The Carrollton Runners 1 Mile and the 5K

On Sunday July 31 2011, I ran in both the Carrollton Runners 1 Mile and the 5K at Mcinnish Park in Carrollton TX. This event came one day after running a 5K race in Arlington. Registration was only $2.00, and no shirts or awards were given at this club race. I arrived early and practiced the 1 mile at a slow jog, then stretched and ate a protein bar. I've been training at with the Run-On! Dallas training group since January of this year and wanted to try and beat my 1 mile personal best time of 7:26 in a race.  I missed a few Carrollton club races recently, because I run my long runs with my 10:30 pace half marathon group on Sunday mornings, but decided to push myself and run this week. We started the 1 mile race a short distance from the 5K finish line. I started in 1st row and took off very fast. Well, fast for a nearly 60 year old man anyway. I tried to keep up that fast pace the whole 1 mile race.  The mile started at 7:32 AM with 85 degree temperature and 7 mph wind. The mile long course was a loop on the street around the park. At the end of the race, I accomplished my goal and finished with a personal best time of 7:19:32. I won 1st place in my age group, came in 12th out of 24 runners, and had a 62.5% age grade. Place     Men       Overall     Time      Grade  1/3       11/17       12/24    7:19:32    62.5% I was still tired, and trying to recover from the 1 mile before the 5K started at 7:48 AM. There was only 16 minutes rest, and the temperature was getting hotter. Carrollton Running Club Members have their own personal bib # to use each race. Basically, you have to put it on your left side for the 1 mile and change it over to the right side for the 5K. As the 5K race was starting, I was still in the process of  changing my bib # over to the right. Several runners started ahead of me, so I had a bit of a delay getting started.  I didn't feel like running fast after having run the 1 mile, and that late start. My first mile time was 8:54 . There was a time clock at the halfway turnaround area which showed if you had a negative or positive split. At this point, I decided to turn on the speed, and started to run faster. I arrived at the 2nd mile in 17:34 (a 8:39 / mile pace). Then I ran as fast as I could to the finish line.  I made it to the 3rd mile in 25:32:97 (a 7:58 / mile pace), and finished the 5K race in 26:35. This was good enough to win 2nd place out of 4 in my age group, and 28 out of 51 finishers. My first half official time was 14:06, and I was in 32nd place. I ran the 2nd half in the time of 12:29,  and was in 19th place with a 97 second negative split. Only 9 runners had negative splits the second half of the race, so I was proud of that. I was kind of surprised to see that my name was listed along the other 1st place winners in the 1 mile race in the Dallas Morning News the next day. I only took 2 pictures at this event, one of which was with 70 year old Wally Capps and me. Wally is one of the fastest runners in his age group in this area. He has raced in half marathons and full marathons all over Texas and the USA. His time in the 1 mile race was 7:06:12 (71.4 age grade) and ran the 5K in 23:23:57 (75.3 age grade). He was one of the runners up of Clines Running Corner runner of the year award. You can view the complete results here. Place    Men      Overall       Time         Pace      Age Grade  2/4      22/32      28/51     26:35:63      8:33:6         59.8% I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

Summer' Sizzler 5K

I was very sad to hear that a member of the prostate cancer support group at Texas Health Presbyterian, Richard Beadle, passed away from prostate cancer on July 21, 2011. He was a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, which is only 20 miles from my home town. We volunteered together at the Dadfest race several times and also at the free prostate cancer screening events hosted by Presbyterian hospital. I always enjoyed talking to him at our monthly meetings. I will miss you very much my friend. You are  no longer in pain and now you're in God's hands. This week, I ran in the Summer' Sizzler 5K Run / Walk on Saturday July 30 2011 at River Legacy Park in Arlington, TX. The race benefited the Arlington Life Shelter (www. arlingtonlifeshelter . org), which is a compassionate rehabilitation facility for the homeless. Many canned food items were donated by runners. I took off a couple of weeks after running a 15K (9.3 miles) in the Too Hot To Handle Race and 7 weeks of training with the 301 training class at Run-On! in Dallas.  The Race Director was Jeph Abara, who hosts a race almost every month. You can check out his website, www. runningintheusa .com, where you can find race results and news. This race was started in front of Raccoon Run Pavilion, which was a different starting area than the one that we usually start at. The race sponsors were Muscle Milk, Honest Tea, Dr. Michael L. Hughlett D.C., and  pictures were taken by Celebrated Images.  I arrived early and ran my slow 1 mile warm up jog along the trail in the park. Then I stretched and waited to pick up my bib #. The race was to start at 8:00 AM, but didn't start until about 8:15. The  temperature was close to 90 degrees. As usual, I started on the 1st row. After the start, I took off at a fast pace after starting on the street in front of the pavilion. After a short distance, we started running on the paved trail around the park. I've run this course several times before, so I was familiar with the twists and turns.  I finished the 1st mile in 7:50. Then the heat started to get to me, and I slowed down a bit. I got to the turnaround  at about 1.6 miles into the race. At the 2nd  mile, my time was 16:15 (8:25 / mile pace). I tried to pick up my pace at about 2.5 miles.  I was running as fast as I could, but made the mistake of thinking the finish line was at it's usual place. Since we started at a different pavilion, the finish line was   a little farther passed the regular one. I still had to run further to get to the finish line.  My heart monitor said that I was running at more than 100% maximum, so I started to shut down a bit and ran slower. I dropped at least 1 minute off my pace to the finish line, and finished in the time of 25:22.  I placed 46 out of 156 total finishers, and 4th place out of 5 in my age group. I was proud to be awarded one of Jeph Abara's special Souls & Soles awards which Jeph gives out to those that put forth great effort. They had a drawing for prizes after the race, but I didn't win anything this time. Place    Bib #     Men      Overall    Time          Pace  4/5       1795     41/81      46/156    25:22      8:10  /mile I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com