Run for a Purpose 5k

This week I ran in the Run for a Purpose 5k at Cedar Hill High School's Longhorn track in Cerdar Hill, TX on Saturday, March 26. The race benefited lung cancer research at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Rexanna's Foundation T.E.A.M. Scholarships. Rexanna's Foundation is named after Rexanna Hawkins, an educator and coach, who died of lung cancer at age 49 in 2006, even though she was never a smoker. This particular race was held to honor David Milson who spent 23 years coaching at Cedar Hill High School. Just weeks after his retirement in April 2010 he was shocked when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. David, a non smoker, died on January 31, 2011 at the age of 53. This event included a 5K walk / run, kids fun run, and a health fair. There was also a special dedication ceremony to David after the race. Personally, I ran this race for my little brother Jimmy, who is currently in hospice care. He is 53 years old, and his birthday is next week on April 6. I am grateful for all that he has meant to me in my life. Now it seems that it's time to prepare myself to lose him.   I arrived early, went to registration desk to pick up my race package, and took a few pictures by the Run for a Purpose sign. I run every race with a purpose. I jogged a while around the high school parking lot and stretched. The start / finish line was on the track and the course then branched out to the streets around neighborhood. There was no turn around for this course; overall, it was great. After the fun run, the 5K started. It was about 70 degrees by the 9:00AM start. Just before the race started, my younger son Edward, who just got married last month, arrived with his wife. He took pictures before, during, and after the race.   I lined up on the first row and talked with a guy in my age group named Alan, who looked fast. I also got a high five from the Chick Fillet Cow, who started the race with us (but didn't do the whole 5K). Once the race started, there was a straight-line dash out of the high school track. My Run-On! coach, Dan, said I had some good training runs, and I really wanted to erase my record time at the Madi Gras Run because I think the course was a little short. With my family out to watch me run, I was motivated to beat that time. After sprinting as fast as I could out of the track I made my way to the street with a police escort. There were a lot of turns on the course, but they had volunteers there to guide everyone, and cheer everyone on. It felt great!   Soon after leaving the track, the man in my age group passed me up. I told myself to try to keep up with him if I could. I arrived at the 1st mile in 7:21, and made it to the 2nd mile in 15:16 (7:55 / m pace). I tried to increase my speed after about 2.5 miles. I arrived back on the track for a sprint to the finish line with all I had left to give. My Garmin timer had only 3.0 miles, not the 3.10 it takes for a 5K. I could be wrong, but again, I think this course was a little short. My final time was a new personal record at 23:33. I don't know if I'll be able to erase this short PR time off my record now.   I finished 30 overall, the highest finish ever with over 200 runners or more. This was the first race these organizers had run, and they did not post the results like all of the other races I have run in (over 60). After cooling down and checking out the health fair with my family, the award ceremony started. I thought I finished 2nd place, and so my son was ready to take a picture of me with my award. It turns out that unlike all the other races I've been to, they only gave awards to the first place in each age group with 2nd and 3rd place runners leaving empty handed. I was a little disappointed as I am sure other were. It's not that big of a deal, but I just like to put the award around my dog Rocky when I am lucky enough to win one. He wags his tail and smiles back with his big tall ears like "you did good grandpa, I'm proud of you!"   You can view the results here.   Place    Bib#     Men     Overall   Chip Time   Pace  2/6      1580    26/110   30/291     23:33      7:36/m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

Lochrann's Pub Paddy Dash 5K

This week's race was the Lochrann's Pub Paddy Dash 5K at Frisco Square in Frisco, TX on Saturday March 19, 2011. Each runner was able to choose 1 of 5 organizations for their entry fee to benefit. My choice was the Boys and Girls Club of Collin County. The other choices were C.A.K.E. (who missions to educate motivate and inspire children, trying to eliminate child sexual abuse), Frisco Cares (who provides health and wellness care to the under served in the community), Frisco Family Services Center (who provides social services to individuals and families in need), and Mane Gait (who provides therapeutic horsemanship to children and adults with disabilities). The event also benefited Back On My Feet, a non-profit organization that promotes self sufficiency of those experiencing homelessness, and encourages them to use running as a means of building confidence, strength and self esteem. Run-On! has a team of volunteer runners who train with some of the homeless runners at The Bridge (Dallas), including Candace George and Genevieve Moran. Good job ladies.   Before the 5K run, there was a one mile fun run and a kids 50 yard Paddy Dash. Other activities included bounce house, silent auction, face painting, and a dunk tank. They had about 30 sponsors with a lot of volunteers to help out. The announcer said they had over 800 people signed up for this third annual race. This was a chip timed race, which they removed from your ankle after the race so that it could be used again at another race. Some racers must not have used the chip timer since the 5K final total was 352 finishers. I arrived early as usual, and picked up my bib# and chip timer at the registration desk. I took my usual warm up jog around the square, then watched the start of the other fun walk / run races.   The 5K started at 8:30 AM. I line up 4 or 5 rows back to start. A fellow member of the Dallas Running Club Scott McKissick said that the award age groups were 56-65 for the race, which made us competitor this time. Usually my age group is 55-59. I arrived at the first mile marker in 7:59. This course was different than other races; we had to run 2 laps to finish the race. I glanced over at the timer on the first lap to see that I ran it in about 12:45. There was a cone turnaround. which meant that we had to slow down to get around it twice in this race. At least the course was flat. The temperature was close to 70 degrees which is a bit warmer than I wanted it to be. I sure do not like it when it warms up like that. The hotter it gets, the harder I breathe.   I arrived at the 2 mile in the time of 15:51 (7:52 / mile pace). I tried to pick it up some more so that I could have a great finish. At this point, I could not see Scott any more so I ran behind a lady to pace myself to the finish. She took me all the way end. At the 3 mile marker my time was 23:51 (7:59 / mile pace), and the last .1 mile took me 1:14 according to my Garmin timer. The final results said that I averaged a 8:04 per mile pace for the race, but my Garmin timer said I was under 8:00 for the first 3 miles. Try figuring that one out. Well my final time was 25:05, good enough for second place behind 62 year old Scott. Great running Scott! I thought I would not have to run against you until I reached 60 years old in November. The sad thing is that I would have won my age group if there was a 55-59 age group like most of races. I guess there were not enough old runners to necessitate the extra age groups.   After the race, I got to hang out with my son John who came out to see me run. He is my "luck of the Irish" since I always run a good race when he comes to watch me. He took several pictures of me during and after the race, including one after getting a huge green leprechaun hat for second place. He also took a picture with a couple of Texas Legends Basketball Dancers, who are coached by Nancy Leberman. I also got to meet and talk to Laura Nelson, a well respected runner in the community, who was recently voted the top female runner by Clines Running Corner www.clinesrunningcorner.com. There were several people who came up to me and congratulated me, telling me that I ran a good race. Several people, like Genevieve, sent some encouraging words to me while I was running, like "go Teddy go!" All that support makes me feel great! I love encouragement and like to give it out too. Running has changed my life for the better and I hope I can inspire those of you that haven't tried it yet to try it also.   Place     Bib#         Men         Overall        Chip Time       Gun Time      Pace  2/9        252        55/182        66/352          25:05:9          25:07:6      8:04 / m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

St. Paddy's Day Dash Down Greenville 5K

This week I chose to run in the St. Paddy's Day Dash Down Greenville 5K on Saturday March 12, 2011 at Central Market on Lovers Lane and Greenville Avenue in Dallas, Texas. The event was presented by Run-On! and proudly benefited the North Texas Food Bank. At the race, Run-On! owner Bob Wallace presented them with a check for $56,000 which was taken from the race proceeds. There were a record 6,397 registered runners signed up with 3,808 finishers (also a record). I guess that some of those that registered must have run without the chip time, or perhaps they just enjoyed the post race festivities, and watched the parade afterward. Speaking of the festivities, there were a large number of sponsors at the race including Central Market, Cooper Fitness Center, Community Coffee, My Fit Foods Dallas, Fuze, Muscle Milk, and Jerry Glover Photography. Check out some of his pictures of this race and last week's Madi Gras race on the Run-On! website, and his company site. If you raced in the event, you can type in your bib # in to see your pictures. The most popular sponsor was Gordon Birsch who served free beer.   As always, I arrived early to find a parking spot then took a few laps around the Central Market and stretched to warm up. I then went over to the huge post race area and took a few pictures at the start / finish line. The closer it got to the 8:30 race start time the more crowded the fenced in area became; it was completely filled up with people. I made sure I was standing in front when they let people line up for the start of the race. I was fortunate enough to start 6 or 7 rows back. I ran this race last year, and until recently it was my best 5K race time at 26:01. I have lowered that time a bit recently thanks largely to Run-On!'s early speed development training that I started in January of this year. My coach, Dan Hagelberg, and a few others in our training group also ran in the race.   Coach Dan told me to just run to have fun, and not to try to get a personal record at this event since so many runners would be crowding up, limiting the running room. But there is only one way I know how to run, and that's as fast as I can. I always try to do my best. So after we started, I took off fast. We went straight a few long blocks before turning right on this fast, flat course. My feet and hips have less pain now since I've lost more weight.   I arrived at the 1 mile marker in 7:39. I just kept running hard, following the crowd in front of me. When I got to the 2 mile marker, my time was 15:33 (7:53 /m pace). I have never gotten to the 2 mile marker faster in any other race. There was a small hill to climb, but I had practiced running it at the 4 Run-On! social runs that I attended at Central Market, preparing for this race. I started to get tired about 2.5 miles into the race. Coach always says that you have more to give than you think and that it is supposed to be uncomfortable when you push yourself, so I just pushed on as hard as I could. Finally, there was just a long stretch to the finish line. This is where more experienced runners passed me up as I got tired, lost some of my running form, and didn't relax my breathing enough.   At the 3 mile my time was 23:38 (8:05/m pace) and the last .1 mile in 57 seconds for a finishing time of 24:36. After stopping to catch my breath, I was surprised to see Coach Dan, and other Run-On! training members who are all faster than me, congratulate me at the finish line. Besides coach there was Laura Goodon (who finished in the fastest time of all of us at 22:57), Genevieve Moran, Courtney Lavey and later John Wrethrich, who is 65 years old and finished just 2 seconds shy of getting an award. Genevieve, Courtney and I went by the Run-On! tent and took a picture with some other lady. I also took a picture with Damaris (and her friends) who is one of the biggest supporters of my blog. She always answers back after a race report with some encouraging words. It means the world to me, as do all the other people who follow my blog and / or get email updates from me.   I also took a picture with Diana Proud by Jerry Glover tent and another one with her and a friend at the Cooper Fitness Center tent. What an amazing lady; she also ran in the race, like last week. I try to inspire others to walk or run to better their health, but Diana is the one who inspires me to try to be better and always do my best. After the race I stayed to enjoy the parade down Greenville Avenue in front of the race area at Central Market. That night I went to the Dallas Mavericks game. They lost a close game to the Lakers. Last week's race was a little short so I don't count it as my personal best. So this is now my personal record 5K time at 24:36. Overall I finished 442 out of 3808 finishers.   Place    Bib #     Overall    Chip Time    Gun Time     Pace 11/42     235     442/3808     24:36          24:40         7:55 I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

The Madi Gras Run 5K

This week I ran in the Madi Gras Run 5K on Saturday March 5, 2011 at the Plaza at Galatyn Park in Richardson, TX. I'd like to start by updating everyone on the condition of my little brother Jimmy who is 53 years old. He is now in hospice care and has been given his last rites. His doctor said he only has a short time now before he joins our father who passed away several years ago. As you make your daily devotion please think of Jimmy. Thank you.   This was another event hosted by Run-On! There were alot of sponsors at the event, including The Foresters (investing), Allstate, Community Coffee, Jason's Deli, Blue Bell, Pierre Madi Gras Cafe (who served up red beans and rice, my favorite food growing up), and the best racing photographer team, Jerry Glover Photography. Nobody takes a better racing picture than Jerry Glover and his team. The event benefited www.captainhope.org, a great organization that attempts to meet the critical needs of homeless children.   Lately, I have been going to the Run-On social runs at Central Market on Greenville, preparing for my next race, the Dash Down Greenville, which will benefit the food bank. I took a picture with Genevive and Ryan the Run-On! store manager. Genevive is the nice lady who trains with our early morning speed class. I have been wearing the red cap she gave me a while back to show my support for Run-On! and everything they do.   As usual, I arrived early and did a bit of warm up running to loosen up, which my Run-On coach, Dan, suggested. It seems to have helped. I also did some stretching to get prepared. There was a 1 mile fun run that started at 8:00 and the 5K started at 8:30. After Mr. Forester said a few words, I lined up on the first row to start the race. This is the same race course as Dadfest which this year is June 18, 2011. For those of you that don't know, Dadfest is a prostate cancer awareness race that takes place before Fathers Day. Last year, I finished second in the prostate survivor division, and my two sons also ran in the race. There's a picture of us at www.dadfest.com that you can check out.   This was a MadiGras race, taking place right before Lent, which made me think of Louisiana and my brother Jimmy. I set out to run my best race ever for him. I know that he is very proud of me, and I will always keep his love close to me. I decided to have only one speed for this race, and planned to run all out from start to finish. After the gun went off to signal the start, I took off. There was a short straight away then we turned out of the Plaza area. This was a pretty flat course but the weather was a cold and windy 40 degrees. At the 1 mile marker my Garmin timer did not have 1 mile yet. I think the measurements must have been a little short on this race. In any case, my 1 mile time was 7:59.   We soon went on a trail for a short time, then back on pavement. Terry Gonzalez and her husband Charlie, who are volunteers at the Plano Pacers races, were at the event. You may remember that Terry (and her daughter) is the lady I followed at the December Plano Pacers race where I had a fast time. She passed me up, so I said to myself "just keep up with her if you can; she always wins awards". My 2 mile time was 16:12 (8:13 pace).   I was still running as fast as I could, and was getting closer to the 3 mile marker. At this point, I passed Terry up for a few moments only to have her speed past me to finish 5 seconds ahead of me with Charlie right behind us. She said the course was maybe a little short, which I also think was the case. My 3 mile time said 24:13. I forgot to stop my Garmin timer at the finish line until about 30 seconds after the race, but my official finishing time was 24:28. I don't believe I can run a 5K that fast, according to the race stats, I ran a 7:52 pace for the whole race. I just ran the course from start to finish and tried to do my best. Since I am from Louisiana and they had a few extras of the custom made awards, they decided to give me one. I also got to take a picture with Jerry Glover, which was cool.   After the race, I went to Cooper Fitness Center to redeem my free running evaluation which I won at a drawing at the Too Cold to Hold run. It was my great honor to be given this coaching lesson by Diane Proud, an amazing running and triathlon athlete. She is now coaching, and with 25 plus years of running experience, she has alot of knowledge to share. She has ALS (Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis) better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. I ran in her race on September 11, 2010 to help her raise funds for her medical needs. You can read more about her event on the website www.runproud.org. I only spent 1 hour with her, but the knowledge she gave me will definitely help make me a better runner in the future. Thank you so very much Diana. You can see her picture on the Run-On! site race photo page. She was also a runner in the race and runs for Run-On!   Place   Bib#    Men     Overall    Finish Time    Pace  6/24   1560   81/300  107/907      24:28        7:52 / m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

Bead Bash 15K and 5K

This week I chose to run in The Plano Pacers' Bead Bash 15K and 5K at Bob Woodruff Park in Plano, Texas. This was a free race for members, but there was a small fee for non members. Last year, I ran a 5K at the Cowtown race in Fort Worth. I arrived early, and took a jog around the small pond that circles around the pavilion to the start and finish line. My oldest son, John and his girlfriend Madeline arrived before the race. He got my camera and took some pictures of me at the starting line and a few more when the race started and at the finish.   Since there was a 5K race going on at the same time, I started about 15 rows back to let them get off to a fast start. We started in front of pavilion and made a loop around before heading out of park onto the trail. I ran the 8K race here in December so I knew some of the course. I tried not to start out too fast this time. After all, I basically had to run 3 5K's in 1 race. My first mile time was 8:24. My 2 mile time was 17:18 (8:53 /m pace). I arrived at the 3 mile in the time of 26:13 (8:54 /m pace).   With 1 5K down I headed to the 4 mile with the time of 35:04 (8:51 /m pace). I next made it to the 5 mile in 44:02 (8:58 / m pace). In between the next mile we went off the trail and out into the street path. I came up to several small hills that slowed my pace down. After I arrived from the turnaround there was still a few runners behind me. Some told me "good job" and other encouraging words. I arrived at the 6 mile in 53:48 (9:45 /m pace). About 2 5K's down, 1 5K more to go.   I started to slow down some, and made it to mile 7 in 1:03:26 (9:38 /m pace). I tried to pick up my pace at that point. I made my way back on the trail to the park. My 8 mile time was 1:12:36 (9:09 /m pace). With a little over a mile to go I started running behind 4 younger runners, trying to keep them in sight. I headed back on the trail heading to the pavilion (and the finish line) where my son was cheering me on. He took a picture of me and some as I circled around the pond to finish line.   I made it to mile 9 in 1:21:47 (9:11 /m pace). I was very tired but gave it all I had left in the tank, and finished my second 15K race over 1 minute faster than the last one I ran a month ago, the Too Cold to Hold race, in the time of 1:26:04.4. My son and his girlfriend gave me a hug and told me they were very proud of me. That made me feel wonderful. Most runners in my age group chose the shorter 5K race. At the 15K award ceremony I was awarded 1st place trophy. My son took a picture of me. When they posted the results online at the Plano Pacers site, about 11:00 PM, I found out I was dropped to second place.   Thanks to DRC President Peggy Munro, I and others who volunteer for DRC were given a ticket to the Dallas Stars Hockey game Saturday after the race. This was my first Hockey game, and I had a great time.   Place   Bib#    Men    Overall    Finish Time    Pace  2/3     9046   39/49    48/68      1:26:01.4     9:14 /m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com