Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/n6k7fQN9AB2SuNDB8    

Before the start:  My 31^st race of 2024 was on Sunday, May 19^th, at Martin Luther King (MLK) Park in San Antonio. This was my 2^nd race of the weekend after doing Gabriella’s Cupcake 5K the day before this one.   The E-dragon SA Summer Series is a series of 5 races held in various parks of the San Antonio Parks Greenway system.  The series runs from May to August with one series 5K each month. Participants can register for all 5 races and get an entry discount; or can register for each one individually. The series assists with funding scholarships for youth students. There were 87 finishers for this event.  Start time was 7:15 a.m., with a race-day packet pickup from  6 a.m. to 7 a.m., and a Kids Run right before the 5K started. I arrived about 5: 30 a.m. and did a little helping out with some of the volunteers there getting things ready, and then got my packet and got a few pre-start photos.

On the course:  The course was out-and-back on the MLK Park paved greenway trails.  I’ve done events here in the past and the normal course goes in a different direction than the one we took today, due to some ongoing construction on those trails. I did my usual thing of 8 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, and got some photos along the way. For this one we started in the park and then went across a bridge near the MLK parking lot and then went onto a greenway trail just after the bridge.  Personally, after being on this trail for a bit, I decided I liked this course better than the one usually used for 5Ks at this park.  The trails on this side are much wider than the trails on the other side, so more room to move about. On thing did not change, lol, which is that my friend, Erik, co-owner of E-Dragon, does not know the definition of ‘flat’, lol.  When you do an E-Dragon race, the chances are you will encounter a hill somewhere, and we had three on this one – up on the way out, down on the way back. The longest one was the climb to the 5k turn-round point. They were not super-steep or anything like that, but it was still a fairly good climb.  We did have some nice views along the way of Salado Creek that flows through various parts of the park; we crossed over 3 bridges on the route. I tend to have trouble crossing small bridges when I run – during my 41 years’ running life, I’ve fallen off 4 of them, lol – but I managed to stay dry crossing these.  After the turn-round, I took a few brief photo stops, but for the most part ran just about non-stop most of the way. I ended up with a chip time of 40:11, gun time 40:24, good enough for 2^nd out of 4 in my 70-99 males age group. #1 guy in my age group was whipping right along at a 7:36 per mile pace, wow.  I was waaaay behind him, lol.

 After my finish:  Short cool-down walk and got some water and then got a few photos of others coming into the finish and then some after-photos of happy finishers, supporters, volunteers, etc.  This is a dog-friendly event too – and I had a pocketful of dog treats – but the only dog on the course that I saw was my friend Lucy Dog, with her human, Carolyn.  They did really well too, finished 2^nd in Carolyn’s age group.

Epilogue:  This series has been going on now for a few years. It is really well-done by E-Dragon, with good courses, very economical pricing for the events, nice, good quality race shirt, and the age-group and overall placers get a really nice award coin that contains a code number good for a nice discount at a future E-Dragon event; the higher you place, the higher the discount is. The parks chosen for the races are all part of the Greenway System, so usually have really good amenities, such as indoor restrooms, water fountains, nicely paved trails, and so forth. Iaap, probably the top-notch race management company in San Antonio, does the timing and results for these events, and the results are placed pretty quickly on their website, as well as being posted at the race location right after the finish of the race.  There are not a lot of ‘frills’ – no goody bag full of stuff, not a lot of fancy eats after the event, and so forth, which saves to help fund the scholarship, but it’s one of the friendliest events you’ll ever do; feels like friends gathering together to enjoy each other’s company and get in a run or walk with each other. I would definitely recommend this one and will continue to support it in the future.   As noted, you don’t have to sign up for the whole series; try just one first and see how you like it, and I bet you will be a return participant sometime.  Mucho thanks to all the people that made this one happen for we participants, e.g., e-Dragon; iaap for timing and results; the official photographer at the event – photos much better, I am sure, than mine with my old-time pushbutton Canon camera, lol; the law enforcement folks on the park road for our safety; all the many volunteers out there, helping make this one happen for we participants; our always-excellent MC, Anthony; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all! Hope to see you at a race sometime and if so, I’ll probably take your photo, lol.    Happy running and/or walking and, most of all, stay safe.