Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/MZLGoTemKZ7BgsmV9

Before The Start:  My 30^th race of 2019 was Aid The Silent 5K, held on June 3 in Boerne, Texas. The event is put on by the nonprofit organization Aid The Silent which has a mission to, quoting from their website, “help deaf and hard-of-hearing children and teens receive equal access to opportunity by providing financial assistance to enhance communication methods; gain access to education resources; and to improve their overall health, both mental and physical, that leads to individual growth socially, educationally and spiritually. Aid The Silent strives for equality for the deaf community.”  I have not done all of their 5Ks, but I have done quite a few of them over the years.  I am not deaf, but I am somewhat hard of hearing due to an ear problem I had back in my early Air Force days and a subsequent surgery relating to that problem.  Still have some nice scar tissue behind my left ear from that. I try to do this event as often as I can.  For this one, my wife came to the race site with me, which was nice. We arrived a little before 7 a.m.  I got my packet and then, whiile I went and did my usual pre-start thing of chatting with other participants and supporters and Aid The Silent staff and volunteers and more – and of course taking some pre-start photos – Gail went around chatting with a lot of people and looking things over. This is a very popular event that ended up with a total of 684 finishers. The start and finish was at Boerne Main Plaza and all the vendors, sponsors, packet pickup, etc, were located on the grassy area of the plaza. It was very well-done and very well set up, so a lot to see and do before the start. The sound area,, photo op backdrop, and so forth were located at the really nice gazebo area in the plaza. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I handed out treats to several canines there. I was very popular with the dogs, lol.

On The Course:   8 a,m, race start time.  Iaap, with their usual expert precision, started the event right on time. After some crazy thunder and rain and high winds the night before, Mother Nature kindly accommodated us with a sunny day, blue skies, and a fairly good temp o 68 degrees – a nice temp, lol, for oncoming Texas summer – and no wind.  I was lined up way near the back of the pack since my two running speeds are Slow and Slower, so it took me a couple of minutes to get across the timing mat. To start out, we went straight down the road that goes past Bank of America near one side of the plaza. We went down a short incline and then left-turned into a really nice neighborhood. This was different from the race route I was familiar with the last time I did this event, so it was an interesting change for me, with new scenery. After turning farther into the neighborhood we went down a fairly steep hill – but a short one thank goodness, lol – and then up the other side.  We then did an out-and-back through this neighborhood, which meant we did that hill area twice. We then proceeded back to the road we had started on.  After going up a very short incline, we then turned left, going past one end of the plaza grounds, then past The Kendall, an historic hotel located right across from the plaza grounds. After passing the hotel, we then proceed on a paved trail that took us down to part of Boerne’s riverwalk.  Not as elaborate as the San Antonio Riverwalk – but what is, lol – but very nicely done with some nice views of the river to our right on the way out. This also was an out-and-back. With this many participants it did get a bit crowded, but from where I was at any given time, I never saw anyone getting upset, and the runners and walkers pretty much did a really good job of accommodating each other giving way when needed to the faster people, staying out of each other’s way, and lots of cheering each other on.  During my walk breaks, I moved over as far as I could and got a few photos along the way.  We got to a turn-round point and then went back the way we had come out. After coming off the riverwalk, we went past the hotel once more, then went down to the road we had started on, passing Bank of America on our right this time, and then heading to the finish. I pretty much ran most of Mile 3 nonstop, and ended up 14^th out of 32 in my 60-69 males age group, with a chip time of 41:42, about what I expected with the number of participants and my slow old-man legs, lol. I was very happy wih this result, as I met my two primary race goals – Finish Standing Up and No Ambulance Waiting For Me; lol. Overall, after 15 months of prostate cancer treatment from Sep 2021 to December 2022 – my cancer is now gone, so yay on that! – I think I am doing pretty well, all things considered..

After My Finish:  After a short cool-down walk and getting some water, I enjoyed chatting with other participants, the vendors, sponsors, people their supporting their runners who were family, friends, co-workers,  and many more.  Of course, I also did get some more photos of what I call the Happy Finishers – ever notice participants are usually smiling more after they are finished than before and during? Lol – and the supporters, friends, volunteers, etc. Also dogs, there were quite a few dogs at this one, very nice.

 Epilogue:   This event, for a great cause, is always very well done. Nice quality race shirt; I got  a youth medium and asked one of the Aid The Silent volunteers to donate it to one of their deaf children clients; I do so many races, my closet is starting to get a bit full of race shirts, lol.  All kinds of post-race goodies/freebies from the vendors; photo  booth also available; and Aid The Silent had a really nice merchandise area with some really cool things, all supporting the cause when you buy something.  I bought myself a Hank The Dog stuffed dog and found out later my wife had gotten one also.  I most certainly will be doing this one again and I would heartily recommend it to others.

MUCHO thanks to all that made this one happen for we participants:  iaap for the course set up, timing, results, etc;  all the many race-day volunteers;  Emma for her great job as Race Director and all the other Aid The Silent staff there; all the police officers on the street parts of the course for our safety;  and a personal thanks to the lady I chatted with post-race, accompanied by 3 from the deaf community. This kind lady interpreted for me in sign as I chatted with them all, telling a few stories – and giving them some laughs about my antics, and they gave me some laughs too;  I really,  really enjoyed their company and we all had a great time together. That was a very special moment for me and it really hit home with me about what this event really is for, to help this community of people who are NOT handicapped – I hate that word, “handicapped’ – they are DISABLED; there is a big difference between the two – and they CAN function in our society if we  so-called ‘normal’ people just help them have the chance to do just that.  Thanks so much to Aid The Silent and everyone else involved.  See you next time!