Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9Tbgssh4p64NzNe6A
Before The Start: My 29th race of 2026 was the Faithful Fishers 5K, held on May 30th at Retama Park in Selma, Texas. Retama Park is a huge park that is a horse-racing venue. This was a fairly smaller event, participant-wise, with 55 participants, both runners and walkers. Faithful Fishers organization has a mission to “raise up Christian leaders who affect change in their homes, churches, and communities locally and around the world.” This event supported the organization’s upcoming international missions in Thailand, Pakistan, and Kenya in 2026. The race was scheduled for an 8 a.m. start, with race—day packet pickup starting at 7:30. I was thankful it did not start right on time, as I had some issues in getting to the park because of all the ongoing road construction in San Antonio and being “detoured” off of some of the roads each of us had planned. My running friend, Woody, who was coming from Pleasanton, told me he had that issue also. We both finally did get there and got our packets. I also had time before the start to get a few pre-start photos. Timing and results were done by my friends of e-Dragon Productions, and they also did the race-day packet pickup. After getting myself ready for the start, I wandered here-and-there, getting a few pre-start photos. After that, our MC gave us the low-down on the mission of Faithful Fishers, and then an opening prayer was given by a chaplain there, and The National Anthem was played. After that my friend, Erik of e-Dragon, gave us the low down on the course and the route we’d be doing. We then lined up in the start area and got going.
On The Course. We started near the main building of Retama Park, where there was a ticket entry gate close-by, as well as indoor restrooms, and some seating for park customers to watch the horse races. We did not run on the horse races track, we went onto an access/service road that was adjacent to some of the track, passing by some horse stables on our left. I did my usual run/walk thing of 8-minutes run/2-minutes-walk, and took on-course photos during my walk breaks. I can’t run a whole 5K non-stop anymore due to my spinal arthritis becoming active; I knew it would happen someday – and that did happen when I was in my 50s – , as I was a “March of Dimes” baby, born with dislocated hips, and then wore braces on my legs until I was 4 years old; so my doc told me no more non-stop running; use the run/walk method. The first part of the course took us to a turn-round point – and we had a nice, although distant, view of the Grandstand seating across the field. After the turn-round we went back the way we had come out, re-passing by a water station we had passed after we first started; thanks to the two water station volunteers who had to stay out there until the very last participants went past them. After getting back near the Grandstand area, we made a left turn and went in front of the seating there, where there actually were a few people sitting there, cheering us on. We exited the grandstand area by making a right turn onto the pavement of the huge Retama Park parking area, going past a park entry area where park tickets are sold. My friend Johnny was the volunteer here and gave me a shout-out. After passing by him we then made a right turn onto the edge of the parking area and then proceeded to do a loop around the outer edge of this huge parking lot. Once we got back to where Johnny was, we then went back onto the grounds that took us once again past the grandstand area. We then made a left turn, going past the gate where we had exited the park when we first started. We passed by his fence gate and made another left turn that took us to the finish line; whoo! With my run/walk and photo stops, I ended up with a chip-time of 44:35, averaging 14:23 per mile. My miles were pretty consistent, lol: Mile 1: 14:31. Mile 2: 14:13 – I pretty much ran mile 2 nonstop- and Mile 3: 14:34, with a stop to take a photo of the adjacent race track we passed by. I was 42nd overall out of 55 participants.
After My Finish: I did a cool-down walk and then went and got my “ice bag” I had brought with me, that had iced-down bottles of water and some Gatorade. My friend Woody sat with me for a while – I had brought some cold Gatorade for him too – and chatted for a bit post-race as we just relaxed for a bit. After that, I started wandering around again, chatting with other participants, volunteers, event organizers, supporters, etc., and getting some ‘after photos. Several people also asked to have photos with me and I was happy to oblige. Standing with an old-dog like me, lol, they all looked great.
Epilogue: E-Dragon Productions, owned by the Burciaga Family, always does a great job with their events. My experience with friend and co-owner Erik, his wife Kristine, and their ‘super-volunteer’ Stephanie – she is the Volunteer Extra-Ordinaire who has volunteered for more races than I’ve run. E-Dragon also puts on some really good quality races too, so be sure to check out their race calendar; however, be warned: I once took a photo of the definition of the word “flat” and gave it to Erik as he doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word, lol. Some of his races – especially those at Pearsall Park – can be very challenging, but also rewarding too. I am pretty much limited from doing “extreme courses” these days – including off-road trail runs – due to this darn spinal arthritis – but I do fairly ok on the paved trails. Also, many many thanks to all the rest of those out there for we participants, e.g., the many volunteers there for us; our Race Director; the law enforcement officers there for our safety; the bike lead guy – who really had to pedal like crazy to keep ahead of that speedy first guy; some of the Retama Park staff members that were out there too; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here; thank you all!
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. Also, tomorrow (May 31), I am doing my 30th race of the year – the Andiamo Taco 5K at Mission County Park; see you there if you are doing that one!