Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YtgV5Ga7g5azqjK78

Before the start:   My 18^th race of 2024 was the Stride For Sight 5K held on March 30^th at Comanche Park in San Antonio, Texas, on Rigsby Road. This event supports the Lions Sight Research Foundation and the San Antonio Eye Bank.  The theme of the event was “Saving Sight, Changing Lives”.  It is also a pet-friendly event, so there were quite a few dogs attending. Thankfully, lol, I had just purchased a new jar of dog treats, so had plenty.  Soler’s Sports was the local run//race company that took care of registration, packet pickup, etc.  There was a really nice turn-out for this one with something like 600+ participants that included walkers and runners.  The timing was “old-school”, where you started with the clock and then after you finished, filled out a card with your finish time on it. I’m assuming this was because chip-timing for an event can cost an estimated $800 – $1700 depending on the number of race participants, and these organizations are on a pretty tight budget, so opted out of chip timing to better support their cause with the funds raised, which makes sense. This one had a late start of 10 a.m., so got to sleep in a bit.  I arrived with about an hour to go, found some parking in a really packed parking area, and then got a few pre-start photos.  There was an opening ceremony with the National Anthem played. After that, I wandered around chatting with various people, handing out treats to the doggies there, and getting a few pre-start photos.  Our weather was overcast, looking like it was going to rain on us but never did, with just about no wind, and temp at start time of 63 degrees, and fairly humid. Personally, I prefer to run in bright sunshine, lol, but it was all good.

On the course:  At Comanche Park, there are two route options for running events, one with some hills, and the other which is fairly flat. The route for this one was the hillier one.  Out-and-back course that took us along the paved trails of the park, over a couple of bridges, that are part of the Salado Creek Greenway trails. We had a bit of flat for a bit, and then went downhill on a fairly long stretch of the trail – meaning we’d have to climb up to get to the finish.  We had a couple of other up climbs along the way to the turn-round, but these felt to me like long up inclines than true hills.  We then did go downhill to get to the turn-round point, so another up climb to get back to the start/finish.  I felt pretty good and did my usual run/walk thing, taking photos during my walk breaks. After passing Mile 2, I started ignoring my watch beeping at my for walk breaks, since I was feeling really good, making just a few really quick stops to get a few more photos, and then got going again.  We also started encountering lots of walkers coming toward us on our way back, but they were very accommodating and polite, giving way to the runners, and cheering us on.  I ended up with a finish time of 41:07 per the clock, and that ended up being good enough for 2^nd in my 70-99 age group, nice.    

 After my finish:  Got some water, did a short cool-down walk and then did my usual thing of getting some post-race photos, as well as some of the volunteers, sponsors, etc.  Awards ceremony was nicely done – although they really need to start with we old folks first, lol, instead of the younger folks, so we can get home and get our nap  😉 – and the award medal is really nicely done.  Lots of booths at this one with all kinds of items and various food stuff; I even saw a few people with some sausage wraps.  I still had doggie treats remaining, so was very popular with the canines again. Some of them recognized me as I came along and started heading for me, causing the arms of their poor humans to suddenly extend out as their leashes became taut. Thankfully, the humans kept their sense of humor and were all very nice about it.  There was also a ‘memorial area” with lots of boards, photos of loved ones who sadly lost their battles, memorial messages, and so forth. It was quite moving and well-done. Epilogue:   Thoroughly enjoyable event for a good cause.  I kept my late Aunt Sybil in mind, as she had eye problems, and also one of my favorite cousins, the daughter of Aunt Sybil, Kip, who I grew up with, dedicating to them in my heart and mind the doing of this one to them. Our families were so close for so many, many years, and had lots of outings and events, as Kip and I grew up. This event was nicely done and well managed, with as many participants as it had. The course was very nicely laid out. From what I saw at any given time, nobody had any issues with it. Some of the kid runners were really speedy too; I wish I had half their energy, lol.  The award medals are nicely designed and the race shirts are really good quality cotton shirts; as much as I perspire – ok SWEAT, lol – when I run I would not wear this for a run, but it’s a very nice and comfortable walk-about shirt. I would definitely do this event again and would recommend it to others.  Much thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, including all our sponsors; our MC; Soler Sports; all the many volunteers; the official photographers on the course; the bike lead guys; the police officers who were helping with traffic control before and after, and out there for our safety, too; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all so very much!    

Epilogue:   Thoroughly enjoyable event for a good cause.  I kept my late Aunt Sybil in mind, as she had eye problems, and also one of my favorite cousins, the daughter of Aunt Sybil, Kip, who I grew up with, dedicating to them in my heart and mind the doing of this one to them. Our families were so close for so many, many years, and had lots of outings and events, as Kip and I grew up. This event was nicely done and well managed, with as many participants as it had. The course was very nicely laid out. From what I saw at any given time, nobody had any issues with it. Some of the kid runners were really speedy too; I wish I had half their energy, lol.  The award medals are nicely designed and the race shirts are really good quality cotton shirts; as much as I perspire – ok SWEAT, lol – when I run I would not wear this for a run, but it’s a very nice and comfortable walk-about shirt. I would definitely do this event again and would recommend it to others.  Much thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, including all our sponsors; our MC; Soler Sports; all the many volunteers; the official photographers on the course; the bike lead guys; the police officers who were helping with traffic control before and after, and out there for our safety, too; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all so very much!