Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/NpAfCZNPt4jqjc1r9

Before The Start:    On Thanksgiving Day 2023, I completed my 66^th race of 2023. The San Antonio RoadRunners 4-Mile Turkey Trot was held on the trails at The Rim, a shopping complex in San Antonio located near Loop 1604 and Interstate Highway 10.  There was also a 2-Mile walk, which my wife Gai did, and a Kid’s Run. The Rim trails are part of San Antonio’s Greenway Trails System, connecting many parks and trailheads via paved concrete/asphalt trails.  Start time for the 4-miler was 8:30 a.m. I got there with a little over an hour to go, as I had not picked up my packet before race day.  I got mine and Gail’s packet and then got a few pre-start photos. Glad I got there early because after a while the packet pickup line was quite long, as there were 476 finishers for the 4-miler. Probably more were actually registered, with maybe a few no-shows.

 On the Course:  We started right on time. Weather report had predicted possible rain, but for a while we got nothing….until the start; figures, lol, that Mother Nature can be fickle. It was a pretty light rain for about 10 minutes and then it stopped completely, thankfully. During the time I was on the course, it never rained at all.  It did start again a bit after I finished.  The course was out-and-back, taking us on the paved trails in the direction of IH-10 and Eisenhower Park; glad we did not go all the way to Eisenhower Park since that park has some really major hill climbing. After crossing the start line, we went down a short hill, then wound around some curving trails, with a few more short downhills and some short uphils, which felt to me more like long inclines rather than hills.  There was nothing really steep, like the hills in Eisenhower Park or Helotes. We went under a road overpass and then had some flat for a while, then a few more down inclines. The last down incline we did took us to the 4-mile turn-round point, so this meant on the way back to the finish we had more up inclines than down. A little after Mile 2, I encountered my very young friend, Natalie, doing the 4-miler with her mom. Natalie is quite the little runner, a member of Sally Seeker’s Girls On The Run program and I’ve done races with her before.  Her mom told me she was glad I showed up since Natalie was getting tired.  Her mom told her “Look, there’s Scottydog, so you can run with him now.”  I guess this remotivated her because she did just that – and she actually does run faster than me, lol.  Her mom ran a bit in front of us and Natalie and I kept company, chatting as we went along; well, Natalie did most of the talking, lol, she is quite the talker, and pretty entertaining too. Right before the finish line, we started climbing the last up incline, went around the curve and saw the finish line, so I told Natalie to go for it, and she and her Mom took off like Wile E. Coyote when he spots the Roadrunner, lol, leaving me eating their dust. I ended up with a chip time of 53:21, averaging 13:21 per mile. I felt pretty good, too, so more encouragement that although I am still far from being back to my pre-cancer paces, I am slowly but surely making progress.

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 getting some post-race photos and chatting with participants, supporters, vendors, etc. After the finish, it really did start raining in earnest, coming down a bit more, but still not a pouring rain, thank goodness. After the awards ceremony – I ended up 5^th out of 9 in my 60 – 69 males age group, I packed it in and went home to get a nice hot shower and watch some football; both of my teams lost pretty badly, so it’s a good thing, lol, I am not a gambler.   

Epilogue:  This is the 50^th anniversary year of the San Antonio RoadRunners.  They have always put on quality events such as the very popular Whine Run.  I joined them in 1996 when the Air Force reassigned me to Lackland, and have done several of their races over the years. They always have some nice finisher medals and nicely designed race shirts.  This one was no exception, with the “shirt” this year being a very nicely designed long-sleeved shirt with a hoodie and a front-of the-shirt long “pocket” that you can put your hands into during cold or wet weather, nice. All finishers also got a nice finisher medal, one that looks like it is hand-carved with a very nice design on it. There was also a variety of post-race goodies, and even a food place right across from the start/finish area where you could purchase eats. In spite of the not-so-great weather, this event was done very well by the SARR organizers and its volunteers. I definitely would do this one again and would recommend it to others. Mucho thanks to all the people that made this one happen for we participants, e.g.,  SARR, the police, medical, and security folks out there for us, all the many volunteers, our MC, iaap for doing the timing, results, etc., and anyone else involved that I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all and have a great-and-safe holiday season!