The Gay / Happy Race 5K

My race this week was The Gay / Happy Race 5K and 1 mile run and walk on Saturday, February 19 at Elm Grove Pavilion, River Legacy Park in Arlington TX. The event benefited Girls Inc of Tarrant County. I arrived early and jogged a bit to loosen up before I started my stretching routine. After the volunteers arrived I got my bib number, and took a few pictures. The starting line of the 5K was in front of the Pavilion, on the pavement. The race started at 9:00AM and the 1 mile started at 9:30AM.   I'd like to take a moment and thank USMD Prostate Cancer Center in Arlington TX (www.usmdpcc.com) for their great treatment of me. As most of you know, in September of 2007 Dr. Justin Lee performed robotic surgery on me, and cancer has been undetectable ever since. I also want to thank them for providing me with the opportunity to train and run races every week. I am now in the best shape of my life and feel like a new man.   I started on the first row for this non chip timed race. The timing is done the old fashion way, manually, as you cross the finish line. The race director, Jeph, writes down the winners in each age division before the award ceremony. I took off fast. After only 1/4 of a mile, we moved on to the trail for the rest of the race. The temperature was about 70 degrees when the race started, so I began to warm up fast. To my surprise, my time at the 1 mile marker was 7:54. Wow, what a start! I came to the 2 mile in the time of 16:06 (8:11 / mile pace). I didn't know if I could keep up this pace, but I figured I'd do my best. This was a fast flat course, which was perfect for me. I just told myself to run as fast as I could. My time at the 3 mile was 24:19 (8:13 / mile pace).   With no hills to climb up this time, I ran as fast as I could to the finish line, and even passed a few runners up before crossing the finish line with a new personal best time of 25:25 (an overall pace of 8:11 / mile). I ran the last .1 mile in 1:06 this time, and I finished second place in my age group. At the award ceremony there was a drawing for about 10 sponsor gifts including sunglasses, gift certificates, and some cases of drinks from Muscle Milk and Honest Tea. The Honest Tea guys also handed out bottles of their great drink after the race. A nice lady took a picture of me getting my 2nd place award. There were 47 female and 41 male finishers in the 5K and about 8 in the 1 mile.   Results can be seen here.   Place    Bib#     Men      Overall     Finish Time    Pace                                    2/4      3688    20/41      25/88         25:55        8:11/m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com