Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pWt64Jz86qE5d6nz9
Before The Start: My 53rd race of 2026 was the Veronica’s Journey 5K, held on Sunday, September 27th at Shavano Park. I try to do this race each year, but missed a couple of them in past years due to ongoing health issues. I also found out that I am once again a cancer patient, as my biopsy done at BAMC came back positive for melanoma skin cancer. This will be my 5th battle with cancer. Never-the-less I was determined to Veronica’s Journey 5K this year. I checked with my doctor and he told me, yes, definitely run. He also told me, he WANTED me to run, as the better shape I’m in, the better I will be able to fight the cancer. Well, okay then. I try to do this one whenever I can, as baby Veronica had her own battle with a rare form of brain cancer; and I try to do as many cancer-related events over the year as I can. Also, her parents are really good people. I met them at the first Veronica’s 5K I did and we have been friends ever since. We’re not “buddy-buddy” good friends, but it is always great to see Mitch and Chrissie Finnie at the event.
I had picked up my packet on the packet pickup day, so after an early arrival at the race site on race day, around 6:30, I got parked and headed over to the Shavano Park Pavilion, near where the City of Shavano Park government offices are located. I did not realize there was going to be a Catholic Mass first thing in the morning. I am not Catholic, so I just followed along with others as he Mass was done. I’ll tell you what….that was a lot of standing up, sitting down, standing up again at various parts of the mass, etc, almost like a pre-race warm up. Catholics must really get a good workout during mass 😉. After the mass was over, I then wandered around chatting with others, and getting a few pre-start photos of some of the participants, volunteers, and supporters. There were even a few dogs there also, so they did get treats from me. Having gotten there early, I had quite a while to wait, as the Kid’s Run started at 7:50 a.m., and the 5K started at 8:25 a.m. From results posted, there were 183 finishers for the 5K, so a pretty nice turn-out on a Sunday morning.
On The Course: The start/finish line was across the street from where the city offices are, so we all walked to Northwest Military Highway, where several police officers were stopping traffic to let us cross over the road and get to the start/finish area. After we got near the start/finish chute, I saw that my friends from iaap – a top-notch race management company – were doing the timing and results, so I gave them a shout-out and got a photo of them. The kids did their kids run; and then the rest of us got lined up for the main event. The National Anthem was played and then we headed onto the course.
The course was an out-and-back done on paved roads in this Shavano Park neighborhood that is across from the city offices. These were pretty wide roads, so everyone had plenty of manuevering room. The first part of the course was pretty flat, and we went past some pretty nice homes too….some of them really large; dang, my whole house would have fit into some of the yards we passed, with room to spare. I did my usual run/walk thing – 8 minutes running/2 minutes walking – and took on-course photos during my walk breaks. I thought, wow this is a nice place to run, with wide flat streets and lots of things to see. Well, I spoke too early, lol, because pretty soon the hills showed up. We went down a first long hill; then up another fairly long hill; then down another one, then up another to finally get to the turn-round point. After the turn-round, we then went down the hill, then up that long hill we had come down as we headed to the turn-round point….and those hills pretty much lasted all the way to just past the mile 2 marker, so we definitely got a workout, lol. For the most part, I pretty much ran non-stop to the finish after I hit the turn-round point, ignoring my watch beeping “walk break time” and only did a few ‘quickie stops” to get a couple more on-course photos. When I hit the Mile 2 marker, I went non-stop to the finish. I ended up with a chip-time of 44:38, averaging a 14:22 per mile pace, which was good enough for being 3rd in my 70-99 males age group.
After My Finish: I got a few photos of others coming into the finish and some of other finishers that got done before me. After that, it was back across the street to the main pavilion area. When I did get back across the street, I discovered there is a Sunday vendors fair held here, selling all kinds of various products, as well as food and drink. As I was walking through this area, looking at it all, one nice vendor handed me a bottle of gatorade, thank you very much, that hit the spot. Back at the pavilion, I chatted with more participants and volunteers, and watched the awards ceremony, and also got a few more photos. There were even a couple more dogs there, so I handed out some more doggie treats.
Epilogue: This is a very nice venue for a race with very wide streets to accommodate all participants, and very little traffic on a Sunday morning. Where I was at any given time, the drivers that were out there were very accommodating and careful, and some even gave us a little “toot of the horn” to cheer us on. This is a very friendly environment to get in a run or walk. Some of the neighborhood dogs even came to their fence-lines to “woof us on”, lol. I did give a couple of them some treats, but only if their human was in the yard with them, to make sure it was okay.
Veronica’s Journey 5K is definitely a keeper event on my race calendar. Very nice quality race shirt too. I do so many races over the year that I am running out of drawer space for my race shirts, lol, but this one is a keeper.
Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for us, e.g., Chrissie and Mitch for founding this event – and also helping others benefit from it via their endowment; all the many volunteers and supporters out there for us; the law enforcement officers there for our safety; iaap for doing their usual great job with course set-up, timing, and results; the priest who did the Mass; as noted, I’m not Catholic, but I could tell he did a really good job – and he even told us a couple of good jokes, lol.
Next up for me is the Cleftstrong 5K on October 4th. Still waiting for the date for when my skin cancer treatments will start but, as my doc told me, he wants me running to help me keep strong for the treatments I will be underoing. As he told me at my last appointment: ‘regular, moderate running strengthens your immune system by increasing blood circulation and mobilizing immune cells to better detect and fight off pathogens.” Well, I certainly AM a moderate runner, lol, with only 2 speeds: slow and slower. I plan to keep on doing my run/walk thing, but don’t mind walking either. I’m just going to take it one day at a time, one race at a time, and see how it goes.
Whatever your passion is, may you always enjoy it and may you have much success at it and always stay safe doing it! If you are a fellow race participant and see me at an event, give me a shout-out. I’d be happy to get a photo with you.
