Ricky Byrdsong Race Against Hate - Results



Suzanne got to the race in time to watch the finish, but for the third year in a row managed to miss MY finish, so we had to settle for this sweaty post-race pic instead one of those great finish line photos

 

It was a great day for the race. Cool and overcast, but a little humid. I finished 2nd in my age group with a time of 48:19. The guy who finished first in my age group was three and half minutes ahead of me, so I'm going to have to increase my rate of improvement if I want to catch him before I turn 90.


Here are my times for the last three years:

2009       49:15      7:55 pace
2010       48:48      7:52 pace
2011       48:19      7:44 pace

My goal for the race was 47:59. I ran the first half at a pace of 7:41 and the second half at a 7:46. The fourth mile was my slowest at 8:06 and I finished strong, which was good.

I started training this month with the Evanston Running Club and even though I've only had a couple of workouts with them it definitely helped me prepare for this race. And during the race I shadowed two of the other club members for as long as I could, which helped me to keep my pace steady.

Next race: Evergreen Lakes Olympic Distance Triathlon - Bloomington, IL July 16, 2011

(note: I reposted this because there was a problem with Blogger posting the images to Facebook;)

ChapeauNouveau



Elegant Burgundy Wool Cloche



This is one of the featured hats In my daughter Nicole's ETSY store:     Chapeau Nouveau

Ricky Byrdsong Race Against Hate - June 19, 2011

The 11th annual Ricky Byrdsong Race Against Hate will be run tomorrow, June 19th.


About the Race

On July 2, 1999 Ricky Byrdsong, the former coach of the Northwestern University Men’s basketball team, was shot and killed while walking with two of his children a half-block from our home. His murderer was a white supremacist who had randomly decided to drive through our neighborhood. After a weeklong spree of shooting violence in which he killed a Korean-American student and wounded several Orthodox Jews and three black men, the neo-nazi took his own life.



His widow, Sherialyn established The Ricky Byrdsong Foundation with the mission to “arrest the growing epidemic of hate in violence in our society by and against our youth.” One of the first events that the foundation sponsored was the Race Against Hate, which was started in 2000.

My Goal

I've run this race every year since it began (except for one year when I showed up an hour late). Three years ago they added a 10k race, which is what I will be running tomorrow. My previous results and goal are shown below:

YEAR            TIME             PACE

2009               49:15                7:55

2010               48:48                7:52

GOAL            47:59                7:43

I am going to try and go out a little faster than I have in previous races. I’d like to do the first two miles at around 15:10 and then try to hold my second mile pace.