The Lewisville Lodge Race for Children

On September 17, 2011, I raced in the Lewisville Lodge Race for Children in Lewisville, TX. The event benefited the Lewisville ISD Education Foundation and the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for children. This is one of those races that I ran in last year, so I had an idea of what to expect. I arrived early and ran a slow jog, then met up with my son, John, and his girlfriend who both live in Lewisville.  Their youngest daughter was interested in signing up as a runner, and I was very proud as she registered for her very first race.  There were a large number of volunteers from Lewisville Lodge no. 201, and many sponsors, led by Napa Auto Parts, Chase, AOJ Bart, Inc (lithographers) and many more who donated door prizes after the awards ceremony. This was a well-run race conducted by Run-On! John took a few pictures of us before at the 1 mile fun run, and then it was time to get serious. The 5k started in front of City Hall, and I lined up in the first row, ready to go all out from start-to-finish. It had rained the night before for the first time in months, and it was very humid by the time the race started. Thankfully, this was a race course with no turnaround. The bad news is that there were several hills and many turns on different streets. During the first mile I was feeling pretty good, and my time was 7:39. I started to struggle going up the hills and my pace slowed down a bit. My 2nd mile time was 15:57 (8:17 mile pace). After the 2nd mile, there was a long straight away then a turn to the finish line. My 3 mile time was 24:19 (8:22 mile pace). I ended up finishing in the time of 25:12.  Finishing about 1 second ahead of me was a 10 year old girl. I wish I had started running when I was her age; she has a great future ahead of her. I finished 35th out of 184 chip time finishers, 3rd place in my age division. As I have said before, my hope is to inspire others to try walking and running as a way to their better health, and so I was very happy to run with my son's girlfriend's daughter who finished 2nd place in her very first race. My next race will be my first half marathon 13.1 miles September 24 (which you'll be able to read about soon!). Place   Bib#    Men    Overall  Chip Time  Gun Time  Pace   3/6    3201   27/93   35/184    25:12      25:13      8:07 I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com