Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/26iZxvAo71A5uGEe9

Before The Start:   On Sunday, Nov 19^th, I completed my 65^th  5K of 2023, the Ryan Bielke 5K, put on by Two Rivers Running, a New Braunfels, Texas running-and-race management company, as well as having a really good running store. The event was hosted by Rockin’ R River Rides, an excellent tubing company in Gruene, Texas, that rents inner-tubes for floating along the nearby Guadalupe River.  It also provides events and catering services and a food truck on the premises. As well as the 5K, the main event was a half-marathon.  Half marathon participants parked in the Rockin’ R area and then were bused to their start line and finished back at the Rockin’ R. The half started at 7 a.m, with the 5K starting at 8 a.m., with a start and finish on the grounds of Rockin’ R.  I arrived with just under an hour to the 8 a.m. start time, got my packet, and then enjoyed chatting with friends and other participants and getting a few pre-start photos.  This is also a dog-friendly event and the dogs soon knew I was carrying treats for them. I was very popular with the dogs, lol.

 On the Course: I’ve done this course a few times in the past, so knew what to expect. We exited the grounds of the Rockin’ R, making a left turn onto the road in front of the facility. After a short jaunt on Gruene Road, we made a right turn that took us into a very nice residential area, with wide roads and some pretty nice homes.  After going around a couple of curves, we then began to climb our first hill. This is a fairly hilly course in places.  The first climb was fairly short and then we had flat for a bit, but that did not last.  We went around a curve in the road and proceed up the longest hill on the 5K course. It is not super-steep like some of the hills in Helotes TX for example, but it sure went up quite a ways. Once we got up this, we had a downhill and then a bit of flat for a while…a short while, lol.  We turned onto another street – another really nice are with nice homes.  This was fairly flat and had a short downhill, and then we went around a curve and had another short uphill. We then made a right turn, and went up another hill.  After getting on this road, some of the half participants started showing up on this road.  One of the pacers went blazing by me, soon followed by the first half-marathon participant I saw going past me. Once we topped this hill, we had a flat bit for a while. This took us past the course water stop. At the end of this street, we turned right, and that took us back to the street we had originally started on. From that point, it was downhill back to Gruene Road, where we made a left turn and then had a short jaunt back to Rockin’ R to finish on the grounds there. WHEW!  For the 5K there were 232 finishers. The half marathon actually had more people than the 5K did, with 307 finishers, go figure. Somehow managed to finish 2^nd in the 65-69 males age group for the 5K; there were only 3 of us in my group, but I’ll take it.  I was quite pleased with my 41:31 chip time finish, and especially with my last mile, which was a negative split for me at 12:13 pace for the mile. I’ve been doing 13-14-minute miles post-cancer, so this 12:13 mile made me feel like I am slowly but surely finally starting to get back to my pre-cancer self. I know it will still take quite a while yet, but at least I am finally going in the right direction.

After My Finish:  I stood near the finish line and got a few photos of some of the other finishers, some of whom I had been around during most of the course.  After that, went wandering around to see what else I could find.  This is a popular event, so there were quite a few vendors/sponsors booths and some free give-away stuff. I was also still popular with the doggies post-race, lol.  I’d be chatting with a friend/other participant and suddenly I’d feel a nose nudging my leg and there was a dog looking at up at me….where’s the treats, dude?  Lol.  Also watched some of the half-marathoners finishing up, including some friends of mine who were participants in that event.

Epilogue: Very nicely done event.  Haven’t done this one for a while, so it was nice to be back. Very “user-friendly” for participants, volunteers, etc.  There was a food truck on site, as well as post-race tacos, energy bars and other sundries from some of the vendors, fresh fruits – primarily bananas, which I always enjoy after a race or run, as well as some beer, energy drinks, etc. Very nice quality race shirt, and the half-marathoners got finisher medals.  The age group placers got a nice medal too, and also a free pair of socks, nice. Our MC, Anthony, and our music-and-sound man, Paul, did their usual great jobs. We also got to hear from the parents of the late Ryan Bielke, which was very moving…some of them ran the 5K and his mom, if I remember correctly, actually place in her age group, as well as being a volunteer that helped with the awards ceremony.  Awesome. Yeah, this one is definitely a keeper. Oh, btw, INDOOR restrooms too, nice.  We also had some pretty fair weather. It was a bit humid, but the temp was in the low 60s, with lots of cloud cover.  It never did rain on us during the race, although it did begin sprinkling a little afterwards, but nothing much.  The rain began in earnest on my drive home, so it may have gotten some of the later-finishing half marathoners. Mucho thanks to all involved who made this one happen for we participants, e.g.,  Two Rivers Running; Rockin’R folks; Athlete Guild for the timing, results, etc; all the many volunteers out there for us; the police officers doing traffic control and keeping us safe; the professional race photographers out there snapping photos of us – lots better than mine, I am sure, lol; all the sponsors and vendors; the EMTs there; I saw a couple of them;  and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here; thank you all!  The Lord willing and he river don’t rise, hope to see you next year!