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