Photos are here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CuDqYjxgxeyEFjMNA
BEFORE MY START – My 3rd race of 2022 was the Freedom Fighters 5K held on January 29 in Castroville, Texas, which is about a 31-mile drive from where I live in San Antonio. Freedom Fighters 5K is a celebration of our military and veterans. Start time of 9 a.m., so I got to sleep in a bit. I was thankful for that because the temperature dipped to about 37 in the early Saturday morning hours – which is cold for we South Texans, lol. By the time of race start, however, we had lots of sunshine, and no wind, and the temp had gone up a whopping 5 degrees to about 42. Still chilly, but at least we had a nice day for it. I arrived with about 35 minutes to the start time, got my race packet, got myself ‘situated” and had just enough time to get a few photos before we started. This was a fairly small event, with 67 finishers. Timing and results done by local area race management company Athlete Guild.
ON THE COURSE – The event was held in Castroville’s city park. The course was fairly flat with just one short up incline on the way out, followed by a short down incline. Since this was an out-and-back course, that became reversed, of course, on the way to the finish. We started on the paved park road which loops around the park grounds. We then exited the park into a nearby neighborhood, going to a turn-round point, and then back to the finish line the way we had come out. Nicely thought-out course with wide roads and very little traffic. I did my usual 8-minute run/2-minute walk thing – no more non-stop running for me these days, due to some arthritis – and took a few photos during my walk break. Between the walk breaks and my after-effects from my cancer treatment I am currently receiving I ended up going pretty slowly, finishing in 40:05, averaging 12:56 per mile. Probably did not help my time either, lol, when I did a couple of stops to treat a few dogs with the doggie treats that I carry with me when I go running. What the heck, not like I am going to win anything, and I met my 3 goals: have fun, finish standing up, and no ambulance waiting for me at the finish. All good!
AFTER MY FINISH: Got some water and did a short cool-down walk and then chatted with friends and got a few “happy finishers and supporters” photos, which did not take long as this was a pretty small race in number of participants. Post-race goodies included boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts, and I did indulge in one. Since this was a smaller event, my age group was 60-99 male, so I was not even close to placing in it, as that group included every ‘old guy’ there, loll, and some of them are pretty darn speedy. No heartburn here, I never expect to win anything anyway. After I meet my main goals that I previously mentioned, anything after that is a bonus! I just enjoy running and doing races and being with my running and walking community people, old friends, current friends, and making new friends. I am definitely a ‘2F” runner – Fun and Finish.
Epilogue: I have done this one before, so pretty much knew what to expect and it did not disappoint. Very nicely organized, with a good course, lots of great people, and a nice goody back with a very nice quality race shirt. I would do this one again and recommend it to others.
MUCHO THANKS TO: Everyone that helped make this one happen for we participants; Athlete Guild, all the race sponsors, the ‘city powers’ that allowed us to have this live event, the police officer out on the course for our safety, all our volunteers, Race Director – I think it was Alli who was the race director for this one – and all the residents and drivers for their patience as we invaded their neighborhood for a short while. If I missed anyone, my apologies, thank you all so much, anyone involved.
Scottydog Reports 