DRC Frigid 10K / 5K

This week, on Saturday January 8, 2011, I ran in my second DRC Frigid 10K / 5K at Winfrey Point in White Rock Lake. Registration and bib pickup started at 7:00AM, and the 5K and 10K races started together at 8:00AM. This race was free all members of the DRC so it was an easy decision to run in the event. Non members had to pay a fee, but could rest easy knowing that the DRC donates a portion of the race proceeds to special needs groups in the area . This is true of all of the free DRC races this year. This particular race benefited CC Young which is a retirement community in Dallas.

The new president of the DRC, Peggy Munroe, started her 2 year volunteer duties and was our starter for the race. Special thanks go to the race time company We Time Races who will be providing chip timing for all of this year's DRC races. Previous DRC races were not chip timed, so this is a really nice gesture by wetimeraces. Not to be outdone, my favorite running store, Run-On! had a booth where they served hot chocolate. Ryan, the store manager of the Dallas location worked the booth, as well as other members of the Run-On! team. Baylor Sports Care was also present at the race to make sure all the runners' health needs were taken care of. Thank you to all of these great race sponsors.

I am one of the DRC volunteer photographers, so I began taking pictures soon after I arrived. There were over 1100 runners signed up for this race, but many either did not show up or forgot about the new chip timing pick up for this race, so in the final count they were listed as DNF (Did Not Finish). I ran into a woman named Joyce who I had met at the Help the Homeless race a few months ago. At that race, we had our picture taken with the mayor of Dallas. She emailed me the picture of us together, so that was cool. Thanks Joyce! I also met other nice men and women at the race; it sure beats staying home sitting in my easy chair. I read a quote online the other day from someone named W. M. Lewis, "the tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." After 30 years of idle times I am enjoying life again.

I started about 8 or 9 rows back. I ran in the 10K race, and both the 5K and 10K races started together. I used my usual race strategy, which means that I took off as fast as I could. When I reached the 1 mile marker my time was 8:23,then at 2 mile marker it was 17.13 or as I figure it 8:50 for that second mile. This was a little slower than I would like, which means there's plenty of room for improvement in the future. At this point, the turnaround for the 5K runners was coming up. Us 10K runners kept straight to the 3 mile marker where my time was 26:35, a 9:22 mile.

There were hills, and of course the notorious bridge that makes your legs feel like jello when you cross it. My time at 4 miles was 35:32, a 9:03 mile. I began to slow down a bit on the hill, and my 5 mile time was 45:00 or a 10:22 mile, which was alot slower than I wanted. With only 2.4 miles to go, I began to speed up as fast as I could to the finish line at the 6 mile my time was 53:54 which meant that I ran a 8:54 mile. I forgot to stop my watch at the finish line, but my official finishing time was 56:26:00, a personal best 10K time! This was my 5th 10K race, and it felt great to have such a good time. When I ran this race last year, my time was 1:01:34, so I shattered that record.

Place Bib Men Overall Overall Chip Time Gun Time Pace
10/16 876 161/224 210/392 56:26:00 56:29:00 9:06/m


I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community.
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