Running Race Number Seven

Yesterday morning, I ran my seventh publicly held race (and the second since 1976). It was the Hope Heels 5K run, which benefited the Florida Center for Brain Tumor Research and the Preston A. Wells, Jr., Center for Brain Tumor Therapy at the University of Florida. The course for this run, which was very hilly (for Gainesville), started and finished at Westside Park. I cut off more than a minute from my previous run, finishing at 24:07. But what surprised me was that I finished second in my age group (50 and over), winning a medal award. This is the first tangible recognition of my running ability in my entire life! So I’m naturally quite proud of it.

In spite of my happy finish, I was disappointed to be boxed in at the race’s start. For the first half-mile or so, I was stuck, surrounded by slower runners. This prevented me from establishing the earlier fast pace that I had wanted to run. So, like the last run, after the first half-mile or so, no one passed me while I passed several throughout the race.

My next race will either be the Dog Days 5K on November 1 or the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon on November 8. Both races are put on by the Florida Track Club, and will doubtless have a higher level of running competition. I’m looking forward to competing (in one of them)!