Scottydog Reports

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/zNzFFQRcQZ4Be1927        

Before The Start:   My 47^th race of 2026 was the Dragon’s Den 5K put on by e-Dragon Productions at Pearsall Park on August 15^th. There were 4 events:  a half marathon; a 10K; and a 5K, with the half starting first, followed by the 10K, and then the 5K started last.  There was also a Kid’s Run after the main events finished.  Race management company did the timing and results, which show there were 42 finishers for the half-marathon; 64 finishers for the 10K; and 116 finishers for the 5K.

 On The Course:  In a word:  HILLY! No matther which event you were doing, all the courses started on pavement near the start/finish line and then went onto an off-road trail and began climbing….and climbing….and climbing on both uphills and downhills.  The course going up-and-down these hills was a  mix of dirt, gravely areas, and a bit of grassy areas. These were no baby hills either; these were fairly steep up-and-down climbs. About a half-mile into the course we were so high that we could see parts of what used to be Kelly Air Force Base – now known as Kelly Field Annex and is a neighbor of Port San Antonio.  We had quite some views of the surrounding area from the top of that hill. We then went downhill – a long and steep downhill –  turning onto a trail that took us to a paved part of the course; well, sort of paved; it was a mix of some pavement, gravely areas, and dirt; but hey, at least it was mostly flat, lol.  For those of us doing the 5K, there was a turn-round sign for us on this part of the course. After doing the turn-round, we then went back in the direction we had come, passing by a water station.  After passing the water station we then turned onto a paved concrete trail – and flat, thankfully, lol – that took us on a loop course through a wooded area; it was actually a pretty nice trail.  This loop included going through part of the Lower Pearsall Park; I kept thinking, dang, I hope I didn’t miss a turn; but nope, participants of all 3 races used this trail; I saw my speedy friend, who was doing the half, coming toward me – and then passing me like I was standing still and she told me all was good, participants from all events had to do this loop. OK, lol, so I did no get myself lost, and kept on trucking.  I finally came out of that loop and saw the water station I had passed when I began it so, whew, I was on track.  Right after the water station, we then climbed up the long, steep  hill we had come down to get to the paved trail. This was one long, steep climb. I ran the majority of it – at a very slow pace, lol, and got a couple of photos on the way up.  After cresting the hill, we then went toward the finish line, but did we get to go right to it? Nope, we made a turn onto the off-road trail we had started on and did it in reverse; s once again we were climbing some pretty steep hills, getting a second view of Kelly and the surrounding area.  When I finally reached the level part of this trail that we had started on, I ran non-stop to the finish and, whew! I was so happy to get to that finish line, lol.  I ended up with a pretty slow chip time time of 52:56, averaging 17:02 per mile, but I was quite satistifed with that. I aslo ended up 2^nd in my age group, mainly because there were only two in my age group, lol.  The first guy in my age group, Tom, beat me in by a good 14 minutes, lol.    With my spinal arthritis, off-road trails are pretty hard on my back, but I’ve been doing exercises my physical therapist gave to me and he told me I still have some back issues – expecially with my facet joint that helps you bend twist, etc – but it is stronger than it was before; so when I asked him about doing this one, he told me to just give it a try and see what happens, and if I had to, just walk more on the trails.  I love this guy and after I got done I called him and told him I was going to give him a big kiss, lol, the next time I saw him.

After My Finish: I was actually feeling pretty good after my finish.  I got my finisher medal and some water to get rehydrated – I had also made sure to hydrate before the start too, as this lovely Texas weather at our 7:15 a.m.  5K start time gave us a temp of 78 degrees with humidity of 84%, gaack.  Thankfully, Mother Nature was a bit kind to us, giving us quite a bit of cloud cover.   I stood near the finish line and got a few photos of others finishing and then chatted with some participants near the finish area, and got some more photos. There were also a few dogs present at this event, so I handed out some dog treats too.  After that, I wandered around the event area, chatting with other participants and supporters and getting a few more photos.  I also saw that my friend, Gilbert, had a tent at this one, so went to visit with him for a bit.  At the same races he and I are at he always has a chair for me to relax in for a bit post-race and also a banana for me, as well as an electrolytes recovery drink.  Gilbert is a super-great guy, very supportive of the local running community.  He is also quite a cyclist, riding some really long distances. After getting that banana and drink in me, felt much better, and continuued wandering here-and-there, getting a few more post-race photos.

Epilogue: As usual for e-Dragon – owned by my friends Kristine and Erik Burciaga – this is a well done event, with nice finisher medals; a really nicely designed race shirt, and unique age-group award medals. There werer severa; ‘eats’ after the finish too, including turkey legs; varous kinds of snacks; iced down bottled water and also iced down small towels to put on the back of your neck or on your head to help you cool down; one of those photo things that you stood on whlie a thing went spinning around you to get photos –  I passed on that; I’m kind of a klutz at times and would have gone flying off that thing, lol. There were also a few different kinds of backdrops to stand in front of for photos.  It was a pleasure seeing a lot of my friends here, as well as several other participants I see at several races I do over the year.   I noticed, sadly, that one participant was taken away by ambulance – I don’t like to speculate but  maybe possible dehydration, it really was very warm out there – but I hope everything turns out okay for him.   Mucho thanks to all who made this event happen for us:  the many volunteeers and the iaap folks who had to be out there very early to get everything set up, and thanks to iaap for doing the timing and resuits; the EMT folks and the law enforcement officers there for our safety; our MC, Anthony Zamora doing his usual great job for us; and the “official”photograhers at the event taking photos before, during, and after – much better than my amature photos, lol, with my old-time push-button Canon camera; the bike lead folks;  Erik and Kristine who do so much for our running community, as do the iaap folks too; and anyone else here involved that I may not have mentioned.  Thank you all!   Also, I guess I am a glutton for punishment because my next scheduled race is the day after this one – the last race of the e-Dragon Summer Series 5Ks, which will also be at Pearsall Park on August 16; this one starts at the ‘lower Pearsall Park area and probably will have some hills, but at at least this one will all be on the paved trails thankfully.   

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 runner and see me at an event, give me a shout-out. I’d be glad to get a photo with you.

Photos are here: Photos are here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/2bRiNqiwySibRAdu8       

Before The Start:  My 46^th race of 2026 was the Watermelon Dash held on August 9^th at Mission County Park.   Each of the events include a 5K; a 10K; and a kid’s run.  This event is part of a series of races put on by Houston Run Company: The Lemonade Dash; The Popsicle Dash; and the Watermelon Dash being the last one, all held at Mission County Park.  I did the 5K for all 3 of them. For this 5K, there were 121 finishers per results posted on RunSignUp.  Not sure how many participants did the 10K.  I arrived pretty early – around 5:30 a.m, and some of my friends were there even earlier – so found pretty good parking, and we all waiting for race-day packet pickup to be opened.  After I got my packet, I got my bib on and then went and chatted with a few of the Park Police law enforcement officers there, that I had met at previous events.  Because I do so many races, I am running out of drawer space for running shirts; so, like I now usually do, I got a Youth Medium Shirt. I asked the officers if they had any kids or grandkids, and one did have a grandson; so, since he was working the event, I gave him my Youth Medium shirt to give to his grandson. After that, wandered around some more getting a few more pre-start photos, and before I knew it, it was time to start.

 On The Course:  Both the 5K and 10K had a start time of 7:30 a.m. and started together. The temperature at start time 7:30 a.m. start time was 78 degrees, with around 87% humity and just about no cloud cover, althouh we did have some short shade spots along the course, and also went under several overpass bridges that gave us bried moments of shade. The river was on our right on the way to the turn-round, and on our left coming back.  Both events were out and back, with the 5K doing one loop and the 10K doing 2 loops.  I never got this about the 10K folks doing 2 loops, as the turn-round was a bridge along the course – the usual turn-round for 5Ks done on this course. I think the 10K folks proably could have crosssed the bridge and then gone to the a turn-round on the other side and then they would have had to do only 1 loop also; but it is what it is. I did my usual thing of 8-minutes-running/2-minutes walking and got some on-course photos during my walk breaks. The only flat parts of the course was from the start line area up to where we exited the park and went onto the Riverwalk; and a short part of the course just before we got to the turn-round sign. The longest hills on the course were the ones that took us up to the course water-station, and then down a long hill as we headed for the turn-round. After the turn-round, we then did these hills in reverse, and it was quite a climb back up to the water station.  I had done a 5K at The Rim in San Antonio, the day before this one and that one was VERY hilly, even more hills than this event so, feeling those hills a bit as I went along, I also took a few very short walk breaks on the way back – mabye 30 seconds or so, as well as my garmin-notice walk breaks, and also stopped very briefly to get a couple more photos. My last mile was just about all. After the start, since we came downhill to get onto the Riverwalk  that meant, of course, after all those hills we had to climb one last hill before getting back into the park and then going to the finish line. I ended up with a chip time of 48:57, averaging 15:44 per mile, and my last mile was a negative split, 3 minutes faster than my mile 2 time. I ended up first in my age group – I think I was the only one in my age group, lol – so not only got a finisher medal, I also got a nice ribbon and medal for being first in my age group.  

After My Finish:  I got a few more photos of some other finishers coming in, and then headed to Rover – the name of my SUV, lol – to sit in my car with the air-conditioning blowing full blast. As I was getting ready to wind down a bit, a guy with TV camera came over and asked if he could interview me; sure, why not; so we had a question-and-answer session; very nice guy.  I did not realize until later that night, after I got home this was a camera guy from KENS-TV and I saw myself on the eventing news for all of about a minute or so, lol.  There were 2 other participants in that segment too; one lady in a wheel chair whom I had met at previous events and I was sitting nearby when Camera Guy interviewed her; she did really well; and the 3^rd guy on camera I did not know.  That was pretty cool, beiing on TV…my 30 seconds of fame, lol. After that, I did sit in Rover with the a/c on full blast while I cooled down and got rehydrated with some iced-down gatorade and water I had brought with me.  Ahh, felt much better. After that I began wandering around, getting some more after-photos and sampling some of the post-race goodies that vendors/sponsors were offering. This one group of ladies had this really tasty electrolyte drink, and they gave you a sampling of it in a very small paper cup.  I told them I wanted more than that, lol. They told me finish the water in my water bottle – which I did – and then they filled up my bottle with this drink and I drank that on the way home; now I can’t remember the name of the stuff, but dang, it sure is good. There was an awards ceremony with awards given to the top 3 overall male and female finishers, and the top 3 masters overall male and female. You could also check with a vounteer to see where you placed in your age group and if you were first, you got another ribbon that had printed on it “Age Group Winner” and also had a small ‘watermelon character’ medal on it; so I came home with two ribbons and two medals.  I think I was the only one in my age goup, lol.

Epilogue:  This series of races is well-done – and kind of like Andiamo races, as they are all held at Mission County Park, with a hilly course. Even so, Mission County Park is a very nice facility with two pavilions, indoor restrooms, and lots of shady area to relax in before and after the event.   I will most likely do this series of events again next year, and I would recommend them to others.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants; the race company folks that put up the start/finish line area and did the timing;  the EMT medics out there for us if needed; all the many volunteeers who did packet pickup, course marshalling, water station duty, and more; the Park Police officers out there for us; all the vendors/sponsors who helped pay for everything and offered some nice pre-and-post race goodies, including beer; The race medal and ribbon, as well as the age-group medal and ribbon for those who placed first in his/her age group are also nicely done; also kudos to our MC who did a great job for us; and to the lady who led the pre-start warmup – which I only watched, lol; I’d probably pull something, lol, trying to do those exercises, so I just “saved my body parts” for the race itself.  If you are interested in doing this series of events in the future, here is the company link:  https://houstonrunning.co/series/summer-dash-series/   I tend to do a lot of races over the years – although my friends, Ralph and Woody have done even more races this year than I have; yes, each of us are a little bit crazy, but we sure enjoy ourselves.  

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.  

Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/E1MwTvYv5M5FbQ9MA

Before The Start:  My 45^th race of 2026 was the Rembember The Alamo Beer 5K held on August 8^th, staring and finishing at The Rim Trailhead in San Antonio, Texas. This was the first race of a series of 4 races held in the 2026 Alamo Beer Series.  People can register for all 4 at the same time – and get a nice discount, if I remember correctly or they can register for each one indivudually, which is what I do  Aside from the 5K, there was also a half-marathon, and relay, which started at 6:30 a.m.;  a 10K with a start time of 7:15 a.m. and the 5K with a start time of 7:15 a.m. and  the 5K, which started at 7:55 a.m. I got arrived on site very early as I knew parking would probably be kind of crazy, but I got very lucky and found a space actually pretty close to the start finish area. I had already picked up my packet the day before this event, so after getting to the race area I wandered around chatting with volunteers, other participants, etc., and getting a few pre-start photos.  I got there in time to see the half-marathon folks get started, and then watch the 10K folks get going  at 7:15 a.m.  After that, it was a bit of a wait until 7:55 when we 5K folks got started. This was actually kind of good, as the porta-pottie lines were fairly long, but the line moved pretty fast. Finally, it as the turn of the 5K folks to get started. The crowd was huge; there were over 700 participants for the 5K, so I can see the reason for the long delay between the course starts, so the course would not become really overcrowded.     

 On The Course: All the courses were out-and-backon the paved concrete trails of The Rim. The temperature when the 5K started was 79 degrees, with humidity at 80  percent, making it very muggy.  The day had ‘abundant sunshine” but there was actually quite a lot of shaded area along the course for we 5K folks. When I got to the turn-round I could see the course ahead of me, where the 10K and half folks had to go, and it looked to me like the first mile or so past the 5K turn-round sign had virtually no shade at all along the way.  Our 5K first mile had a couple of minor up inclines – nothing you could really call a hill – but after that we then really did start climbing, and these were not baby hills either. We climbed up and up and up and as we went along the hills got steeper. We’d go around a curve  on the trail and another uphill would be waiting for us, good grief. Not quite as bad as, say Eisenhower Park In San Antonio, which has some super-steep hills, but it was still quite the workout.  I did my usual thing of 8-minutes-run/2 minutes walk and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  The final uphill for the 5K was a long uphill and then we went around a curve and there was a short uphill climb to the 5K turn-round sign, good grief. After that, we headed back toward the finish in reverse of the way we’d come out. Downhills are harder for me than uphills, as the downhills pound my spinal athritic back a bit more than uphills do. I continued to do my run/walk and take photos during my walk break.  After finally getting to Mile 2, I got a couple more photos and then pretty much ran the majority of the last mile non-stop to the finish, with just a couple of ‘quickie stops”  about 8-10 seconds or so – and then got running again. I ended up finishing with the 5K with a finish time of 45:36, averaging 14:41 per mile. My last mile was a negative split of 13:29.  This was good enough to get me 3^rd place out of the 4 in my 70-74 males age group.

After My Finish:  Got my finisher medal and then a couple of ciups of water on the table next to where the medals were and did a cool-down walk. I got a couple more photos of other finishers, and then went down to the pavilion of my friend, Gilbert who, when he is at a race I am doing, always has a banana and a seat for me to sit and just relaxt for a bit. After just taking it easy for a while, I was then back out-and-about getting some more post-race photos.

Epilogue:  Much thanks to all who had any part in making this event happen for we participants. Thanks to all the volunteers who did:  packet pickup the day before the race and then race day packet pickup and race-day registration; laid out the course for us; manned the water stations; handed us our finisher medals; and more.  Thanks to iaap folks for doing the timing and results, and to our MC, Anthony Zamora who did his usual great job for us; and also to the official photograhpers out there for us, taking the perfect race photos – unlike my camera skills, lol, which sometimes endd up in a bit blurry photo; had to delete a couple like that; so if you know I took your photo, at the race, but you don’t see it, that is probably one I screwed up and deleted; sorry about that.   Mucho thanks also to all the sponsors there for us that had a variety of services, including post-race grilled Kiolbassa sausage-on-a-stick; there was also a massage table; and lots of various food-and-drink provided by sponsors.  The finisher medals are huge and very nicely designed; the race shirt is also of very nice quality.   Also, I want to give a shout-out to my friend and fellow cancer survivor Eugene “Gene” Simor, one of the co-founders of Alamo Beer. When I had my prostate cancer, Gene was so helpful with sharing what he went through, what I could expect, and more. All this really helped me through my treatments so that I ended up beating my prostate cancer too. He literally helped save my life.

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.  

Photos are here:        https://photos.app.goo.gl/P3Dqz4CaMXnoAqyz6    

Before The Start:   My 44^th race of 2026 was the Heat Wave 5K, held on August 1^st at Martin Luther King Park in San Antonio.  Events included half-marathon, 10K, 5K, and 1-mile walk.  Packet pickup was from 5:30 a.m. to 6:45, so I was up at 4 a.m to get some breakfast and then headed to the Park, arriving around 5:15 a.m and got some good parking.  I took a few pre-start photos before it got light, but a couple of them did not turn out so well, as my old-time push-button camera is not a fan of the dark, lol. After getting my packet and when sunup finally came, I did get a few more pre-start photos before we got onto the course. This is a dog-friendly event too and there were a few dogs there, so I handed out some dog-treats also. Right before the main events started, there was a Kid’s Run.   

 On The Course:  Regardless of which event participants chose to do, all participants started at the same time. Because of the spinal arthritis I have now, I can no longer run non-stop for full race distance, so I did my usual thing of run-8-minutes/walk-2-minutes and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. All the courses were out-and-back on the paved trails of the park.  We were lined up behind the start/finish line, with the park’s entrance road to our left.  The route took us past the park’s splash pad on our right, and then wound us under a road overpass.  For the most part, the first ½ mile or so was mainly flat with just a couple of not-too-steep down inclines. After that ½ mile or so, we then did begin going onto down inclines as participants headed toward their respective turn-rounds. Some of the speedier 5K participants were coming toward me, already heading to the finish, wow.  I can’t imagine running that fast; I’d probably injure myself trying, lol, and I really don’t want to anyway; I’m more of a ‘fun-runner” with two goals: have fun and finish standing up with no ambulance specifically waiting for me at the finish, lol.  As we continued on the trails toward our turn-rounds, a couple of these inclines soon became some long downhills.  We also crosss over a bridge that that shook when several people were on it at the same time. I cheered on the people coming towards me who were heading for their finishes and also saw a lot of personal friends who cheered me on. By the time I reached the 5K-turn-round sign, the participants had spread out quite a bit, and at my run/walk pace, I was pretty much running back to the finish with the course all to myself off-and-on. There were a few others coming toward me on their way to the 5K turn-round, but not many. After the turn-roound I pretty much ran the last half of the course almost non-stop, ignoring my garmin beeping at me to walk, and stopping maybe for 5 – 10 seconds to get a quick photo, and then began running again. This is something I’ve been practicing on my training runs, with permission of my doctor. By the time I got to the bridge on the way back, I pretty much had the course to myself off-and-on, with only just a few others running near me, including some of the speedier 10K people and fast half-marathon people who passed me by on the way to their finishes. I finally got to the point where I could see that first overpass we had gone under, so knew I had a little less than half-a-mile to to. I picked up my pace a bit more and high-tailed it to the finish. My garmin showed me a finish time of  46:08, averaging 14: 50 per mile, and my last mile was a negative split, nice.   I’m not sure what my chip-time was, as I could not find my listed results on the RunSignUp website. Personally, if there are multiple events at the same race, I can never find the darn results on RunSignUp and when I put in my bib number, name, etc., nothing came up.  Some friends of mine have actually tried to show me hot to get to those darn RunSignup results, but being a technology idiot at times, I still could not find it. I wish Bigfoot Running or Bodies Race Company – and any running organization who puts on a race –  would just put the darn results on their own websites – like local race companies iaap  and Athlete Guild do; makes it so much easier to find the results quickly. Anyway, I found out from the people at the race doing the results that I was first in my age group, so I got an award pin for that.

After My Finish: I stood near the finish line and got some photos of others finishing, staying far enough back so as not to interfere with the timing mechanism or the participants finishing. After that, I got some water and then continued to walk around the area getting some more after photos of happy finishers, supporters, voluneers, etc., and handed out some more dog treats.   

Epilogue:  This is a really nicely done event with a very nice course.  Porta-Potties were provided, but the park also has indoor restrooms near the park splash pad, as well as water fountains.  One race benefit is that all participants got free ice cream if they wanted it, served up by a vendor food truck on site. There was also bottled water and various other things.  I would do this one again and recommend it to others – although is sure did live up to its race name, lol.  At the 7 a.m. start time, it was 78 degrees with a ‘feels like” temp of 83 degrees and humidity at 83%, no wind at all; lots of sunshine.

Much thanks to all who had any part in making this event happen for we participants. Thanks to all the volunteers who did race day packet pickup and race-day registration; laid out the course for us; and to the Big Foot folks who did the timing and results for us, and the Best Bodies guy that was cranking out some tunes for us – and he started pretty darn early too, about right after I arrived on-site – very early –  so I bet the residents  in this area living near the park were thrilled about that, lol.   Thanks also to the Park Police officers who where out there for our safety; and all the vendors/sponsors who supported the event; 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.  

Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mmf1gyq3hAo2nQtUA

Before The Start:  My 43^rd race of 2026 was the e-Dragon Summer Series 5K, Race #4 held on July 26^th at McAllister Park.  The Summer Series, put on by my friends Kristine and Erick Burciaga, co-owners of e-Dragon Productions aka “Dragon Den, is a total of 5 races of 5K distance that raises funds for student scholarships. Each race is held at a different San Antonio park.  You can register for all 5 of them at the same time, and get a registration discount for doing that, or you can sign up for each race individually.  After the final race, a scholarship is presented to a female and male recipient.  This 5K was held at McAllister Park with a start time of 7:15 a.m. For Race 4, if I remember correctly, I believe there were around 100 finishers, both runners and walkers.    I live very close to this park, so arrived very early before the start time –  the day was still dark when I arrived –  found some good parking, and then got my race packet when registration/packet pickup area opened at 6 a.m. After getting my packet, I then enjoyed chatting with other participants, volunteers, supporters, the e-Dragon team and volunteers that did the course setup, packet pickup and race ressult and getting a few pre-start photos.

 On The Course:  Because of the spinal arthritis I have now, I can no longer run non-stop for full race distance, so I did my usual thing of run-8-minutes/walk-2-minutes and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. Also, as I had a skin-cancer biopsy on Friday, I took Saturday off from running to rest up. On race day was not sure how this would affect my running, but I was fine and was able to do my run/walk with no discomfort at all.  The course started and finished near the Buckhorn Pavilion, which is right across from the park’s lower soccer fields and just down from the park’s youth basebaseball field. This was a loop course that started took us past the soccer fields and the baseball stadium. We then went onto an asphalt park road that took us toward Becken Pavilion which is close to the park’s Jones Maltsberger Road entrance. We hit Mile 1 on this road. We did not go as far as Becken Pavilion. We made a left turn, taking us by the course water station. This took us on an off-road paved trail that took us on a circuit that passed a dry creekbed on our left; then onto a trail where we could see a body of water on our left; and continued on this same trail where we had a view of a police substation that is just up from the Jones Maltsberger Road entrance of the park.  We then took a paved trail and crossed a road tht was quite near Becken Pavilion. This got us back onto another off-road paved trail, that looped us alongside the back fence of the soccer fields, and then we made a turn onto a trail that took us out onto the road we had started on after the start. A left turn on this road took us back to the finish area in reverse of the way we had started, with the baseball stadium and the soccer fields now on our left as we went to the finish line. Per my garmin, I ended up with a time of 47:12, averaging 15:11 per mile, ending up 4^th out of 4 in my 70-99 males age group.

After My Finish: I stood near the finish line and got some photos of others finishing, staying far enough back so as not to interfere with the timing mechanism or the participants finishing. After that, I got some water and then continued to walk around the area getting some more after photos of happy finishers, supporters, voluneers, etc., and handed out some more dog treats. After that, I enjoyed sitting for a bit with my friend, Gilbert, at his tent area where he had an array of fresh fruits, includinging bananas, watermelon, etc.  He is a cyclist who does some pretty impressive distances on his rides, but he is also a great supporter of the local running community, often attending several events over the year and providing lots of post-race goodies.  There was also an award ceremony with overall winners and the first 3 finishers in each age group getting recognized and awarded.   

Epilogue: This is a very nice series of races, with e-Dragon doing a great job of organizing it all. The series courses have a nice mix of having sometimes mainly  flat courses, like this one is, and sometimes having some hills, and sometimes having a mix of both.  The series also gives you a nice “tour” of several local parks.  The series also offers “Summer Series” race shirts for each event and participants also get a coin that, if I remember correctly, has a code that can used for a registration discount for upcoming e-Dragon races.   I will definitely continue do do Summer Series events and I certainly would recommend then to others. Kristine and Erik have built e-Dragon into a very nice quality race company and besides the Summer Series, they also offer several other very nice quality races throughout the year.  They also have up-and-coming runners in their kids, a couple of whom are already quite speedy; one of their young sons, lol, always leaves me ‘eating his dust” at the same races we do; that is one fast kid. I don’t think Erik and Kristine will have to worry about college for these kids; I’m guessing they are all eventually going to end up with college running team scholarships.  When Kristine and Erik are ready to eventually hand off the company after their kids are grown it will be in good hands with their sons and daughters.

Much thanks to all who had any part in making this event happen for we participants. Thanks to all the volunteers who do packet pickup, race registration, help lay out the course, set up the start/finish line – and then take it down after the race; and to the “official” race photographers that were taking photos of participants on the course – much better than mine, I am sure, lol – and anyone involved that I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all! Without all of you volunteers, races probably could not be held.

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.  

Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bVwq6ttC4ozojw9j6

Before The Start:  My 42^nd race of 2026 was the Chasing Dreams 5K held on July 19^th at Martin Luther King *MLK) Park.  This was also my 2^nd race of the weekend, after having completed on Saturday, July 18^th “The Stars and Stripes Drive-In Theater 5K in New Braunfels, Texas.  There was also a 10K with both the 5K and 10k starting at the same time at 8 a.m.  For the Chasing Dreams  5K and 10K race Management company iaap did the timing and results, as well as putting out the mile markers and turn-round signs on the course for each event.  These events benefitting “Running Down A Dream”, a program. There were 314 finishers for the 5K and and 224 finishers for the 10K, so a nice turn-out for this one. Per its website:  “Running Down a Dream is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to creating a world where every kid has the opportunity to be healthy, fit, equipped so they reach their highest dreams & aspirations in life. The organization does this by coaching & mentoring kids while participating in fitness.”   I had picked up my packet on the Friday before the race, so after arriving, I wandered around the race start/finish/race-day packet pickup area and got some prestart photos. As this is also a dog-friendly event, with the permission of their humans, I handed out some treats to the dogs there.  

 On The Course:  Because of the spinal arthritis I have now, I can no longer run non-stop for full race distance, so I did my usual thing of run-8-minutes/walk-2-minutes and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. Both races were out-and-back, done on the parks paved off-road trails. For the most part the 5K course was fairly flat, with just a couple of hills, including a fairly long-but-not-too-steep downhill to our turn-round point. The 10K folks did the same course as the 5K course up to the 5K turn-round point, and then continued onward to their turn-round point, so I don’t know if they had more hills along their course. We 5K participants made our turn-round and headed back to the finish line, with our longest hill being the one we’d come down to get to the turn-round point, and then had climb up it as we went to the finish. Both courses went across a bridge above Salado Creek that flows through the park; when several people were on this bridge at the same time, you could feel the darn thing shaking a bit underneath your feet, which was kind of creepy, lol.  nice view of the creek from the bridge. Before I even got to to the 5K turn-round, some of the very speedy 5K and 10K participants were already heading for the finish, wow.  I could tell which were the 10K folks and the 5K folks as 5K folks wore blue race bibs and the 10K participants had white bibs. Dang, these were some fast participants.     After making finally making the 5K turn-round, I then ran pretty ignored my Garmin beeping to signal my walk breaks and prettty much non-stop to the finish – something I’ve been practicing doing with my training runs – with just some “quickie” stops of maybe 10 – 20 seconds for a few more on-course photos, and then began running again.  After getting to the Mile 2 marker, I did go non-stop to the finish. I ended up with a chip time of 45:06/gun time 49:45, averaging a 14:31 pace, which put me at 1^st place in my 65-74 males age group; also, lol, I was the only one in that age group.

After My Finish:  I got my finisher medal and then stood for a few minutes in the finish area, well away from the timing devices and got a few photos of others coming into the finish. After that I got myself rehydrated while I wandered around the race venue chatting with other participants, supporters, sponsors, etc. and got some after-photos and handed out a few more dog treats.  The awards ceremony was nicely done; as noted, since I was the only one in my age group, I got a second medal for that, nice. I then continued wandering around, chatting with participants, supporters, vendors, fellow veterans that were there, etc, and getting some more after photos. As usual for me at races I do, I was one of the last to leave the race area so had no problem easily getting out of the park as there was very little traffic to deal with at this point.   

Epilogue:   This is a very nicely done event.  I did this one last year and, wow, this event sure has grown in participation from what it was last year, very nice turn-out. There were all kinds of vendors there with several various food-and-drink options.  I tried one of thes Propel rehydration drinks – I had the blackberry flavored one and it actually was pretty good. There was also one of those photo things where you stand on a platform while a revolving camera goes around you and takes your photo. I passed on that, those spinning things give me vertigo so, lol, I did not want to stand on it and then go flying off it into the crowd and maybe whack into somebody.  The finisher medals and age group award medals – mainly the same style medal – are nicely made and the race shirt is of very nice quality. The park also offers indoor restrooms – a nice change from porta-potties – and also has water fountains, and shaded pavilions. I certinaly will do this one again and would recommend it to others.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, e.g., Running Down A Dream organization; our MC  and sound-and-music guys both of whom did a great job for us; the iaap crew there – who are my personal friends – doing their usual great job with the course setup, timing and results; all the many vendors and sponsors who supported this event; and anyone else involved I may not have mentions 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.  

Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/k2xZRs5jQUBg7RRo6

Before The Start:  My 41^st race of 2026, held on July 18^th  was the Stars and Stripes Drive-In Movie Theater 5K, held at – you guessed it, lol – The Stars and Stripes Drive-in  Movie Theater, lol.  Put on mby my friends at Athlete Guild, there were several events for this one:  half-marathon; 10K; a 5K run and a 5K Competitive Walkers event; There was also a Kid’s Run.  I had a bit of a challenge this year getting to the race site. I left pretty home in San Antonio pretty early – 5 a.m., but all the I-35 north access roads in my area were blocked due to ongoing construction. We drivers out there ended up being directed by the traffic police there in a very roundabout way to FINALLy get onto I-35 North, so I’m glad I started out early. It did not help for navigationally challenged me, lol, as I had written down the wrong exit number to get to the theater. I ended way beyond where I was supposed to be, good grief and lol, so knew I had gone too far, so I turned around and went back the other way. I did stop at a 24-hour Burger King and the two ladies there were helpful in getting me back on track. I also a police car, so stopped and asked the officer for the correct exit. He told me not to worry about it, he was going that way too, and was going to be one of the officers on duty at one of the roads on the way to the theater, watching traffic, so he led me to the correct exit and then pretty much “escorted” me to the race site; so the lesson here is if you don’t want to go on a “mystery tour” when I travel, don’t travel with me, lol.  After finally arriving at the race site I got my packet and got my race bib on and then got some pre-start photos.  Our temperature for this event was 79 degrees, with humidity of 88 percent.

 On The Course:   The half marathon started first, followed by the 10K, and then the 5K runners and competitive walkers all started together. I did my usual thing of run-8-minutes/walk-2-minutes and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. We started near the theater, going away from the theater, first on a bit of a gravelly surface and then onto an asphalt suface, heading down the theater exit/entrace road. At the end of this we made a right turn and had a very short bit of level ground before climbing a fairly long uphilll. Near the top of this first hill, we then made a left turn, continuing up another fairly long hill, passing a couple of residential homes along the way. When we crested this hill, we then began a loooooong downhill, where we got to Mile 1.  I am not fond of downhill running, as I have some spinal arthritis and downills pound my back a bit more than uphills do.   Some of the speedier participants in the events that started before the 5k were already heading for their finishes, wow; these folks were really moving fast. On this road we also passed the course water station, so thanks to those volunteers being out there for us. We also had been told prior to our start that there was water on the course from all the recent rain, so be awar of that. After going down the hill, the water on the course was actually at a flat section of the course before we started up another hill – shorter than the one we’d just come down – and it was not too deep at all on the right side of the course – just a few inches deep –  so the majority of us passed over the ‘water hazard’ on that side.  Once we crested the second hill, we then went down a fairly flat road that took us to the 5K turn-round, and then went back in reverse of the way we’d come out – which meant that very long downill we came out on was now a very long uphill.  I’ve been practicing in my training runs doing the last mile of a 5K non-stop, so pretty much ran the majorty of the course back to the finish with just a few ‘quickie” stops to get a couple of photos. The water station folks were still out there for us so I made a quick stop to get a photo of them and then proceeded on up that long hill.  After cresting that, since the way out had been mostly uphill, we now had to negotiate a very long downhill before finally turning back onto the theater entrance/exit road. We had a very slight uphill on this, and then the last ¼ mile or so was all flat back to the finish as we passed back through the theater “gate” area.   I ended up with a chip time of 46:20, averaging 15:55 per mile and my garmin showed I had a negative split for Mile 3, nice. I ended up 3^rd in my 70-74 males age group. There were only 4 in my age group, lol; even so, I’ll take it.

After My Finish:  I did a short cool-down walk, then got some water and then just sat for a while with my friend, Alan, as we just relaxed and rehydrated a bit. After that, I wandered here-and-there, chatting with other partcicipants, supporters, volunteers, etc., and got some after-photos.  This is also a dog-friendly event and there were a few dogs there, so I handed out some dog-treats to them, with permission of their humans.  The theater staff also offered free hamburger, fries and soda to all race particpants; umm, a bit too early for my old-man system to digest that stuff, lol, so I passed on that and just took in some Gatorade and water.  I also got a couple of photos of the theater’s staff members to thank them for being out there for us and told them where my blog is, so thy could save their photos if they wanted to. They are all very nice people, enjoyed chatting with them for just a few quick minutes as they were very busy preparing and handing out all the goodies to the runners who did want that free burger, fries, and drink.

Epilogue:  This is a very nicely done event, put on by Athlete Guild.  The course is hilly – not as hilly as those hills at The Rim or in Helotes, Texas or at Eisenhower Park, but still gives you a pretty good workout, so I’m glad I do hillwork at least once a week to help me with courses like this. The event is very nicely done and all the people out there for us did a great job – Athlete Guild Team; all the race-day packet pickup folks; the theater staff members; the water station volunteers; Mark Purnell doing his usual great job for us as MC;  all the law enforcement officer out there for our safety; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. One very nice thing too that the organizers let us know: in our race packets was a thing to scan when we got home and for July 18 and 19, we would get a major discount on the registration price for this event if we registered on these days for the 2027 event, which I took advantage of; the total registration price, with taxes, fees, etc. turned out to be just a little over $17, wow, nice.  So I am registered for this one next year, especially now that I’ve figured out how to get to the race site, 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.  

Photos are here:        https://photos.app.goo.gl/PKnhvHdN4VKxUeqN8

Before The Start:  On Sunday, July 12, 2026, I did my 40^th race of the year, the Popsicle Dash 5K, held at Mission County Park in San Antonio.   There was also a 10K and a Kids Run.   This event This was my second race of the July 11^th – July 12^th weekend; on Saturday, July 11^th, I completed the Bigfoot Racing Sharkweek Showdown 5K.    The Popsicle Dash is one of a series of races put on by Lonestar Running Company.  Participants can signup for all the series for indivdual races.  The timing and results for this event was done by Sun & Ski Sports.  I arrived at the race venue around 6:45 a.m., got my race packet and then got a few pre-start photos. It seeme like “Old Home Week”, lol, as several of my friends who had also done the Bigfoot Racing event on Saturday were also here for this event.  Per race results posted on RunSignUp website, there were 91 finishers for the 5K and 22 finishers for the 10K.

On The Course:  The 5K and 10K participants all started together at 7:30 a.m. Both events were out-and-back, with the 5K course being one lap and the 10K course being 2 laps.  Our weather for this one was, as some TV weather folks report “abundant sunshine” with a temp of 78 degrees and with the humidity a ‘feels like” temp of 81 degrees.   Our start and finish area was on a paved trail trail located right in front of a WWII cannon on display, pointing righ in the direction of the starting area; talk about motivation to keep you moving, lol! A gentleman beautifully sang The National Anthem and then we got started. The paved path took us past the park’s main pavilion area to our right and then we went onto a paved trail of the San Antonio Riverwalk that is adjacent to the park. Once we exited the park, the hills began right away as we made a left turn upon leaving the park and immediately went down a fairly steep downhill. We had a very short flat bit for a couple of minutes and then began climbing again, with the river on our right as we headed for our turn-round.  This course is just about ALL hills, with the only flat parts of the course being the start/finish area, and a flat part of the course just before we get to the turn-round; all the rest of the course is either uphill or downhill. These hills are not as steep as, for example, the paved trails at The Rim or Eisenhower Park, which have REALLY steep hills, but one still gets a pretty good workout on these hills and also some pretty nice views of the river, which was on our right heading for the turn-round, on our left heading for the finish.  I did my usual thing of 8-minutes-running-2 minutes walking, due to my spinal arthritis which is ‘active’ now, so can’t run non-stop anymore for the whole race distance, and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  I felt pretty good overall and usually will run the last half of a 5K non-stop; however, one of my BAMC docs – my orthopedist – knows I am a runner – he is a runner also – and reads my blog – like he’s chekcking up on me lol, to make sure I’m behaving – and he knows this course, so he sent me a message saying since pretty much ran the last half of Saturday’s race non-stop, then today I should “behave myself”, lol, and take all my walk breaks for this event; well, okay then; so I behaved – somewhat, lol – and took a few extra walk breaks to get some photos and I only ran the last half-mile non-stop to the finish; that counts as behaving, right? Lol. I finished with a chip time of 45:32, averaging 14:41 per mile. Per my garmin my splits were Mile 1: 13:40. Mile 2: 15:52 – took a few more photo breaks on this mile to get photos of the river, etc. – and Mile 3, negative split of 13:43.  I was first in my 70-99 males age group primarily because I was the only one IN my age group for the 5K, lol; even so, I’ll take it!

After My Finish: I stood near the finish line area, far enough away to not impede other incoming fnishers, but close enough to get a few photos of others finishing.  It was easy to distinguish the 5k partiipants from the 10k participants as we 5K folks wore blue bibs and the 10K participants had green bibs. I then took a short break and went and sat in my car for a bit with the a/c on full blast to help me cool off a bit, and “refreshed” myself with some iced down water and gatorade I had brought with me. After that it was back to wanderring around the race area chatting with other participants; friends; supporters, vendors/sponsors;  two law enforcement constables there for our safety, one of whom was a fellow veteran; and I also handed out some dog treats at this is a dog-friendly event; met a very cool dog named Reese and his owners let me have a photo with him. We were friends-for-life after he got a couple of treats from me, lol.    There was no awards ceremony for each age group, only for the Top 3 overall in each age group; however, participants could check at the Sun and Ski Sports tent to find his/her age group place and If you were first in your age group, you received another medal, with a ribbon had printed on it “First Place”; so those who were first place in their age groups got an additional medal.

Epilogue:   This event is very nicely done and is part of a series of “Dash” races that include The Lemonade Dash, the Popsicle Dash, and the Watermelon Dash, which will be the next race in the series. You can sign up for the whole series or each race indidually. Each race has post-race snacks and food/drink appropriate to the name of the race; so the next upcoming event – the Watermelon Dash – will have watermelon at that event. All these races are held at Mission County Park this year. I got to meet the Race Director and also some of the folks with Sun & Ski Sports.  This is a very nicely organized event, one I would recommend to others, and I certainly will do  some of their other events in the future.

The finisher medal and the age group medal for the top finishers in each age group are both nice and creatively done.  The race shirt is a singlet, simply done with the race name on the front of the shirt and no printed advertising, etc., on the back of it.  Pre-start and post-race, there are all kinds of various snack available, as well as lots of water and some other drinks from vendors, etc. Mission County Park is also nice because it has good indoor restroom facilities and also water fountains.  Thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, e.g., Sun & Ski Sports; Lone Star Running Company; the phographers there – I don’t remember the company name – who were taking all the ‘official’ race photos; the two Constables there for our safety; and, of course, all the many volunteers there for us doing race day packet pickup duties; manning the course water station; the guy who sang The National Anthem for us; 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.  

Photos are here:      https://photos.app.goo.gl/KhGmkYkMbNL7LD2c8

Before The Start:  Put on by Bigfoot Running, my 39^th race of 2026 was the Shark Week Showdown 5K held at Ladybird Johnson (LBJ) Park on Saturday, July 11^th. This event was put on byThere was also a 10K and a 1-mile walk.  Per results posted on RunSignUp website, the 5K had 257 finishers and the 10K had 160 finishers, so a nice turn-out for this one. There was also a 1-mile walk. This event had an early start, with the 10K starting at 7 a.m. and the 5K starting at 7:15 a.m.   Our race day weather was pretty muggy with a temperature of 78 degrees around start time and humidity around 87%.  It was also very cloudy  and overcast and about 20 minutes or so before the start of the events, we had some spittting off-and-on rain for about 10 – 15 minutes.  I had picked up my packet the day before race day so after arriving at the park I wandered here and there, chatting with volunteeers, other participants, and the Bigfoot Team members that did the course setup, timing, and results. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I gave a few treats to the dogs I encountered.  The 10K folks started around 15 minutes before we 5K folks began. By start time, the spitting rain had stopped and never did start back up the whole time I was on the course.

On The Course:  The 5K was an out-and-back done on the paved concrete trails of the park.  Normally, we do a loop around the park’s traffic circle and then descend a short, winding hill to get to the park’s main concrete paved trails of the course to do an out-and-back course. However, our start for this one was just at the end of the public parking area. We crossed the start and then did a short jaunt on a winding downhill that took us to the park’s main trail.  We turned left onto this trail that took us in the direction of The Los Patios Shoppes and the 410 frontage road. The course is mostly flat, with just a few up-and-down inclines, but nothing you could really call a hill, until we got closer to the 5K turn-round.  Due to my now active spinal arthritis and DDD( Degenerative Disc Disease), I cannot run non-stop anymore for the whole race distance; so I did my usual run-8-minutes/walk-2 miinutes and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  Because we had a different start than the usual start route done for a 5K at this park, we went a bit farther to get to the 5K turn-round point. We actually passed the turn-round arrow in chalk for the usual 5K course done at this park and went over the Loop 410 frontage road and then underneath an overpass and could hear the Loop 410 traffic above us. This course took us up a hill that is fairly long, but not-too-steep, and once we got to the top of that, there was a water station on our right with 2 volunteers there – thank you very much –  and the 5K turn-round sign on our left. We then turned round and proceeded to the finish in reverse of the way we had come out. As noted, I can’t run a complete 5K non-stop, but I did get permission from my doc and my Physical Therapist, after my physical therapy was done, to run the last half of a 5k to the finish, and just take a few ‘quickie’ walk breaks; so on the way to the finish, I made a few “quickie” photo stops, and then got back to running again, and also ran the last mile non-stop to the finish. I ended up with a chip time of 46:57, averaging 15:05 per mile, with my walk breaks and photo-stops.  This was good enough for 1^st in my age group as, lol, I was the only one in my 70-79 age group, lol; which is okay; I’ll take it.  I got a Bigfoot pin for being first in my age group.  All participants who finished 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd in their respective age groups got the Bigfoot Pin. I’m not sure what award was given to the overall winners; and some of those folks were pretty darn fast.

After My Finish:  I stood for a bit near the finish line and got a few photos of others finishing, including some of my personal friends. After that I wandered here-and-there, chatting with other participants, volunteers, supporters, etc., and got some more after-photos that included fellow participants – both 5K and 10k people, and some that did the 1-mile walk – as well as some photos with my Bigfoot staff member friends who organized this event, and did the timing and results, as well as some of my volunteer friends who were verifying results and handing out Bigfoot pins if they placed 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd in their age groups.  I am not sure what the overall winners got but, dang, some of those people are really speedy, including some of the younger lads and ladies.  One young lady, mabye about 12 or so, wow…she was traveling, running with her father, I think. She sped right past me, lol, like I was standing still. There were a couple of more kids like that on the course also. I kept thinking…I need a transfusion frm these kids, lol.   

Epilogue:  The course change was interesting and gave we participants new things to see, as we went farther than the “usual” 5K course takes us, so that was pretty cool – although that was a bit of a climb, lol, to the 5K turn-round point. I was quite happy that I met my usual race goal – finish standing up and no ambulance waiting specifically for me, lol – and even got a place award out of it; well, since I am not a speedy runner, that’s my goal…try and outlive the competition, lol.  All-in-all a very nicely organized event and – unlike some other races done here, Bigfoot Running provided several port-a-potties for us, which was great; much better than that crappy one-seater porta-potty that is the only ‘restroom” at the park that is near the trailhead; as much as this park is used, I never understand why Parks and Recrecation doesn’t put in an actual restroom near the trailhead, or more port-a-potties.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants: Bigfoot Crew; all the many volunteers; Park Police Officer out there for our safety; the patience of patrons – other runners, cyclists walkers, etc. – doing their own thing as we participants invaded their space for quite a while; all the race sponsors; and anyone else involved whom 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.  

Photos are here:     https://photos.app.goo.gl/pmUxF9XSzn3ZUY4G9        

Before The Start:  My 38^th race of 2026 was Race #3 of the e-Dragon San Antonio Summer Series. This series includes 5 races held over the summer at various local San Antonio parks. The races help provide a scholarship to a male and female student after the completion of the 5-races series event.  Race 3, held on Sunday, July 5, was at Ladybird Johnson Park in San Antonio with packet pickup from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., and a scheduled start time of 7: 30 a.m. This was my second race of the weekend, after having completed on Saturday the 4^th of  July “Let Freedom Run 5K” in Schertz, Texas, with the route being the city’s 4^th of July Pararade route.  Per posted results, there were 116 finishers for this event. I arrived at the park shortly after 6 a.m., got my race packet and then got a few pre-start photos.    

On The Course:  The 5K was an out-and-back done on the paved concrete trails of the park. We started by going around the park’s traffic circle, and then went down a paved incline that took us to the park’s main paved trails. After my Saturday race on the parade route, which had a 9:15 a.m. start and had virtually no shade at all along the course, making it feel very hot – temp of 81 degrees at the start, with a “feels like temp” of 91 and a heat index of 101 –  I appreciated that this park had lots of shaded areas along the way.  I did my usual thing of 8-minutes-run/2-minutes walk and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  At the bottom of this incline we made a left turn that started us heading in the direction of the Los Patios Shoppes area. We did a couple of up-and-down inclines on this route, but nothing that could be called a serious hill. Our longest incline, up on the way out and down on the way back, was just a bit past Mile 1 on the way out and before Mile 2 on the way back, was just after we crossed over a bridge on the way to the turn-round.   Overall, I felt pretty good, and as usual ran my “sedate” running pace, lol, averaging a 14:37 pace per mile.  My speedy walking friend, Peggy, was near me for just about all of the course, sometimes passing me by when I took my walk breaks and then me catching up to her and passing her by after my walk breaks were over.  We do a lot of the same events over the year and have this “leapfrog” thing going on at most of them. After making the turn-round, which was near the Loop 410 frontage road in the Los Patios area, I pretty much ran almost non-stop to the finish, with just a few quick stops of less than a minute to take a few on-course photos of some of my friends that I saw and of some of the course, like the bridge we crossed twice, and the incline we came down at the start and had to climb up as we went to the finish. After cresting that last incline, I ran around the traffic circle, and crossed the finish line with a time of 44:06, averaging 14:12 per mile; per my Garmin, my last mile was a negative split, nice.   

After My Finish:  I did a short cool-down walk while sipping some water and then stood near the finish area, getting some photos of others finishing, including friends at this event.  I did not have to wait long for my friend Peggy to come in, lol.  After the turn-round she had pretty much been close behind me for most of the way back to the finish. She is a very talented and strong walker and finished only about a minute and some change behind me.   After that, I wandered here-and-there, getting some more photos, and also got an award for being 3^rd in my 70-99 males age group. I got a nice ‘award coin” and all participants also got a nicely-done small pin too with the race name on it.

Epilogue:  This is a really nice event, organized and put on by e-Dragon Productions, owned by my friends, Erik and Kristine Burciaga.  They are a family of very talented runners too. When I was on the course – not even close to the turn-round yet – I saw Erik and one of his young sons already heading toward the finish; then as got closer to Los Patios area, I think I saw another son of his, younger than the first son I’d seen running with Erik, also heading to the finish and he was also way ahead of me, lol; Kristine, who today was doing packet pickup and more, is also a very talented runner.  Hmm, I think I need to get a transfustion, lol, from these family members.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, e.g., the Burciaga family; our MC, Anthony Zamora doing his usual great job for us as our MC; all the many volunteers that helped with packet pickup and the setup and takedown of the  start-and-finish-line area; manned the course water station; the J&B photography folks that took all the ‘official’ event photos; race management company iaap that did the timing and results – primarily my friend Rafa Iniguez with iaap, who was the only iaap timer there for this event; 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