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