Photos are here:     https://photos.app.goo.gl/buoix6ixLaJrQeLZ9

 Before the Start:   My 48^th “race” was the World Heritage Festival Tour de la Misiones held on September 7^th at Mission County Park, with a start time of 7:15. There was a 5K, a 10K, and a bike ride also, which had an option for 22 miles and 14 miles. This event was put on by the City of San Antonio World Heritage Office,  and its partners that included San Antonio River Authority and city organizations, celebrating 300 years of the San Antonio Missions and their being named a UNESCO World Heritage site, the only World Heritage site in San Antonio, and also celebrating the history and culture.. There were other events too, taking place from Sep 4 through Sep 8, culminating with this event, if I remember correctly.  I arrived with about an hour or so to go until start time and got a few pre-start photos.

On the course:  The runners and walkers started first, with the cyclists starting after those of us on foot had gone. We started from the parking lot in front of the park’s plaza, making our way to a nearby sidewalk and going up that, then making a left turn onto Padre Drive. After a very short jaunt down this street, we then made a right turn onto a paved trail, winding us around a bit until we came just outside the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park.  The trail took onto the grounds of the park, taking us past an historic building, and then we made our way to an exit on the other side of where we had entered, and were back on the road again.  This road took us back onto a far end of Padre Drive. We went up this for a bit, crossing by Pyron Avenue and then made a right turn that took us onto an off-road paved trail that got us onto the Riverwalk.  We went over a bridge to the side of the Riverwalk that is on the opposite side of where Mission County Park is located. I could see a large hill ahead of us  – good grief! – but when we got up it a bit, there was a sign showing 5K to the left and 10K to the right, so we got the smaller hill, lol, and thank goodness. This trail took us down to another turn, where we went right and that ended up with us doing a loop around the Hot Wells ruins, which is part of the World Heritage group.  One fellow runner I chatted with told me this place had a history of ‘ghosts” sometimes and they have ghost tours there. After looping around Hot Wells, we then went back onto the Riverwalk trail, for a couple more climbs, but nothing really hugely steep, and this took us to VFW Drive.  We crossed a bridge, when down a short incline and then took a paved trail on our left that took us back to the finish. There were no awards for this one, but I ‘raced’ myself, lol, challenging myself to see if I could do negative splits for this one and I did succeed in that. I ended up with a 43:32 finish time, averaging 14- minute miles, with splits, per my Garmin, of  14:21; 14:00; and 13:43. Probably a tad off from the official iaap time, as my Garmin is like me a bit…it’s slowed down as it has aged.

After My Finish:  I got a few photos of some others coming into the finish, that I had interacted with on the course, and then went to get some water and a banana and just relax a bit. After that, enjoyed post-race chatting with some of the volunteers, vendors, other participants, etc., and getting some post-run photos. Lots of the vendors had give-away items and the Public Works department had this roulette wheel thing you spun around, and it would land on a question; if you answered it right you got to select a prize; I ended up getting a nice little battery-operated hand-held fan, lol. It even fits in my running shorts pocket so I could take that with me on some of my runs on warmer days, lol.    

Epilogue:  This is the first time I’ve ever done this event, but it won’t be the last.  This is a really nicely organized event with a very enjoyable course – in spite of those inclines on the Riverwalk they made us do, lol – and lots of post-race giveaways by the vendors; you also get a food ticket (beans and rice I think was the food) and a drink ticket too.  There were a few dogs there too, so of course me being “Scottydog”, you know I had to visit with them and give them treats.  Sad thing, though, that ended up turning out well;  one guy came up and asked me if I had the number to Animal Control because when he was on the course, he found an abandoned dog tied to a pole; good grief, I don’t get people that do that. I told him to check with the Park Police officers that were there, they could get in contact with them.  However, this turned out well, because one of the other participants brought the dog back to the pavilion area; it was a very friendly young dog and well-behaved and one family with a couple of kids decided they would keep it, so a happy ending for this abandoned dog who got a new home in record time. Oh yes, I did give it a couple of treats.  Mucho thanks to all the people involved that made this one happen for we participants, e.g., all the sponsors; iaap for course set up and timing;  the involved San Antonio city offices, all the many volunteers out there for us; the group before we started that performed a cultural ceremony; our MC and our music-and-sound guy; the police officers there for our safety, and our medical guy present for us, if needed; and of course, our Race Director who made sure everything was going smoothly; and anyone else involved I may not mentioned here.  Thank you all!  Now I have to get some rest. I am doing my 49^th 5K of the year on Sunday, Sep 8.  Whatever your exercise passion is, may you always be successful and safe.