Photos are here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GPo2XWVyqW45YTjq8

Before the start:  After doing my 14^th race of 2024 on Saturday, March 9^th, I followed that up with my 15^th race of the year with the Time To Paddy 5K, put on by Bigfoot Running Company.  There was also a 10K and a half marathon.  The event was held at O.P. Schnabel Park in San Antonio, with an 8 a.m. start time. My wife reminded me to turn the clocks ahead on Saturday night to be sure I was on time for this one, as we were going into Daylight Savings Time on March 10^th.  Thank you.  I did arrive on time with about 45 minutes to go. After getting my race packet I then wandered here-and-there getting some pre-start photos and chatting with other participants, race volunteers,  supporters, etc.  The weather was a tad chilly with a 47-degree temp, but at least there was no crazy wind blowing like there was at my Saturday 5K. We also had abundant sunshine for this one, which I appreciated; the longer distance runners for this one may not have though.  This event had a very nice turn-out. Someone told me there were probably over 300 participants for this one with the 3 events.  I think maybe more, because the 5K alone had 224 finishers.

On the course:   All events members lined up together, with the half-marathon folks in front, then the 10K folks, and then we 5K folks.  All the courses were out-and-back. The half participants started at 8 a.m.  The 10K participants departed 5 minutes after the half-marathon start; and then we 5K participants started 5 minutes after the 10K participants start.  I’ve done several training runs and races in this park over during the many years I’ve lived in San Antonio, so I knew what to expect. We started on an uphill; At the top of this, we made a left and then went down a long incline. We then turned left onto another down incline; rounded a curve and went across a pedestrian overpass bridge (for when the creek bed underneath floods during raining times) and then had a short level part. Another short downhill, and then we made a left turn onto a nicely paved trail.  It was ‘fairly” flat for the most part with not too many up-parts at first. There were some gradual up inclines on occasion, but nothing at first you could really call a hill. As we got closer to the turn-round, then we did climb a couple of hills, but nothing really long.  We then went downhill to our 5K turn-round point, and then did the course in reverse going back to the start.  Of course, this meant that on the way to the finish, that  bridge we came down was now a fairly long uphill, along with the next accompanying hill, after we made the turn off the bridge;  and then that long downhill incline we came out on was not a long uphill incline before we made the turn onto the last part of the course that took us downhill to the finish. I was feeling pretty good the whole way and, for the most part, ran almost nonstop from the turn-round to the finish, with just a few short stops to get a couple of photos.  I ended up with a chip time of 39:31, averaging 12:45 per mile, and was very happy with that, and Mile 1-2 was a negative split for me with a 12:16 time, nice. I found out I had finished 3^rd in my 70-99 males age group and got a nice little award pin for my effort.

 After my finish:   Did a short cool-down walk, got some water, and then got some photos of other finishers coming in.  After that, wandered around like I usually do post-race, chatting with others and getting some more “Happy Finisher” photos – I call them that because more people seem to be smiling after they are done than before and during, lol – and also handing out treats to the doggies there, and enjoying a couple of post-race snacks.  There were also several fellow veterans at this one, so we enjoyed sharing experiences with each other. I stuck around a while, waiting for my friend, Sammy to finish his half-marathon.  I missed him finishing but saw him after and took a photo of him and then we got a photo together. He is a very talented runner who has done several half marathons.  Finally headed home, got cleaned up and got some lunch and then, after two races for this weekend, did nothing but be lazy for a couple of hours, lol.

Epilogue:    This was a really nicely done event by Bigfoot Running Company. Thanks to owner Ryan and his crew for putting this one on. The race results, btw, are listed on RunSignUp, where you can do a search on your name, bib number, etc.  As this was a St. Patrick’s Day-themed event, lots of people wearing green, some in various costumes, and there were even green dinosaurs, lol, as the logo emblem of BigFoot Running is a dinosaur. That dinosaur group was very creative and cracked me up; they had a lot of fun with it. It was also a great pleasure to see again my friend, Mary, a Texas running legend – for real! – who has done a race in EVERY county in Texas.  It took her a while to do it, but she got it done, bless her. One of the nicest people I have ever met; proud to be able to call her and her husband friends.  My friend, Ralph, also did this one, which was his second of the weekend too, as he also did the Zoo Run on Saturday that I had done. People tell me I do a lot of races over the year, but Ralph does even more in a year than I do.  Yes, we are both nuts, lol, but in a good kind of way. Mucho thanks to all the ones responsible for giving us this event; all the staff of BigFoot Running; any sponsors of the event; the police officers  and any medical staff out there for our safety; all the many volunteers there for us;  the patience of the non-involved other patrons of the park as we invaded their space for a few hours; and all else involved I may not have mentioned here; thank you all so much.   I would definitely recommend this event and would certainly do it again. Happy and safe running to all my fellow runners/walkers; hope to see you sometime at a future event.