chip timed runners. The race started on Frisco Square Blvd, in a beautiful area with many tall buildings and shops. Frisco is the home of the Texas Ranger's minor league baseball team the Frisco Rough Riders, and the Dallas Maverick's D league team.   After a few turns there was a straight away headed out of the square, and I saw my son John who said he said he never saw me. I guess he was looking at all the beautiful women in the race; I can't say I blame him there. It was very windy that morning, with the wind blowing back at my face and body. I didn't want to start too fast this time, since I was slightly injured, but as the race went on, I pushed it more and more. We came to a long straight away with coned up area for those that reached the turnaround. At this point, the runners were bunched up, so I just ran outside of the cones where there was no traffic. As I got closer to the turnaround, I went back in the running lane behind the other runners. When we went around the turnaround, I started to pick up my pace a little more.   At the 1 mile marker, my time was 8:20. I wasn't sure of my time at the 2 mile marker, but kept going hard. We were getting closer to the square, so I really push it hard thinking that I was getting close to the finish line. Just one problem with that, when we got to the square we had another half mile or so to go. Boy was I surprised. I was getting pretty tired, but I knew my son would be there to cheer me on at the finish line, so I gave it all I could muster and finished in the time of 26:39. This was my fastest time since last year's Cowtown 5K on February 27 with a time of 26:39. I did run a 25:33 in the Arlington Highland's 5K on May 18 but somebody moved the cone at the turnaround so the race was only 2.89 miles, so I don't count that race. My fastest time ever was St. Paddy's Day Dash Down Greenville 5K on March 13 with the time of 26:01.   After the race my son greeted me with a big hug. I was out of breath. It always takes a few minutes for me to get back to normal after a race, but I am always very proud and happy to finish another race. After icing my feet and drinking my post-race drinks, we went back to check on the results. I was very surprised with how many runners had finished in my age division , and that I placed 3rd out of 15 men. The winner had previously won The Dallas Turkey Trot, and the 2nd place guy always beats me (but my time is getting closer to his). All 3 of us run Dallas Running Club races. My son John took a few pictures of me getting my award and I got someone to take a picture of us together. He seems to be my lucky charm, just like his dog Rocky who he left in my care after he moved away a few years ago.   My final line men 55-59   Place   Bib#    Age    Men Overall    Overall    Chip Time    Gun Time     Pace  3/15    966      59        130/321      183/793       26:32          26:33      8:32/m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com