5K Race for the Cure

On Sunday, I ran the Susan G. Komen 5K Race for the Cure in Frankfurt. This is the 4th year in a row that I've run the race. It is one of my favorite because 1) it benefits a great cause - breast cancer research and 2) the attitude of the runners is great - everyone is there to run for a survivor (or victim) or to help raise awareness of breast cancer prevention. The entire crowd feels like we're united as 1 team.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among females (prostate cancer is the leading cancer of cancer deaths among men). It is estimated, the over 500,000 women die from it every year. I feel very lucky. None of my close friends or family members have been affected by the disease. But I have seen it in colleagues and friends of friends. It's not pretty. It can be prevented through preventitive screening, but not many are aware of this. So hopefully a cure will be found soon. Thus, I continue to support the cause.

FYI - the 5K Race for the Cure is happening in many cities globally right now. It'd be great to hear of others joining!

My time for the 5K was "officially" 34 min. Unofficially it was more like 32 (due to the fact that I was in the back of the start group and began almost 2 min after the clock started). I'm fairly impressed with my time, and have goal next time to be under 30 min.

Race day recap:

10:45 - Walkers begin.

11:00 - Runners begin. Spend the first 2.5 km darting around slower walkers and runners like in an obstacle course. Passing everyone is doing wonders for my ego... I keep thinking "wow, I must be a good runner" (which definitely isn't the case - I'm one of the slowest runners I know).

11:15 - Realize that I'm no longer passing anyone and that I'm being passed. Decide (stupidely)to pace myself with a group of faster runners so that I continue to pass people. This lasted 2 min before returning to normal pace. I finally accept that I've found the people who run at the same speed, and will be passed by faster runners. This brought my ego back to reality. The highlight was seeing (really in-shape) grannies pass me. this gave me hope - I plan to be still run the race when I'm there age.

11:20 - Cross the bridge to the other side of the river. Think I'm in the home stretch so sprint up the small hill and across the bridge. Learn that I'm still far away from the finish line and am now exhausted. More (in-shape) grannies pass me. Some little kids also pass... they have endless energy.

11:34 - Cross the finish line! (behind the in-shape grannies)

9:00pm - exhausted, watching a movie while icing my knee & ankle (after the race, I joined friends on a 3-hour hike to the top of a mountain near my place... probably not the smartest decision after a race, but fun... now I can't walk)