Photos are here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bKmG5oD3EciPBYSU7

BEFORE MY START – My 48th race of 2021 was the Frosty Five 5K held on Dec 24 at 8 a.m. at Pearsall Park in San Antonio. This park long ago used to be a landfill, but the city renovated it into a very nice park with both paved sidewalk trails and off-road trails. It also has a LOT of hills – and not baby hills either – so a really good place to get in hillwork and a long run for those that want to do that. This event is a free event supporting Street2Feet, a walking/running training program for individuals experiencing homelessness, so several participants brought donations of gently used running/walking shoes, clothing and various other items and/or a donation to the cause, if preferred. Many of them live in the Haven For Hope facility in San Antonio. My friend Lana runs this program and does it quite well. There is also an annual ‘timed race’ 5K that is usually run in the downtown San Antonio area. Start time of 8 a.m. E-Dragon Productions, a really good local race management company, was the primary host for this event. They put on several good races over the course of the year from 5Ks up to half and full marathon distances. I do several of their events over the year. Before the start, I wandered around chatting with friends and getting some photos.

ON THE COURSE: The course had one off-road part, a trail going from the start and then down a large-and-steep hill that took us to the pavement trails in the park. Once on the pavement we went to a turn-round point, and then came back the same way we had gone out. This meant, of course, that the steep hill was now an uphill for us on the way to the finish line. Race directors can have a warped sense of humor, lol. I did manage to run the hill on the way to the finish. On the way out, after we started the 5K, I went down it at a very slow pace and walked a bit of it too, since downhills really pound my spinal arthritis back; unlike most runners, I much prefer an uphill to a downhill, lol. As usual, I did my 8-min run/2 minute walk method and took photos along my way. I surprised myself by actually doing pretty well for a slow old dog, in spite of the cancer treatment I am still dealing with. My garmin showed finish of 38:31, averaging 12:26 per mile, and Mile 3 for me, even with the uphill, was a negative split, nice. I’ll take it. After I finished, I stood near the finish line and got a few photos of some others coming in, many of whom I had run with on the course, off-and-on at various points.

AFTER MY FINISH: They had some nice post-race goodies, including my favorite type of cookie, oatmeal raisin. I scarfed down a couple of those real quick. Had brought my own water and zero-sugar Gatorade, so rehydrated with that. After a small time of ‘just relax for a few minutes after the run”, I then enjoyed chatting with friends and getting some post-race photos.

Epilogue: This is a very nicely done event, which I have done in the past. Lots of people in various holiday attire. A very nice course, pretty flat for the most part, with a few inclines and that large hill thrown in as a challenge, lol. Nice quality race shirt. Dog-friendly event too, which is nice. I made new doggie friends really fast when I handed out treats, lol.

MUCHO THANKS TO: All the sponsors of this event; our race hosts, E-Dragon Productions (my friends Kristine and Erik Burciaga, owners; they also do shirt-printing and they are the ones who do my “cancer” shirts for me; I love their work!); the park police officer that was out there for us; and, of course, all the volunteers that put this all together for us and were out there for us for packet pickup, getting everything set up, etc. Thanks also to anyone else involved that I may not have mentioned here. No event without all of you; you all rock!