Photos are here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dV7knAksqbgjBhhFA

BEFORE MY START:  My 37^th race of 2021 was the Confetti 5K on October 2^nd at Our Lady Of The Lake University in San Antonio, Texas.  I don’t remember the exact year this started, but I have done every one of these since it did. Last year it went virtual so I did that too, going out to the university and doing the course on my own. This event supports university scholarships.  Race start time of 9 a.m., with a Kids Run at 8:30 a.m.  Local weather folks had been predicting that It might rain all over us.  Thankfully, the forecast changed on Thursday night when a ‘front’ blew down from the Northern states above Texas and our ‘front’ got blown toward other states.  So race morning turned out very nice, with a bit of cloud cover and sunshine, a very light breeze, cooler temps and lower humidity.  It felt very pleasant out on race morning. I arrived a little before 8 am., with just a tad over an hour to go to start time.  LOTS of entrants at this race, I think it almost sold out, so I saw lots and lots of my running friends and took several photos before start time.

ON THE COURSE:  We started on a road at the front of the university campus.  As we started, a cannon shot confetti into the air, so confetti was raining on us as we got going. We proceeded along a couple of campus roads and then exited the campus out of a back gate, heading to a nearby park that was by the man-made lake there.  We crossed a bridge,  went along the concrete paths by the lake- with some really nice views of the lake – got to the end of one trail, crossed another bridge, and then went along the trails on the other side, Coming to a bridge there, we crossed that, which brought us back to the side we had started on for just a while, then crossed a 4^th bridge and went back onto the other side again.  This trail took us back to a main road that took us back to the campus gate we had used to exit the campus. Once back on campus we headed for the finish on pretty much the same route we had started on.  Once we got to the finish, there was a lot of that cannon-shot confetti now all over the road, which did not bother most people. However, me being a klutz at times, lol, I did watch my footing a bit as I went to the finish. I finished 8^th out of 16 in my 60 – 69 males age group, chip time of 38:30.  A friend once told me if I did not take photo-stops and just kept going, I’d probably take 3 or 4 minutes off my time.  That sounds like a lot of work where’s the fun in that? 😉  I enjoy doing my photo stops; and my photo-taking walk breaks actually are a necessity since I have spinal arthritis now and my doc firmly told me when it originally flared up, no more non-stop running, take walk breaks or I’d regret it.  I did not believe him and went to prove him wrong at a couple of races…and I regretted it, lol. So now I behave.

AFTER MY FINISH: Walked a bit to cool down, then got a banana and some water and just sat and enjoyed that while my pacemaker brought my heart-rate back down to normal range – normal range for me anyway, lol. Then went to the Aid Tent where a nice nurse took my blood oxygen level (97) – my cardiologist has me keeping a log – so got that out of the way, and then it was time to wander around chatting with friends, enjoying some post-race goodies and the awards ceremony – several of my running friends placed – the entertainment, and taking some ‘after photos.”  Very pleasant time.

Epilogue:   This is one of my very favorite races. Very well organized; really nice course location, and the university does open its doors for us so we have access to indoor restrooms, no porta-potties needed; very well-done laid out course; very nice quality tech tee race shirt; and just one really nice after-party with all kinds of goodies, like Kiolbassa sausage on a stick, beer, water, and various other drinks – there was even a taco food truck on site – all kinds of vendors giving out freebies; a team of dancers that entertained us; and more.  As long as this one keeps on happening, I will keep on doing it as long as I am able.

MUCHO THANKS TO:  My friend Liz Longoria, who is the Race Director for this one, and all her crew of many volunteers out there for us who helped make this all happen; to our MC Anthony Zamora who did a great job for us; and also gave me a public shout-out for doing my photo reports of all the races I do; and encouragement for me as I deal with my current prostate cancer; totally unexpected and also very nice of him, I was touched that he would take the time to do that on this very busy day for him.  Thanks also to all the police officers out there for our safety; the medical staff folks that were on site for us; all the vendors and sponsors there – and thanks to all the sponsors not there either, all the ones who helped make this event happen too; the Our Lady Of The Lake University community who graciously let us invade their space for a few hours; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Finally, of course, all you participants.  No event without your support and willingness to register and come out and do it!  Thank you all so much!