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.