Photos are here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sm5m1gavzhLsozks9
BEFORE MY START: My 10th race of 2020 was Andiamo Race Productions El Taco 5K held on Feb 22 at Mission County Park in San Antonio. Race start time of 7:30 a.m., with the temp ranging from 39 – 41 degrees. Nice and sunny day with no wind, so although a bit chilly for we South Texans it was still a pretty nice morning. I arrived with about an hour to start time, got my timing chip, and then got a few pre-start photos.
ON THE COURSE: Mission Park is adjacent to part of the Mission Reach portion of the San Antonio Riverwalk – called Mission Reach because this area is where some of the historic 18th century Spanish Missions are located. Our course started from the park. As we exited the park we made a left turn and went directly down a hill on the Riverwalk – meaning that hill would be up coming back to the finish. This is a pretty hilly part of the Riverwalk so only a couple of portions of our course were flat. Some nice views along the way of the San Antonio River, which was to our right going out and to our left after we made the turn-round point. I ended up with a 35:07 chip time, 6th in my 60 – 69 age group. The first guy in my age group did it in 23 minutes and change. There are some speedy old guys in my age group, lol.
After My Finish: I went back out on the course, staying to the side of it, and got a few photos of some other folks coming up that last hill we all had to climb to get the finish. Also got a selfie of me and a freind with my old-time Canon camera. Not easy to do when, unlike a phone, you don’t get a ‘selfie’ image on the camera. But I’ve had this camera a while and am getting pretty good at it now, lol. After these photos, I wandered around the park getting more photos of happy finishers, supporters, etc.
EPILOGUE: This was a nice event, part of a series of races Andiamo puts on. You can sign up for individual races or sign up for a ‘packet’ of races and get a discount on the entry fee if you do that. Nice finisher medal and nicely designed quality tech tee race shirt. Post-race there were food trucks with tacos and drinks – every runner got a free taco – plus coffee, beer, a photo-booth that was very popular, and live entertainment. A very nicely done event on a very nice – although challenging – scenic course at a great location, as Mission Park has plenty of restroom facilities, water fountains, covered pavilions, plenty of seating with cement picnic style tables all around. I would recommend this to others. I’ve done this one in the past, but at a different park and I much prefer Mission Park than the other park; better facilities and lots more parking area. Definitely will do this one again sometime in the future.
MUCHO GRACIAS to all the people who made this one happen for we participants: Andiamo; all the sponsors and vendors; all the volunteers; law enforcement officers out there for us; and anyone else I may not have mentioned here. Also, thanks for the patience of the people who were not participants but out there on the course doing their own thing – cyclists, walkers, other runners, etc; thank you for giving us room as we ‘invaded your space’ for a while.
Scottydog Reports 