Photos are here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gaAc8FiSwzxwrhZ37

BEFORE MY START – My 18^th race of 2022 was the Dino Dash 5k held on April 23 in support of The Witte Museum in San Antonio.  Race location was Brackenridge Park which is adjacent to The Witte Museum.  There was also a Kids Run.  Start time of 9 a.m. for the 5K.  The Kids Run was held after the 5K was finished.  Weather was a ‘cool’ 70 degrees with overcast skies trying to pretend it was going to rain on us but it never did. Humidity in the upper 60s range. 244 finishers for the 5K.  Since I live fairly close to Brackenridge Park, I was able to sleep in a bit, arriving on-site a little after 8 a.m to chat with friends and other participants and get a few pre-start photos. 

ON THE COURSE – Start and finish was on the park road that is in front of the side of the Witte where the museum treehouse is located. Broadway was at our backs. Event started right on time.   This route kind of reminded me of the Wednesday Evening 2-mile run, as we were on a lot of the same streets.  From in front of the museum, we went toward the park train tracks (for the park’s tourist train), making a right turn that took us past the Koehler Pavilion on our right and the river picnic area on our left.  We went across the Iron Bridge (baseball fields in front of us), then did a left turn, then an immediate right, going down a road that eventually intersects with Hildebrand.  Before Hildebrand, we made a left turn, went through a Zoo office area, and then went on  a road that took us past the cobblestone paved sidewalk and then back to the Iron Bridge.  We went back the way we had come out, going alongside the river once more, this time on our right. Once we got to the intersection where the train tracks were, we made a right and headed down this road until we go to where the water crossing is located.  We turned left here, went all the way down to Mulberry – could see the golf course across the street – did a turn-around here and back the way we came. We then headed in the direction of the finish line, but diverted off the paved road onto one of the off-road trails.  We followed the trails to a ‘roundabout’ in the park, turned left and headed down a trail that took us toward where the train is parked after-hours.  Following this trail, we came back out onto the paved road right near the train tracks.  Here we turned right, crossing over the train tracks and then did an out-and-back on this road.  Once back at the train tracks we turned right, heading back to The Witte, and that took us to the finish line. My age group, lol, was 55-99.  My chip time finish was 39:20, averaging 12:40 per mile, and I had negative splits for each mile, nice.  I was 16^th out of the 23 guys in my age group.

AFTER MY FINISH – Did a bit of a cool-down walk, drank some water, got my finisher medal, and then got a few photos of others coming in. After that I just wandered here-and-there chatting with other participants and getting some post-race photos. There was also a small food-and-drink place on the grounds, so I got some water there and a banana mutt muffin and sat and relaxed for a bit while I enjoyed that. I also went up and explored the tree-house a bit and got a couple of photos from up there. All in all, a very enjoyable time.

Epilogue – This was my first time to do this event and I was pleased with the organization of it and with the course. It really is a nice place to run, walk, or bike ride; we did see a few cyclists while we were out there. The course was well-thought out, giving participants a nice tour of just about all of the park,, except for the part near the San Antonio Zoo area, where we did not go. Finisher medals to all finishers; age group awards to the top finishers in each category (The Witte is on a pretty tight budget in these costly days of rising prices, and I get that). Nice quality race tee.  Some nice post-race goodies, with fruits, coffee, water, and other items; and that nice little store with a very friendly staff for those who wanted something else; they had coffee, water, other drinks, a variety of pastries, breakfast tacos, and more. This was pay-as-you-go, but very reasonably priced. Very nice kids run, well organized, and play area too for the kids – and adults too for that matter, lol – who were there as supporters for friends and family, not participants.  I would certainly do this one again and would recommend it to others. MUCHO THANKS TO:   iaap for the course set-up, timing, and results; all the many pre-race and race day volunteers; the Witte staff members who were there for us; park police out there for our safety, all of the sponsors who made this one happen for us; and the on-call EMT folks in case of emergency and they are quick. After the race I was near a kid (who was with his mom) who I think had fallen (skinned his knee up pretty good and some bruises and bumps) and the EMT guy got there really fast and took care of him in good order, nice. Thanks also to anyone else involved that I inadvertently may not have mentioned here.