Photos are here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/P97227EkmrCQje9E8

Before the start:  My 17^th race of 2024 was the Helotes Beer Garden 5K held on March 23^rd in Helotes, Texas. This event, normally held in Old Towne Helotes, was held this year at the Cornyval Festival grounds in Helotes.  I am not exactly sure why the location was moved, but heard through the grapevine that the price quoted for road closures in Olde Towne was just way too high this year to make it practical to do the event there.  Too bad, because there is a lot more room in that area, and it seems to me doing the event there is win for the local businesses in Olde Towne, as many participants stick around after the event to eat and shop locally for a bit; and this year there would have been quite a large group; for this year’s event the 5K had 774 finishers; just for the 5K; then you include the 1-mile walk, all the vendor and sponsor patrons there, the race volunteers, and so forth…that is quite a lot of people Olde Towne lost out on this year. Well, it is what it is, and so we did the event at Cornyval.  I arrived quite early, just after 7 a.m., so got some nice parking, and then enjoyed chatting with friends, race-day volunteers, sponsors, etc. and getting a few pre-start photos

On the course:   Due to the number of participants, the 5K was done in 2 parts.  The speedier participants who could run at a pace of 8 minutes per mile and under started at 8 a.m., followed by all of the other participants at 9 a.m. The course was 2 loops on the Cornyval grounds, with terrain that included pavement, grass-and-dirt areas, and a gravel road.  Given what the race organizers had to work with, the course was pretty nicely laid out. It was pretty crowded at the start, but after we got going and began to spread out, I never really felt crowded at all, and had plenty of room for maneuvering about to pass a few people ahead of me and to move aside to let faster people pass by me.  The course was mostly flat, with our course uphill being on a long gravel road. It was not a steep hill – like the hills in Olde Towne- more like a long incline that went gradually up. Once we got up this incline, we then went onto some pavement, then onto another small off-road trail that took us to more pavement, which took us back to the start/finish, where we went through the start area again to do our second loop.  With my spinal arthritis, I do a run/walk thing, 8-min-run/2-min-walk, and took oncourse photos during my walk breaks.  I was actually feeling pretty good and ended up with negative splits, doing the first loop in 20:20, and the 2^nd loop in 18:32, zowie! My chip finish time was 38:52, averaging 12:31 per mile. This is very encouraging for me, making me realize I am FINALLY starting to get over my cancer side-effects from my prostate cancer treatments in 2021 and 2022.  The doc told me these side effects could last anywhere from 2 to 6 years, post-treatment, so these results made me one happy doggie.  The posted results showed I had finished first out of 8 in the 70-99 males age group, nice.

 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 and, of course, since it is the beer festival, enjoyed a post race beer too. There were also several fellow veterans at this one, so we enjoyed sharing experiences with each other.  Nice to see lots of my running friends at this one.

Epilogue:    As noted, with what they had to work with, Race Director Lisa Haby Soler and her crew did a good job of laying out the course for this one.  It was a little crowded when we began in the start area, but that was to be expected with this many people, as we experienced race participants know, and we were soon comfortably spread out. The after party was awesome with all kinds of beer, post-race goodies, a food booth where you could purchase food, a massage area, and more.  Several people did this one in costume, which was fun to see. Dogs were allowed to come to this one – and yes, they did get treats from me, lol, before and after – but I did not personally see any on the course; given the number of participants, probably a smart thing. The age group award medal is nicely designed, large, and has a ‘beer glass runner” on it that spins around. The race shirt is also nicely designed and is a tech-tee, a keeper, so definitely going to get my self-motivation print put onto this one for future running and events.  I would definitely do this one again and would recommend it to others. Mucho thanks to all those that made this one happen for we participants, including Soler Sports and all the many volunteers; all the vendors; all the sponsors, including Stout House, the main sponsor that held packet pickup at its location; the official photographers out there for us; the local law enforcement and security guys out there for our safety, iaap for doing the course setup, timing, and results; our MC for the event, and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Also, thanks to all who kindly indulged me in letting me take photos of them for my race report.  Thank you all!  Hope to see you at a future upcoming event!