Run for Kid’s Cancer 5k Recap
Saturday morning, I headed for south Charlotte to run in the Isabella Santos 5k – Run For Kid's Cancer. Isabella is a little girl who lost her battle with this dreaded disease. Having children myself, my heart goes out to anyone that has lost a child. To create something to honor their memory and to help fight cancer so that other children are not lost to it is such a worthy aspiration in deed. From the looks of the race, Isabella will long be remembered and will help raise many dollars to fight cancer.
Moving along and talking about my own race pales in comparison to real purpose of this race.
Gathering at the starting line, our TrySports colors were on displayed in force. Assembled for this event was: Chris, Karin, Glen, Stefan, Stan, Mike K. and baby jogger (including Spiderman), and myself. Jinnie had accepted the official role as race photographer.
Once rolling, Carlos Perez from Lincolnton took off. Chris was in hot pursuit almost immediately. Glen and I were soon running side by side. I watched as Carlos made the first u-turn and Chris was a few yards back. Glen and I had been climbing this hill and I wasn't sure how my legs would feel once I hit the turn around. Those doubts were in the back of my mind that I might just run out of gas.
Carlos and Chris were well ahead of me as I moved in 3rd overall and passed through the mile in 5:38. Based on the distance between us, I didn't feel like I was going to be running them down and usually, my first mile is my fastest. From this point, I tend to slow down.
This 5k course is all about rolling hills. Nothing flat could be seen.
Sometime the strangest thoughts roll through my brain during a race. Just after the mile, it was the thought, that I only had 2 more miles to run hard. I guess after running a 15 mile and a 13 mile races, a 5k can seem rather short.
Mile 2 passes in 5:34 which also surprised me. But I also noticed that Carlos is slowing or at least the gap between us was diminishing. This is encouraging to me and I kept trying to push hard. Yes, the distance between us was growing ever closer but so is the finish line. I make a big push up the last hill but there is just too much ground to make up between us. He crosses the finish some 10 seconds ahead of me. I cross the line in 17:36 and I am really happy with the time and the fact that I closed the last mile in another 5:34.
Moments after the race, I'm headed back to my car so I can switch out my racing shoes for my training shoes. Along the way, I strike up a conversation with Clint Prouty who is a fellow master's runner. We ended up doing the course again as a cool down.
After the race, I hung out at the TrySports tent for a while and just checked things out. There's a ton of stuff going on from a silent auction, to a raffle, to a kids zone, and good music in the back ground. There is plenty of food (Einstein bagels and chick-fi-la), coffee, water, and Gatorade.
Every runners dream, good weather and a great race.
Sharing one thought at time,
The Cool Down Runner
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