Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/RarSsohWJyB3TknV9

Before The Start:   My 31^st race of 2023, and second race of the June 3 – June 4 weekend was Race 2 of the Summer Series 5K, a total of five events put on by e-Dragon Productions, done over the summer at various San Antonio city parks. Participants can register for all 5 at once, or separately for each one they want to do.  Race 2 was held at Lady Bird Johnson (LBJ) Park in San Antonio, with a start time of 7 a.m. This series races funds for a scholarship for a young San Antonio runner that will be selected and, if I remember correctly, announced at the last race of the series. Participants register for each race individually or register for all 5 at once.  As I live only about a 15-minute drive from LBJ Park, I got to sleep in a bit for this one.  I arrived at the park around 6:20 a.m., got my packet and bib number, and then got a few pre-start photos.

On The Course:   The course was an out-and-back on the park’s paved concrete trails, with a crossing over a short wooden bridge. We had a temperature of  70 degrees and feeling very humid at 88% humidity and very overcast. Some rain and wind had blown in the night before so there were a few places on the course with a bit of standing water in a few places on the course, but at least we did not get rained on. The start and finish was just slightly down from the park’s pavilion.  We did a loop around a short traffic circle and then proceeded down to the park’s trails. On the way down to the trails, there was a slippery mud patch on the left side of a short bridge we crossed; that had been coned off for us, so we proceeded past that on the right side of the bridge. Once on the main trails, we then went to a turn-round point near the frontage road of the 410 highway.  Right before we got to the turn-round, we went through the Los Patios area of commercial shops, food places, etc. After making the turn-round we went back to the finish the way we had come out. I had pushed myself a bit at the 5K I did the day before this one, so for this one I just took it easy, even taking a couple of extra walk breaks, and did my usual thing of getting some photos along the way.  There were 115 finishers for this event, both runners and walkers; for the most part, especially the back-to-the finish part, I pretty much was alone on the course.  I really thought I would be the very last runner in, but that turned out not to be the case. I did manage to run most of the last mile non-stop and ended up with a chip time of 42:17, finishing 4^th out of 6 in my 65-69 males age group, doing a negative split for Mile 3. 

After My Finish:   Whew that was humid! When I leaned down to get a cool drink from a cooler I got a tad dizzy – I don’t think I had hydrated well enough before my start – so sat quietly for a bit, sipping my drink, and ate a ‘salty snack” I had brought with me, and felt much better after that.  As I got some post-race photos, I enjoyed chatting with friends, volunteers, other race participants, and also giving some doggie treats to my friend Lucy  Dog – the owner of my human friend, Carolyn. Yeah, we think we own our pets, but they pretty much own us, lol. Carolyn and Lucy did really well and Carolyn got an award in her age group, since there is no age group award for dogs, lol; but Lucy got her awards from me in dog treats.

 Epilogue:  This is a very nicely done event put on by my friends Erik and Kristine of e-Dragon productions, and they do a really really good job with it. Nice certificates for the overall and first-place finishers, and very unique award coins given to all the placers; these coins can be used to get a registration discount for future e-Dragon events. Very nice quality race shirts, which can be bought for each race, which is done this way because the registration fee for each event is a very inexpensive $15 per race – and a bit of a discount if you register for all 5 at once.  I signed up for the first one individually.  After doing that one, I went back and signed up for the rest of the series. I certainly would recommend this event, and I also certainly will be doing them again, as opportunity arises. 

MUCHO thanks to all that made this one happen for we participants:  e-Dragon, of course;  local race management company iaap for the course set-up, timing, and results; the professional photographers out there for us before, during, and after; all the many volunteers – including my friend Anthony Z, who usually does MC duties but today was the volunteer for the turn-round and water station point; Erik for doing the MC duties for this one, and also the awards ceremony; and to the whole Burciaga family who are all involved with the company events put on, even their kids – who are also runners – it ‘runs’ in the family (pun intended) and their oldest son is already getting faster than me, lol; and all others involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all!  See you at Race #3 hopefully, to be held at Martin Luther King Park – which has personal meaning for me, but I’ll leave that for my next report.