January 21 - Stay Strong Brandon 5K - 21:23

This will be my first post in quite a while. I had knee surgery on September 19th and was running very little before that. I guess I was "lack of running depressed" and didn't feeling like blogging about my inactivity. I had a torn meniscus which Dr Jolly of Princeton Orthopedic took care
of, and had me back on the roads in 6 weeks. I will post more on the procedure in a separate blog but I want to get back to blogging about my races.

The Senator, Me & Renee

The Stay Strong Brandon 5K was put together by Chris Paskoc of the Monmouth Junction Fire

Department in an effort to raise money for Brandon Dominguez, a 9 year old South Brunswick student who is battling brain cancer.

Chris called me knowing that I am the race director of the Run with the Vikings 5K and wanted information on organizing a race. This was in mid December and he wanted to put the race on in January, in a mere 7 weeks. He needed to design a course which would run by Brandon's house, get some sponsors, round up volunteers and promote the event in less than 45 days. Not ideal, but doable.

Chris was able to get this all done, but then ran into one problem, it snowed the morning of the race. He didn't cancel and although it probably held down the number of runners and walkers, the race was a huge success. He had 55 finishers and raised close to $3,000.

I was able to get a few runners to show up and we all had a blast. I love running in the snow, but probably wouldn't have made this race if it was a few towns away. The toughest part of the race was actually driving to the start. The roads were not plowed and very slick. It took place at Veterans Park which is about 1 mile from my house. The course started and finished in the park and passed by Brandon's house. In fact Brandon was in a van at the corner of his house and everyone yelled Stay Strong Brandon. It was very moving and hopefully it brought a smile to his face.

I ran with John Liptak, as well as Rich Britton and finished in 21:23. The Senator (Ken V) was there, but he was a good 30 seconds ahead of us. I started slowly and as I got loose picked it up a bit. I think the course was short because my times have been a lot slower since the operation. I ran the PCRC last week in 23:48 on a hilly course. There were no mile markers and the race was not officially timed so it was tough to figure the pace, not to mention the slow track due to ice and snow.

My prayers have been with young Brandon since hearing about his cancer. I know the day brought a smile to his face and hope to his family.

Stay Strong Brandon