Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/NSRxFLxaFbGYyJhu6    

Before the start:   My 40^th race of 2024 was the Texas Tough 5K, held in Helotes, Texas on June 23^rd.  Put on by E-Dragon Productions aka “Dragon’s Den”, this was my 2^nd race of the weekend, after doing the Beards vs Beans Longest Day 5K the day before this one. Along with the 5K, there was also a 10-miler and a 10K.  Start and finish location was in Olde Towne Helotes by Serenity Manor, an event venue for various functions, parties, etc.  Interestingly, this event venue building used to be Roger Soler Sports long ago, so the building itself has a running-world history. The 10-miler had 78 finishers; the 10K, 89 finishers; and the 5K, 127 finishers.  I arrived with about an hour to go until start-time and got a few pre-start photos.

On the course:  The 10-milers started first, followed shortly after by the 10k participants, and then the 5K participants started last. We left the parking lot by Serenity Manor, proceeding on a slight downhill on Old Bandera Road and going across a pedestrian bridge that went over a creek-bed, which was pretty dry with this Texas summer heat. We then began to climb again on Old Bandera Road until we got to Antonio Drive, where we made a left turn. This took us down a hill, where we had a flat road for just a bit.  Antonio Drive took us to Merin Hollow Drive, where we made a right turn. We had maybe a quarter-mile of flat on this nicely-wide road in a very pretty neighborhood, lots of nice homes. We rounded a curve in the road and then the hills began in earnest and I could see why this event was named Texas Tough, lol. These were no baby hills; these hills were pretty steep, both up-and-down. I just concentrated on getting through these 5K hills, and taking some on-course photos, and did take a fe more walk breaks than I usually do.  As I went along, I thought, dang, if these are the hills for just the 5K, those 10K and 10-miler folks must really be going through hill-hell. I found out later from some of those participants, that they went all the way to the top of this neighborhood, which is QUITE the climb, wow.  The average elevation level for each of these courses must have been crazy, lol. Per my Garmin connect, the average elevation range was listed at 1,020-ft to 1,120 ft, and that was just the 5K, so the 10K and 10-miler folks must have really had some crazy numbers.  Somehow, I managed to finish with a 42:47 chip time, averaging, 13:46 per mile, and I managed a negative split of 12:36 for the last mile; guess I was ready to be done, lol.  I got a laugh at myself when, just as I was getting ready to finish, my friend Max, who did the 10-miler, if I remember correctly, came whipping by me and finished quite a bit in front of me, lol. Max is one speedy guy.   My friend, Roland, and I were the only 2 in the 70-99 males age group for the 5K, so we each got a medal.

 After my finish:  Got some water first thing, and did a cool-down walk as I sipped that; then found some shade and just sat for a bit. After that, per my doc’s orders, since I have a pacemaker implant, I always get my blood pressure checked post-race. Surprisingly I cooled down pretty fast and the on-site med tech told me it was 117 over 70, nice, with my resting heart rate already down to 62. After that I enjoyed getting some post-race treats, of which there were quite a few, including various fresh fruits, breakfast tacos, Force water, coffee (blech!), and lots more.  There was also a ‘mister’ you could stand in front of to help cool you down; that was nice. Although it did feel a tad cooler for this Helotes event than it did for the 5K I did on Saturday, even so, at the start time, the temp was already 79 degrees, with the humidity at something like 82%, so it was a bit sticky. After getting a bit refreshed from the mister and just sitting for a while, I then wandered here-and-there, getting some after-photos and chatting with other participants, supporters, volunteers, etc.   There were also quite a few dogs present so I handed out treats to them, with permission of their humans.  Epilogue:  As usual for E-Dragon and iaap, a well-done quality event, with a challenging course – to say the least, lol – personalized race bibs, very nice finisher medals, and unique placer awards that are big ‘coins” that can be used to get race entry discounts at future E-Dragon races.  Very nice quality race shirts – I got a youth medium and gave mine to a kid – and there was even a costumed Dragon at the race, which the kids there had a lot of fun with.  It was also nice to see my friend Kristine, co-owner of E-Dragon, back at work after recently having a newborn baby girl. The Burciaga clan is a very busy family. Mucho thanks to all who gave we participants this quality event, e.g., E-Dragon; iaap; all the many volunteers; the law enforcement and medical folks there for us; our official  race photographers; all the many vendors and sponsors the help pay for all this; the patience of the Helotes residents as we invaded their space for several hours; our MC, Anthony, and our sound-and-music guy Paul; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all so much!  Next up for me; Big Red and Barbacoa 5K, June 29^th, Martin Luther King Park, San Antonio.