1st annual Run For Life 5K Race Report

Yikes! 33:42 for a 5K and then some! (I estimated the course to be 3.31 miles in length, according to this map on the HARRA site.)

Yes, everybody ran a little bit long this morning at the 1st annual Run For Life 5K in Pasadena, but nobody really seemed to mind too much -- even me!

Having put together the race in just under seven (7) weeks, Donna Barnhart and Kay Mallet, two ladies who were raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, pulled off a winner of an event. (There were some that were disappointed about not having any age group awards, but not anything that I would have sensed would keep somebody from doing it again.)

I landed at Intercontinental Airport from Vancouver before 6 a.m., was through Customs by 6:05 a.m. (I was the first one there after being in first class) and after Gena had brought Waverly to IAH, the two of us were off. The race started at 7:30 a.m. and we found ourselves with plenty of time to make it to 3900 Spencer Highway - just outside the Fitness Connection gym.

As I registered ($20 online, $25 day of race), I received a head massage from "Junction Jack" of the Astros. (I should have asked why Jeff Bagwell wasn't out helping him and earning that $17 million he has coming this year.) I also received a donation receipt for my entry fee.

I saw Raymond Cruz of the On The Run Racing team before the start and a fellow team member came up to indicate to him that the course had a lot of turns. I told him and Tim Bowler of the Houston Striders that that wouldn't effect me at all (i.e. "not going fast enough for it to bother me").

After an excellent rendition of the National Anthem and prayer, I gave Waverly a kiss and was off. I have no mile splits to report as there were none, but again everybody involved in the event, including the Pasadena police department, were extremely friendly - and the lack of these (mile splits) didn't seem to matter. One of the women at the registration table was at the very last turnaround thanking people for their participation. Call it corny, but it was appreciated and, obviously, noted. :)

Not sure what the temperature was when we started, but it was close to 85 degrees as we finished with the oppressive humidity to boot.

On the course, I saw fellow HARRA Board member Bruce Mansur and former HARRA president John Phillips. After the race, I talked to Bruce at length about a couple of items we were working on as part of the HARRA Board. He then introduced me to Laura Allen and Bayou City Road Runners at-large board member Kathy Mahon. Raymond had commented that we hadn't bumped into each other since last November in Missouri City when I ran a really good 10k at Elkins HS. (I think Raymond won it that day.)

I had a chance to talk to Donna and Kay after the event. They reached out for some publicity help a little late (explained the lead time of the This Week section of the Chronicle), but their event was 1.) able to go out on the Jerry Smith's HARRA e-mail and 2.) posted to the main page of the HARRA website by webmaster Sarah Graybeal. The ladies indicated that they had reached their goal of 100 runners -- and they noted that 38 were day of race registration.

I shared with them a couple of things from my experiences that they might be able to do to add a couple of nice touches to it and I picked up a few kernels of information that were very informative. Oh, and yes, Kay knew our friend, Bill Dwyer! (That, of course, made the day complete.)