Event photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/K3VDQZRWU5unQDqc6
Before The Start: Held on August 12, 2023, the Dragon’s Den 5K at Pearsall Park in San Antonio was my 44th race of 2023. Put on by E-Dragon Productions, this event, featured a half-marathon, a 10K, and a 5K. Pearsall Park, located on Old Pearsall Road, is a 505-acre park that features off-road trails, both paved and natural, as well as a large recreation area with a disc golf course, playground, skate park, splash pads & outdoor gym. It is also one of the VERY HILLIEST city parks around – and not baby hills, either; this park has some major climbing on its hills – so you definitely get a workout if you walk or run here. The Half had a start time of 6:30 a.m, followed by the 10K, and we 5K folks started last. I arrived at the park around 6 a.m. – got some good parking too, lol, being that early – and chatted with some folks that were there – volunteers and some other participants, and sponsor groups setting up their pavilions, etc., – and got a few pre-start photos. I’d already previously picked up my race packet, so I had plenty of time.
On the Course: Very unique race courses in this park, so I will try to be descriptive and entertaining. All the events started right on time. We 5K folks watched the half-marathoners and 10K folks go out and start climbing those first hills – we could see them against the skyline above us as the crested the hills- and then it was the turn of we 5K participants. Start to Mile 1: We had a bit of flat at the start, as we started off near the park pavilion. The first part of the course was an unpaved trail and after only a few minutes on it we began climbing almost immediately. We went up one fairly short hill, rounded a curve and then there was a loooooooooooong (I kid you not) 2-part hill to go up, e.g. we climbed up one hill, rounded a short bend in the trail and saw ahead of us Part 2 of the hill, shorter than the one behind us, but also steeper. After finally cresting this 2-part hill that mountain goats would probably love to play on, we then went downhill toward the start/finish area. Most people love downhills, but not me; with my spinal arthritis, downhills are actually harder on my back than up-hills, so I took it fairly easy going down. At the bottom of the hill, we rounded a curve in the trail that took us past the start/finish area on our left – and I made a quick stop to give a dog a treat – and then we went onto a fairly-flat dirt-and-gravel part of the course. This took us do a looooooong – and steep! – downhill. This thing really was almost straight down, lol, so you really had to be careful on the descent. Lots of walking for several of us on this part of the course. Once down this path that would be a Super-Ride Water Slide if they could ever add water to it, lol, we then turned right onto one of the paved concrete trails. The 5K turn-round was a little ways down from the steep downhill we did. This was different from the first 5K I did out here some years ago, as I recall going down to another trail that went just about straight-up, and having to climb that to do our turn-round. I was happy we did not have to do that for this one, lol. After the turn-round, we then proceed back to Slip-N-Slide trail, but did not go back up it – yet. Instead, we turned right onto an off-road dirt trail; a very nice and scenic FLAT trail too that took us on a looping course through the woods. All the races did this route before going to the finish. We came off the trail at a lower parking lot area of the park and then proceeded back to the water station at the bottom of the “Darn, now I have to go UP this thing” trail that had brought us down to paved portion of the course. A climb that is jus bout straight up. I made it about halfway, before I had to start walking it. After cresting Mount-Made-Me-Want-To-Cry, we were back on the flat dirt-and-gravel trail that took us back toward the finish. We were past Mile 2 now, so I kept looking at my chrono and thinking, “Surely we are not going on those hills again we came out on, because that would make the course long.” So I was looking forward to heading for the finish. But no…we turned back onto the trails we had come out on, and went back to the finish the same way we had come out. Boy, Race Director Erick Burciaga sure has a mean-streak in him at times, lol. So I started climbing the hills we came out on; got slightly dizzy and said heck with it, not going to push it, so to be safe, I ended up walking about half of Mile 3, maybe even a bit more than that, on the way to the finish. Once I got over the up-hills again and closer to the end, then I started running again and did run into the finish area. My time was horrible, lol, probably my worst 5K ever, time-wise, with a finish time of 55:04, averaging 16:20 per mile and I had positive splits the whole way, with Mile 3 being 18-minutes-and-change. Also, I was right, the 5K course did turn out to be a bit long at 3.3 miles, which is what a few of my other 5K running friends said they had too. As noted…that Erik has a mean streak in him at times, lol. Just kidding, Erik! I was actually happily surprised by my end-time; I really thought I would finish with a time that was over an hour. I finished 4th out of 4 in my age group. The 3rd place guy finished a good 5-minutes ahead of me.
After My Finish: Went to my friend Gilbert’s pavilion area, got a banana and some water and just sat down for a bit, relaxing, and getting re-hydrated, which did not take long, as I did make sure to drink a cup of water at both water stations on the 5K course. Went back to my car to get my Gatorade Zero and sat in that for a few minutes with the A/C on full blast and that made me feel MUCH cooler and better. After that, went back to the race area and got some after-photos, while I enjoyed chatting with friends as we shared our on-course experiences, with very much humor involved; also handed out treats to the doggies – there were several there – and made new friends too. Good times.
Epilogue: It’s been quite a bit of time – probably over a year – since I’ve run in this park; so, even though I do hill training once a week – on roads – my result is about what I expected; the hills in this park make those darn Helotes paved-road-hills courses look like baby hills, lol, especially as most of these park hills are off-road. Tough gig. I probably need to just get out to this park once or twice a month and get reconditioned to hills like this. Meanwhile…this event really is well-done by E-Dragon Productions, aka Kristine and Erik Burciaga. Nicely organized; personalized bibs; really nice race shirt – except like a dummy I got the wrong size for me, lol – and really nice after-party with Turkey Legs, cold beer, lots of water, fresh fruits, watermelon (is watermelon a fruit? – thank to Gilbert for those! – and lots of vendors/race sponsors offering various other sundries. Also, nice iced-down small towels to put on your head, back of the neck, etc. to cool down with after you finish. The park service also had the splash pad area turned on by the time we were done; saw lots of participants over there taking advantage of the cooling water sprays. Park’s restrooms were open for us too, even at that early hour, so very nice, indoor restrooms to use. Age-group awards are unique E-Dragon coins that can be used to get a discount for a future E-Dragon event you register for. Would I do this one again? I probably would and I am sure the majority of the other participants would too; because, as we runners and walkers know…we’re all dang crazy for putting ourselves through all this…but in the end, we do love it, don’t we? There was a total of 371 finishers, all 3 races combined, with the 5K having the most participants. Mucho thanks to those who made this one happen for all we participants: E-Dragon; the many volunteers out there for us, as well as the police officers and medical people on hand for our safety; all the race sponsors/vendors that supported this event; our Music Man, Paul, and our MC Anthony Zamora, doing their usual great jobs; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all!
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