The Dash Down Greenville 5K

On March 17, 2012, I ran in one of my favorite races of the year... The Dash Down Greenville 5k.  This is the third race of the 7 Run On! Project Series.  After the race, Run On! handed out a $60,000 check to the North Texas Food Bank. After ariving early to find parking, it started raining which pushed temperatures close to 70 degrees by race time.  It was very humid.  There were over 7,600 runners registered for the Dash.  Some registered late without chip timing.  Thanks to Mark Cuban and other merchants, the annual parade that started after the race was amazing.  I stayed and took a few pictures as usual. This race did not have a turnaround.  It started out on Greenville Ave, and circled back around to finish with a long dash down Greenville to the finish.  I started about 10 rows back.  The Sunday Edition of The Dallas Morning News had a color photo of us lining up at the start. The Run On! website has over 100 photos of the race... I showed up in 3 of them.  Thanks to the Gerry Glover Photography team.  I stated like most of my 5k races... as fast as I can... just following the large crowd of runners.  I knew I would not get lost in this race because there were more than enough people to follow.  After about a mile and a half, I started to get fatigued with the humidity climbing.  Several Run On! runners passed me and encouraged me, like 72 year old Jim Sampson who finished in the time of 22:29... incredible!  I took a picture with Jan Goss (24:19), her son, and long time Run On! team runner, 75 year old Larry Martin who finished in 34:58.   I waited until the home stretch to increase my pace because if I would have done so earlier, I would have ran out of gas.  I gave what I could, passing some runners, while other passed me up.  I was totally exhausted and finished in 25:06...30 seconds slower than my time in last years race.   The female 25-29 age group had 822 total finishers which was more than the total for most entire races that I've run.  I finished sixth out of 25 in my age group and 521 out of 5035 chip timed overall finishers with a pace of 8:06. I'd like to thank my Run On! speed training coach Daniel Hagelberg and all the encouragement that I recieved from our speed group.   You probably already know that Prostate Cancer is the second most common Cancer amongst men.  What you may not know is that USMD has some of the best Prostate Cancer Doctors in the US.   Robotics Surgery - Dr. Rich Beven Thomas, Dr. Justin T. Lee, and others...Cryo Surgery --  Dr. Thomas and Dr. Cliff Vestal...Radiation -- Dr. Peter La Nasa. Place    Bid#   Overall    Time    Pace 6/25     653    521/5035   25:06   8:06 I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

Just For The Heck of It XIV - Race Against Hunger III 5K

On March 10, 2012 I ran in the Just For The Heck of It XIV - Race Against Hunger III 5k run and walk.  The event was held at Mike Lewis Park, in Grand Prairie, TX.  To support the cause, racers were encouraged to bring canned goods for the Community Food Bank.  There were 27 female and 30 male finishers. Race director Jeph Abara has the race results at www.runningintheusa.com/Jeph.   It was about 50 degrees and cloudy at the event.  The forecast for the morning was heavy rain, but it held off until after the race.  This was my first time running the fast trail course.  After the start, I followed behind John Nance.  But as we came upon some smaller hills, I started to fall a little further behind.   At about 1.2 miles into the race, I came to 2 trails.  I didn't know which way to go so I decided to stay right and soon saw John up ahead heading for the turnaround.  This is where I started to speed up my pace.  I ran all out and started to close the gap between me and John.  I looked at my Garmin at 2.65 miles and it had 19+ minutes showing.   John seemed to be the last one in the faster running group ahead.  I was leading the rest of the runners but at about 3 miles in, there were trails in front, to the left, and to the right of me.  I did not see which way John went, so I decided to go right.  I soon realized that I had gone the wrong way.  I ended up running 3.7 miles instead of 3.1.   At the award ceremony John Nance won our age division with a time of 24:27.  Dick Hartnett who goes by the race name Forrest Gump, offered me the second placed award for getting lost, but I told him the he earned it and that it was not his fault that I went the wrong way.  His time was 26:03.  Jeff adjusted my time on his race report and I finished with a time of 24:55. Place    Bib#    Men    Overall    Time     Pace 2/5      969    15/30    19/57    24:55     8:01 I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

Trinity River Levee Run 10K and 5K

On March 3, 2012, I ran in the 8th annual Trinity River Levee Run 10k/5k and 1 mile fun run. It was held in West Dallas. The start/finish line was on Singleton Blvd.   The new Marget Hunt Hill Bridge was designed by Santiago Calatwaa. This race is one of the monthly races produced by the Dallas running running club and the Trinity Commons Foundation. Dallas Mayor Mike Rawling handed out $300 each to the male and female 800 meter dash winners. The Dallas Fire/Rescue won the challenge defeating the Dallas Police Department in the 10k.  The President of the DRC, Peggie Monroe, as well as few other DRC members including myself, were on Good Morning Texas (ABC channel 8) on Thursday with the Fire/Rescue to help promote the race.  After arriving early, I took a few pictures of the bridge and managed to get one with Dallas Morning News blogger/runner Spareribs Lamothe and my friend John Nance. There were 1,412 10k finishers and 1,306 5k finishers. My goal this race was a PR for my 7th 10k race.   It took seven minutes for everyone just to cross the start line. I lined up about 50 rows back... a lot farther back than I usually line up.  I took off slow as the bridge was right in front of us. Lots of people with cameras were taking pictures of themselves as they crossed the bridge. As I reached the 5k turnoff, I sure wanted to go that way, but I continued with the 10k course. My 5k split was 26:24. Just past the 5 mile marker I started to run all out.  I guess I was looking at all the beautiful ladies when I stepped in a pothole and fell. A nice lady and a Fireman helped me up. I was ok and told them to keep going, but they stayed with me. When I got to the bottom of the bridge, I told them I'm slow going up hills so they should finish strong and off they went as I thanked them for their support.   There were still some 5k finishers running as we were directed to the 10k lanes. My final time was 54:13, a new PR. I finished 12 out of 24 a few spots behind John Nance who finished 10th. A former Dallas Police chief, Dave Kunkle, beat me on a photo finish for 11th place. I was 361 out of 736 men and 477 out of 1412 overall 10k finishers.   I mingled with a lot familiar runners that I've seen over the years encouraging them to be aware of the importance of Prostate Cancer screenings.  USMD has all the treatments you can imagine along with the best Doctors in the field.  Please consider them as one of your top choices for Prostate Cancer treatment.   They were not my first choice, but I decided to get a second opinion and chose USMD for that.  After my consultation, I knew I had come to the right place and decided to have their Robotic surgery.  After being diagnosed in 2007, I am still Cancer free thanks to USMD. Place   Bib #   Men    Overall   Time    Pace 12/24   1500  361/736  477/1412        54:13    8:44 I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com

The Carrollton Runners Club 5K

On Sunday, February 26, 2012, I ran in the Carrollton Runners Club 5k at McInnish Park in Carrollton, TX. I was still recovering from a few injuries so did not run in the one mile race like I normally do. It was 40 degrees and clear at the 7:50am 5k start. This was a small group since alot of members ran at the Cow Town races in Ft. Worth. There were only 26 men and 15 female runners in the 5k, and 14 runners ran the one mile race. As I've said before race director Ruben Saguil has a timer at the half way mark and his race reports show your time for both halves of race. I ran the first half in 12:59 and the second half in 12:48, an 11 second negative split... which is ideal. My finish time was 25:46 with 8:17.9 pace and a 62.2% age grade. I finished first out of 2, 15th out of 26 men, and 17 out of 41 overall 5k finishers. After the race, two nice ladies led us all in some Yoga stretches. For only a $2 registration fee, this is the best bargain in racing. Check out Ruben's website at www.carrolltonrunners.com. They have the best race report around. Place   Men    Overall   Time   Pace  Age Grade  1/2   15/26    17/41   25:46   8:17    62.2% I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com