The DRC Independence Day 5K Open

After running every week for several months, I decided to take last week off, but this week I ran in the DRC Independence Day 5K Open on Saturday July 2, 2011 at Winfrey Point in White Rock Lake, Dallas, TX. In addition to the 5K there was also a 10K race, both of which started together at 8:00 AM. There was also a kids race that started at 9:00 AM. There were a total of 936 finishers in both races including 98 finishers in the Athena / Clydesdale divisions. 370 finishers were in the 10K and 468 were in 5K race.  I arrived early as usual, ate a protein bar and drank a pre-race drink, then did my slow jog at a 12:00 / mile pace for about 1 mile. I am one of the volunteer DRC Photographers so I took a ton of pictures at the event, both before the race, and afterwards at the award ceremony. You can see and download your pictures for free at the Dallas Running Club site. This was a chip timed Run-On! race which benefited Back On My Feet, an organization that uses running to help build the self esteem and self reliance of the homeless community.  Run-On! accepted donations of lightly used shoes which would be used by the inspiring homeless runners.  I've raced in alot of events at this location, but this race started in the opposite direction from those other events. The good thing is that there were more tall shady trees to help cool us runners in this other direction. I don't know who to thank for this, so I'll give credit to Ken Ashby the who measured the course, and does so for many area running clubs. Thanks Ken! It was a hot morning, almost 90 degrees at the start of the race. The Dallas Running Club races bring out the top runners in each age division. I almost never receive awards at these races, so I just wanted to do my best here. After the start, I took off at a fast but  comfortable pace. The course was mostly flat, with only slight inclines in a few places. My time at the 1 mile marker was 7:58. It's very hard to breath in  the heat for me, and this was a very hot race. The great training and coaching from Run-On! keeps me going strong, not to mention the encouragement from my 301 training class. I made it to the 2 mile marker in 15:58 (8:00 / mile pace). Even though I was really fatigued at this point, I tried to keep up my pace and arrived at the 3rd mile in the time of 23:52 (7:53 / mile pace).  After the race, I cooled down then started taking pictures. After all that, I finally looked at the results right before the awards ceremony was about to get started. My final time was 24:55:58, but I didn't know if I was to receive an award or not. I started taking pictures of the award winners and was both surprised and happy to hear my name called as the 3rd place finisher. Apparently, most of the fastest runners in the 55-59 age division decided to run in the 10K race.  I finished 3rd place out of 9 in my age division, 63 out of 214 men, and 79 out of 468 overall 5K finishers. I received 8 points for the 3rd place finish to go towards the DRC Race Championship. DRC members received 5 points for running in the featured race, but I'm not sure which of the races was the featured one.  My final line.... Place    Bib #       Men       Overall    Chip Time    Gun Time      Pace              3/9      838       63/214     79/468    24:55:58    24:58:00     8:03 / m I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com