Photos are here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TL3hZdDBuwjPLso46
BEFORE MY START: My 9th race of 2020 was the Street2Feet 5K on February 15. This was also my wife’s birthday and she participated in this event as a walker. This was the 11th year for this event – one of my very favorites – and this is my ‘streak’ race; I have done every one of them since the very first one started. Race start/finish was in Downtown San Antonio at the recently completed Frost Tower of Frost Bank, now the tallest structure gracing San Antonio’s skyline. There was a kid’s run at 7:45 a.m. with the main event starting at 8 a.m. This is a very popular event, supporting the Street2Feet program which is a “a walking/running 5k training program for individuals experiencing homelessness in San Antonio. The program introduces walking and running as an accessible/sustainable habit that builds community and empowers participants to develop a healthy life, regardless of income, zip code, or socioeconomic status.” There was quite a turn-out for this one so Gail and I arrived about early to take advantage of Frost Bank allowing the first 300 participants to arrive to get free parking in its Frost Tower parking garage; very nice of the company to do this. We’d already picked up our race packets the day before, so went right to the race site and I started getting some pre-start photos. The weather, although overcast, was pretty darn nice, in the upper 40s with no wind.
ON THE COURSE: The course route gave us a nice little min-tour of downtown San Antonio, taking us down Flores Street (I think it was Flores), then heading into the historic King William District, passing many 19th century built mansions/homes as we headed to our turn-round point. Back down King William Street the way we had come and then we accessed the San Antonio Riverwalk by the Canoe Club. Our route on the Rivewalk took us up to Nueva Street, where we turned left and headed back to Flores for a right turn that took us to the finish line. I ended up with a time of 34:53, placing 17th in my 60 – 69 age group. The top 3 guys in my age group all finished in the 22 – 24 minutes range. Some speedy old farts in my age group, lol. Very enjoyable course and because of where we were – Riverwalk, historic district, etc – I did stop a couple of times more than I usually do in an event to get a few extra photos. Very nice course. This event used to start and finish on 4th street, closer to The Alamo, which was also a nice course, but I like this one a lot better. Especially now, as there is some ongoing construction around The Alamo and you can hardly see it now from the street through the fencing, etc, with all that stuff going on. Anyway, we had a well laid out course, so kudos to race company iaap for the route layout.
After My Finish: After getting some water and getting back into my dry base-layer shirt that I had left behind before the start, I then wandered around chatting with lots of friends and getting some after-photos. There were plenty of vendors at this event too, giving all kinds of freebies, including a photo-both, courtesy of Texas Photo Booth, where you could get some free fun-photos; McDonalds giving out free coffee and breakfast oatmeal; a juice place giving out healthy cups of various juices; and so many more I can’t even remember them all, but it was quite a nice little before-and-after street fair for all the participants and supporters.
EPILOGUE: MUCHO GRACIAS to all the people that made this one happen for we participants: all the volunteers; sponsors; vendors; police officers out there for us; iaap for the course, timing, results, etc; and, of course, a really BIG thanks to the Frost Bank company for the free parking and use of the area surrounding the Frost Tower. Also thanks to anyone else I may not have mentioned here. Thanks to all of you for what you do so we participants can have this event. I also want to thank the Street2Feet Race Director and our MC – and my friend – Lana Hernandez, who thought well enough of me doing this event so many times that they made that ‘special’ race shirt for me. I was very touched and honored, and I am quite sure that will become one of my very favorite running shirts.
Scottydog Reports 