Photos are here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/2TTuwNx2Pfx4X3179

Before the start:  My 34^th  race of 2024 was Aid The Silent 5K, held on June 1^st in Boerne, Texas.  There was also a 10K. This event raises funds to increase awareness of deafness issues and support the deaf-and-hard-of hearing community.  This was the 10^th anniversary of the event.  I’m not sure if I’ve done all 10, but I’ve done quite a few of them. I have some hearing issues myself due to an ear surgery I had during my Air Force days, and my late Dad also had some hearing issues, so I do this too in remembrance of him.   The venue for the event was at the Boerne Main Plaza, a large grassy rectangular area that had a small pond and a gazebo area.  Lots of room for everyone. There were 654 finishers for the 5K and 67 finishers for the 10K, so a very nice turn-out for this one.  Considering the hot weather our area has been having lately, Mother Nature cooperated nicely with us for this one, with a temp in the low 70s and a fairly nice humidity level, with a mix of cloud cover and sunshine. I arrived with about an hour to go until the advertised 8 a.m. start time, got my race packet and then got a few pre-start photos as I wandered around chatting with organizers, sponsors, vendors, volunteers, friends, and other participants.  There were lots of booths with all kinds of things provided by the sponsors and vendors,  and a food truck was also on-site.     

On the course:  We had a bit of a late start, with the 10K folks going first, and then we 5K folks got going around 8:20 or so. The course was on paved roads through a nearby neighborhood and then onto part of the Boerne Riverwalk to finish up. For the first part of the course, we started in front of a nearby hotel by the main plaza and then made a right turn onto San Antonio Avenue. This took us down a short incline. We then crossed a small roadway bridge and proceeded to do an out-and-back on San Antonio Avenue. On the way back, a short ways from the roadway bridge and the start/finish area, we made a right turn on Yoalana Street  and went into a very nice neighborhood area with wide streets and some nice homes.  We then did an out-and-back on West Graham, and then made our way over to O’Grady Street, via Herff Street. We went down a steep but short hill, crossed over another bridge – I think the sign before the bridge noted this was Cripple Creek, if I remember correctly – and then had another steep hill, this one up, but thankfully short. We then made our way over to West Theissen Street, which took us across another bridge. After crossing this bridge, we then turned onto a Riverwalk paved trail which brought us back to the finish line, coming off the riverwalk with the hotel at the main plaza on our left, and then did a short jaunt to the finish line….whew!   I finished 10^th out of 21 in my 60-99 age group – bummer, no 70-99 age group, but what the heck – with a chip time of 40:41, averaging 13:06 per mile, and had a negative split for the last mile, nice. Nicely thought-out course, at least for me, I enjoyed it. I did hear from a few friends post-race, that the speedier participants had a bit of a maneuvering problem for that last ½ mile on the Riverwalk park as they were fairly crowded on it.   I did not have that problem at all. At my slow pace, lol, I had plenty of room to move around – by the time I headed to the finish on the Riverwalk  part, the participant crowd had thinned out quite a bit. I liked the course, but I get the point of those faster runners.

 After my finish:  I got a few photos of some other finishers coming in, and then did a short cool-down walk and went to get some water and post-race goodies, and there were quite a few of them that included lots of water, post-race beer, various fruits, items you could purchase from the food truck and much more. I also enjoyed chatting with lots of people there; taking some after-photos, and handing out treats to the doggies there, including the live “Hank The Dog”, who I got a photo with, like I did last year too. Hank is a very cool dog. I’ve got a stuffed “Hank The Dog” right in my home office, so he keeps me company during my work time; good boy, lol.

Epilogue:  Once more, from my slow-runner point of view, a very nicely done event with a nice course on very wide roads and then taking in a bit of the local riverwalk before we finished, which included crossing over a wooden bridge; unlike the bridges in San Antonio parks, this one did not ‘sway’ at all when I crossed it; race director, can you please have the Boerne bridge-maker call the San Antonio bridge maker for our parks to tell him/her how he/she does that, lol.   Lots of ongoing activities post-race, with some live music, the awards ceremony, and more. They even had a couple of Super Heroes there for photo ops and the awards ceremony. Also, behind the gazebo, there is a very nice little pond area with some statues and benches and lots of shade, which is a really nice place to just sit and relax for a bit after the race. Very nice awards for those that placed; nice quality race shirt, and a very nice tote bag too; pet-friendly and stroller-friendly event; and all for a great cause.  This is one of my personal favorite events of the year; I will definitely keep on doing this one as long as I am able and would certainly recommend it to others.  Much thanks to all the ones that made this one happen for we participants, e.g., all the sponsors and vendors; our race director and the many volunteers out there for us, as well as the law enforcement folks on the course for our safety; iaap, of course, for the course setup, timing, and results; and the group that performed for us post-race; also, thanks to the drivers in this area, and the residents, for their patience as we invaded their space for quite a while; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all!  Hope to see you there next year!