Running Psychologists presents: 34th Annual Ray’s Race 5K Run and Walk, “Run in the Sun!”

Our theme for the 34th Annual Ray's Race this year was "Run/Walk in the Sun," which is exactly what we did in beautiful Florida weather at the 2012 APA Convention in Orlando. We had a wonderful turnout of 140 people at the Hilton Orlando, and great support and race management from a local Orlando company, Laughing Rhino Events. Our overall winner this year was Zach Morgan, with a time of 16:19, which the race manager said was the fastest time he's had for one of his 5K runs so far! Coming in close behind him were our second and third place male runners, Christopher Raye and Michael Olson. For the women, our top female runner, Cindra Kamphoff, also came in at a very impressive time of 19:49, with Rachel Farr and Erin English following her in second and third place. We also had a tight competition for our walkers this year with Gilbert Sanders leading the men at a great pace of 39:18, followed by our speedy treasurer, Sy Gross, in second place and Barney Greenspan coming in third. Our first place female walker, Patsy George, came in at a quick 47:28, followed by Nancy Aiken, the new President-Elect of Running Psychologists, in second place and Yumi Furumoto in third place.

This year, Michael Sachs helped us create some new award categories, and we added a team award and a mastery award to the race as a "race pilot program." Our first place team this year was Erin Ring and Daniel Ayala, and for the mastery award (the runner or walker coming in closest to their estimated pace without using a watch), Robert Buri came in first place for the men and Lisa Fortuna took first place for the women. We had a great response this year to our new award categories and plan to continue them at our future races. Congratulations to all of our winners!!

I am pleased to announce that at our business meeting this year, Nancy Aiken was nominated and unanimously voted in as our new President-Elect. Welcome, Nancy! We are very excited to have you with us. I'd also like to say a very special thank you to the board members of Running Psychologists who are instrumental in putting this race on each year: Sy Gross, Suanne Shocket, Noah Nason, Michael Sachs, Frank Webbe, and our past-president, Lucinda Monica-Sears. We would also like to thank the many volunteers who helped us at the race and in the exhibit booth this year, and all of the race participants – we couldn't have done this race without you! Finally, a very big thank-you to Laughing Rhino Events for fantastic race management, and to our amazing sponsors: American Psychological Association, APAGS, Psi Chi, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Worth Publishers, 12 Palms Recovery Center, Argosy University, Division 47, Division 20, Division 39, and Pearson Publishers.

Ray's Race was named in honor of Dr. Ray Fowler, former APA CEO, and founder of the Running Psychologists in 1979. This race is a great way for runners and walkers of all ages and abilities to come together during the APA annual convention to promote physical fitness and well-being. Thanks to all of you who volunteered and/or participated in the race, and we hope to see you all in Honolulu!