Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/mH4jx3b4V2cGu6tT9

Before the start.   My 9^th race of 2024 was the Aiden Alexander Memorial 5K held on February 17, 2024, at Ladybird Johnson Park in San Atonio, with a start time of 9 a.m. Aidan Alexander sadly passed unexpectedly after birth on February 15, 2022, due to issues with his umbilical cord. Proceeds from this event, done in his memory in his birth month, benefit stillbirth and infant loss organizations. This is one I My first wife and 4-months-old infant son were killed by a drunk driver; not stillborn, he got to experience a bit of life, but even so, ANY type of infant loss is such a tragedy; they never really got to live any real life at all; one of the saddest things in the world is the death of a parent’s child at any age, but especially so of a young child.  It is something you really never get over, you just learn how to live with it, day-by-day; so, as a runner, I try to participate in, and support, as many infant/child loss running events as I am able.   If I remember correctly, I believe there were about 142 or so originally registered, but Mother Nature put on her Cold Witch hat again and brought in a front that had us doing this event  in overcast skies, a temp of 38 degrees with a ‘feels like’ of 34 and lots of wind, with gusts up to 30 mph. Consequently, we ended up having 101 finishers, which was not too bad at all. I had picked up my packe the day before so, after arriving in my 3 top-clothing base layers, warm hat, and warm gloves, I got a few pre-start photos.  

On the course:   The course was out-and-back, with the start going around the traffic circle in front of the park pavilion. We then went onto the park’s concrete paved trails, going down a short hill, making a left, and heading in the direction of Los Patios shopping area and the 410-frontage road. After getting onto the trails, the many trees in the park wood acted as a wind barrier in some places, which was nice; we did not have to experience that crazy wind for the whole distance. I did my usual 8-min-run/2-min-walk routine and took some photos during my walk breaks.  I also stopped periodically before my watch beeped for watch break, to get a few other photos. I also stopped to hand-out doggie treats, lol, if I saw one on the course with a participant, and also to park patrons not doing the race, if they were with a dog. Once we got into the Los Patios area, the 5K turn-round wat the 410-highway frontage road that goes past the entrance to Los Patios. There was also a water station here, so thanks to that young lady volunteer who had to be there in that wind and cold until the last participant came to the turn-round. On the way back to the finish, I tend to push myself a bit more than going out, so after my turn-round, I pretty much ignored my watch beeping for me to walk, running most of the way all the way back to the finish, with just a few periods short stops to get an occasional photo and then ran again after that.  I ended up being 1^st overall in my 70 – 99 males age group – there were only 2 of us in that group – with a chip time of 40:43, averaging 13:06 per mile. Per my garmin, I also had a negative split for mile 3, doing that mile in 12:55, nice.  Been dealing with some post-prostate-cancer treatment side effects, which are finally starting to go away a bit, so nice to see my times are slowly getting better; still have a while to go to get back to where I was pre-cancer, but at least I’m heading in the right direction, sweet. 

After My Finish:  I got a few photos of some others coming into the finish and also of some of the happy finishers near the finish line.  I handed out more doggie treats and got a few photos of others finishing. After that, it was off to get human treats, which included multiple types of breakfast tacos – bacon & egg, my personal favorite – along with cupcakes, various drink such as Gatorade, water, and I think there was coffee too, but I ignored that since I can’t stand the stuff, lol. Award medals were give to the overall winners and the first male/female in each age group.  

 Epilogue:  This is a very nicely-done event with a good course; very nice quality race shirt; tote bags being handed out after the finish; lots of post-race goodies; and a nicely designed small awards medal for the placers.  I think the overall winners got a bit more, but I don’t remember what. iRun, with their ‘Split Second Productions’ timing/race management department does a great job with the events they do for course setup, timing, results, etc., and this one was no exception, everything was ready in a very ‘timely’ manner (pun intended, lol). I will definitely be doing this one again and certainly would recommend it to others. Much thanks to all the people involved that made this one happen for we participants:  all the sponsors; organizers; iRun; the many volunteers, both pre-race and race day; all the other park patrons out for showing patience with we participants invading their space for a while; Tinsman & Sciano, for having packet-pickup at their offices; and any others involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all!