Photos are here:         

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3oyCsyWV4DVtzsiw5

For 2024, I have completed 42 5K races so far, my last 5K being on June 30^th, when I pulled something in my left piriformis area and my left leg went numb for about 3 minutes or so. I had to walk the majority of that course and then ended up in the Brook Army Medical Center to make sure that numbness was not stroke related, since I have an AFIB and a pacemaker. Thankfully, it was not stroke related and I was able to see my Primary Care doc during the week who verified that I indeed has a sciatica and piriformis issue, which makes sense, since I do have spinal arthritis and degenerative disk disease (DDD) in my spine and she got me scheduled for physical therapy starting on July 25. 

Good news, however, is after a couple of days, it did start feeling better – not good enough to run on – but I was able to do a few 3-mile walks around my neighborhood with no problems. Bad news, however, is I had to give up all my races I had scheduled for July, so June 30^th was my last race/run. They were all paid entries and I hate seeing an entry go to waste, so as much as possible I tried to arrange with the race directors to give my race entries to friends, and most of those race directors cooperated with me for that.

After 2 weeks of no running and missing seeing my running friends like I normally do, I volunteered to help with packet pickup at the Stars and Stripes half-marathon, 10K, and 5K at the Stars and Stripes Drive-In Movie Theater in New Braunfels, put on by Athlete Guild.  Packet pickup started at 5:30 a.m.., so I was up pretty early to make the trip to New Braunfels. I missed a turn on the way, so was a tad late getting there. When I did get there, someone told me between the 3 events, there was a total of 500 or so participants, so packet pickup was pretty darn busy.  I was helping by handing out the race shirts and I must apologize to the poor lady who had me as an assistant. Because I do so many races, and because of my photo race reports, I am fairly well-known in the running community.  People I know and other participants who recognized me kept coming to chat with me during the pickup, so I missed a few things, and the poor lady with me was really busy.  I found out pretty quickly packet pickup is probably not one of my volunteer strengths, lol. I better just stick with being a course marshal or something like that if-and-when I volunteer again.  The lady I was with was very patient about it all, bless her heart, especially when it got crazy-busy and people had questions about the shirts, sizes, etc.  It really got nuts for a while there.  Finally, we were all done, with the half-marathon folks starting at 6:30 ., the 10K folks staring at 7 a.m. and the 5K folks starting at 7:30  a.m., if I remember correctly. 

I did manage to get a couple of pre-start photos and then for a very short time – maybe a couple of minutes with the finisher medals, mainly picking up some boxes –  and then was able to wander around the race area for a bit, chatting with some of the race sponsors and some spectators who were waiting for their participants who were doing the events, and got a few more photos of our MC, the Athlete Guild timing guys, and a few others.  This is a dog-friendly event – although most people did not run with their dogs because it was just too darn hot and humid – so I was popular with the dogs there since at races I usually have a pocketful of dog treats. I also chatted with a couple of people who were fellow veterans and we shared some of our military experiences.   Some of the faster runners began coming into the finish line – gosh, the guy that won the half marathon averaged 6-something minute miles and this was a hilly course too – and the first lady and first male for the 10K both averaged 5-something minute miles, wow!  I stood near the finish line for a while and got photos of some of the people coming in, including a couple of my friends who were doing entrants.  As the finish line got a bit more crowded, I wandered around some more, taking a few more photos of various participants, including some of my friends who had finished. I have several speedy friends – when I do an event they usually leave me pretty quickly, eating their dust, lol – and made new friends too, I hope. Again, I was very popular with the dogs, once they found out I had treats. A couple of them even tried to follow me around, lol.  Several of my friends placed in their age groups. My friend, Eileen, was first in her age group for the half-marathon.  The awards ceremonies for each event was nicely done and the placer medals are pretty nice.  The movie theater folks also kindly opened their lobby area for participants – so no porta-potties, nice indoor bathrooms – and even provided free food post-race for the participant who could enjoy that in the lobby booths in the indoor air conditioning to cool down a bit after a very humid outing on the course.  I met one of the movie theater employees – I think he was one of the managers – who turned out to be a fellow veteran so we shared some of our experiences. The theater also has a very nice play area, so the kids there – and some of the adults too, lol – enjoyed that.  Very nice quality race shirts too. All finishers got a finisher medal and the placer got an additional medal if he/she placed in the age group.

A very nicely done event by Athlete Guild. I sure missed doing it, but for once I made myself behave, lol. Now on to physical therapy and getting recovered so I can hopefully soon be wearing a race bib again and be back out there with all my fellow runners.  Meanwhile, happy and safe running to all!