Photos are at this link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5oa47AjzfDzdfuzu8
BEFORE MY START: My 29th race of 2020 was the Run To Remember 5K on November 15th in LaVernia, Texas. There was also a 10K. Start and finish from The Den, a very nice restaurant/bar/entertainment venue with a beautiful outside patio area, and a game playing area. Nice atmosphere, good food and drink. This run was to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association in support of finding a cure, etc. Race start time of 8 a.m. Weather was pretty nice at around 68 degrees or so, but it was VERY windy, so felt a bit cooler in the shady areas. I arrived with about 45 minutes to go to start time and got a few pre-start photos.
ON THE COURSE: Social distancing start, with the 10K folks starting first. This was a loop course, so the 10K folks had to do 2 loops. About 10 runners or so released to start every few minutes to maintain social distancing. Starting out, we ran directly into the wind, which was pretty tough as hard as it was blowing, felt like a big hand pushing against you. After making a turn into a really nice neighborhood the wind was still blowing pretty good, but at least not directly into our faces now. The course was nicely laid out on wide streets in a very pretty neighborhood. We made a loop through this area, then went out onto the main street heading back toward The Den. Before we got to The Den start/finish area, we made another turn that took us up to a local school. The first time I did this course for a previous 5K, we had to go in front of the school and jump up onto a sidewalk, run on that, then jump down on the other side, and then run down a road beside the school. For this event, however, Eric of Dragon’s Den, was a lot smarter and laid out the course so we ran or walked behind the school, so no jumping anything, just nice even surfaces to be on. I am sure the participants with running strollers appreciated this! Much better course route than the original 5K I did here. After making the turn behind the school, we then proceeded back the way we had come; a short incline up to the main road, and then back to the finish line. I ended up with a time of 38:04, 3rd in my 60 – 69 age group. The guy who finished second was only 11 seconds ahead of me. Shouldn’t have stopped to take that last photo, lol. All good, though, nice course and enjoyed myself.
AFTER MY FINISH: Post-race goodies included various fruits, water, and Alamo beer. Also, The Den serves up a nice variety of good eats for Sunday 9 a.m. breakfast for those who wanted to partake of that. Finisher medal to all finishers, and nice ‘tile’ award for the first three age group placers in each age group. I sat in the patio area post-race, enjoying some fruit and water and then enjoyed wandering around chatting with friends and getting some post-race photos.
Epilogue: This was a really well-done event with a nice course, good quality race tee, and very nice finisher medals. Really nicely done course. Announcing by Eric of E-Dragon Productions, which I think provided the very nice age-group award tiles too. Maybe the race shirts also. Normally this event is held in San Antonio, but due to the pandemic had to be moved to LaVernia, which is okay, it all worked out well. Would definitely do this one again, and would recommend it to other. Kudos to Race Director Miguel for a great job with this one.
Mucho thanks to all the people that made this event happen for we participants: all the sponsors, vendors, volunteers, police officers out there on the road for us, etc. Thanks to The Den management and staff for letting us invade their space for a while, and thank to anyone else I may not have mentioned here.
Scottydog Reports 