On April 14th, I ran in the 5th annual Seton Soles 5K Walk/Run, held at St. Elizabeth and Seton Catholic Church in Plano TX. This race raised funds for the Monsignor Henry V. Petter endowment fund for support for peace and justice. A local agency recieved $10,000 from the fund. Justin Sucato, a 12 year Prostate Cancer survivor and mentor to me and all who attended local Prostate Cancer support group meetings in the area, suggested this race to me before he died last year. We all miss our friend and his great research on Prostate Cancer. The advice he gave helped everyone make the most informed decisions in regards to their care and treatment of Prostate Cancer. He was a well respected member of the Prostate Cancer community. So much so that the North Texas Prostate Colition gives out an award each year in his honor. This was a Run-On! race and I was able to meet a few of the Team Run-On! winners: Meg Penrose, Betty Haynes, and Jj Jenkins. I also met some DRC (Dallas Running Club) runners: Scott McKissick and Bill Shirley. After the 1 mile fun run, I started a few rows back at the start line. The first 3/4 of a mile was a straight shot right down the street, then we turned right. There was no turnaround, just a circle around and back towards the starting line. We had a 30 mph wind blowing in our faces to start the race. I did not go all out becaue I tried to save my energy for the trip back with the wind behind me. The mile markers were a little off but the final 5K marker was correct. I was following Bill Shirley, 68, who I've neve finished ahead of. He missed several weeks because of an injury. Just before getting back to the 3/4 mile straight away towards the finish line, as I passed Bill, I encouraged him to finish strong. I ended up finishing with a time of 24:54. Bill's time was 25:07. He won his age group by over seven minutes. For the second week in row I finished just ahead of Scott McKissick who also ran and finished 2nd in the Big D 5K the following day. He's always telling me to take it easy before the race... turns out he took it easy on me. I finished first out of 11 in my age group, 43 out of 242 men, and 50 out of 493 chip timed runners, with a pace of 8:01. Many Church supporters ran in the race but did not use their chip timer. As always, thanks to my Run-On! Training coaches and running group for making me the best runner I can be. Many runners say hello to me at my races, and it makes me feel wonderful about running for a cause. I am able to race just about every week thanks to my sponsor and treatment center USMD Prostate Cancer Center. Place Bib number Men Overall Overall Chip Time Pace 1/11 1415 43/242 50/493 24:54 8:01 I run to raise awareness for prostate cancer and to benefit my community. www.runningforacause.tumblr.com |
