Photos are here:     https://photos.app.goo.gl/C4RfrTtveSV6yuW98

Before The Start: My 26^th race of 2026 was the JFS Run Wild 5K held at the San Antonio Zoo on Sunday, May 17^th. Put on by Jewish Family Services (JSF) San Antonio, this event supports providing mental health and social services to individuals and families of all ages, faiths, and backgrounds in San Antonio. There were 142 finishers for this 5K; 62 males and 80 females. Race company Athlete Guild did the timing and results for this event. The start time was 7:30 a.m.  We had to arrive at the Zoo fairly early to get into the gates by 7 a.m.; after 7 a.m., the gates were closed. I arrived very early, around 5:45 am. Since I had already picked up my packet on the Friday before race day, I was able to relax and take a short power-nap in my car, lol.  After that I headed over to the race area where race day registration and race day packet pickup was ongoing.  We went down the cobblestone path that ran alongside the Zoo grounds, and entered a gate to the left.  I saw my friend, Nick, of Athlete Guild, and got a pre-start photo with him. After that I wandered here-and-there, chatting with some of my friends and other participants who were also doing this event.  I also got a few pre-start photos of some of the volunteers; race-day packet pickup and registration volunteers, and some of the participants and their supporters.

On The Course:  The weather for this one was cloudy and overcast, with a temp of 76 degrees and humidity around 88 percent. Before the start of the 5K, there was a Kid’s Run.  After that, we 5K participants, both runners and walkers, lined up for our 7:30 a.m. start. The 5K was a 5-lap course entirely on the Zoo ground, with variety of surfaces that included cobblestones on one part and then mostly a concrete surface.  The majority of the course was pretty flat, but we did have a couple of inclines – nothing one could really call a hill – and the course took us by several Zoo animal exhibits that included birds, a couple of monkeys (I think) hanging on their cage wire, watching us all go by, and on lap 4 as I passed a pool, I noticed a couple of eyes right above a pond, with a snout submerged in the water; alligator or crocodile, I think;  spooky, but kind of cool too. I did my usual thing of running 8-minutes running/2 minutes walking – can’t run totally non-stop anymore since the flare-up of my spinal arthritis – and took photos during my walk breaks, after my Garmin beeped to tell me it was walk-break time. I felt pretty good overall.  For the first 4 laps, I behaved myself and took my walk breaks.  Lap 5, I pretty much ran non-stop and ended up with a chip-time of 44:54 averaging 14:27 per mile.  Per my Garmin: Mile 1 – 15:09   Mile 2: 1633.  Mile 3: 12:59, zowie. I guess I was ready to be done, lol.
My age group was 50-99 males; crazy right? There were 10 in my age group, and I was dead last with a finish chip time of 44:54.  My speedy friend, Bob, won the age group by 4 seconds, wow.

After My finish:    I wandered around chatting with other participants and getting a few more photos with some other finishers; some of the finish line volunteers who were handing out the finisher medals; and with more finishers, and their supporters.  After that, I went ‘touring’ a bit in the Zoo area around us and got a few more photos of some the Zoo “residents’ that included some pretty cool birds. There was a Zoo employee I chatted with on this jaunt. She was getting ready to feed a couple of parrots and they knew exactly who she was. The two parrots were at the top of the cage, and the lady called them by name and told them to move down to the feeding place and down they went, after her command; pretty cool. I also got a photo of a very large spooky-looking bird; not sure what it is but pretty cool-looking. 

Epilogue:  The course was a tad short, but no big deal for me. I enjoyed doing this event and I would do it again and recommend it to others. The finisher medals are nicely done and the race shirt is very nice quality.  Since I do so many events over the year, I usually order a youth medium shirt and then donate it to a kid; usually a disabled kid, as I was a disabled kid myself for a while, born with dislocated hips.  All the JFS folks out there as course marshals, water stop volunteers, race-day registration, etc. were all great.  I enjoyed seeing again my friend, Nick, of Athlete Guild and his wife, and the other Nick of Athlete Guild who did the timing and results for us.  Post-race, there were also a variety of snacks and drinks.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participant, e.g., all the many volunteers; Athlete Guild for the timing and results; all the JFS personnel out there for us; the sound-and-music guy there for us;  and the EMT lady on sight for us, just in case; the Zoo staff members I saw along the route who were working at their jobs (cleaning cages, setting things up for the “regular” Zoo visitors before the Zoo opened, and so forth);  and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all! It was also nice to have available in-door actual restrooms – beats porta-potties every time, lol.

Whatever your passion is, may you always enjoy it safely and have much success. If you’re a fellow runner/race participant and see me at an event, give me a shout-out; love chatting with my fellow runners, and if you are so inclined, we can get a photo together for my race report I do for each of my events I sign up for. Stay safe, stay happy, and enjoy what you do. Cheers.