Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/GwssY5VwHYg2XRSm9

 Before the Start:    My 49^th 5K of 2024 was the Windcrest 9/11 Remembrance Race, held on September 8^th in Windcrest, Texas. There was also a 1-mile walk. This event, held on September 8^th, was my 2^nd 5K of the weekend, after having done the 5K of the Tour de Las Misiones World Heritage Festival the day before.  The Windcrest 5K honored the fallen and the heroes of 9/11. Windcrest is a small incorporated city in the San Antonio area, located just east of the Intersection of Interstate-35 and Loop 410, and about 10 to 12 miles from downtown San Antonio.  Race start time was 8 a.m., with race day registration and packet pickup at 7 a.m.  This race was ‘old school’ with self-timing done and then putting your results onto an index card and dropping the card into the appropriate age-group basket. There were no age-group awards, but all participants got a finisher medal. The course started and finished at the top of Jim Seal Drive, the location of Takas Park, the city park of Windcrest.  Participant-wise, this was a fairly small event; not sure of the exact number of participants, but the turn-out made it feel like it was a get-together of friends to enjoy a nice outing together, which was really nice. Local firefighters and police also turned out for this one and a fire engine near the start/finish line proudly displayed the colors. I arrived with about 45 minutes until start time, got my bib number, and then enjoyed chatting with other participants and volunteers and getting a few photos.  This is also a dog-friendly event, so of course I had treats to hand out to them.

On the course: We started at the top of Jim Seal Drive, made a right turn onto Crescent and headed in the direction of Randolph Boulevard and I-35.  We made a left turn on Midcrown Drive, entering a residential area where this loop course started in earnest. We wound through various streets in this area. The Windcrest Police were out in force (no pun intended), with blocked roads for the course, and also with some of them driving on the course, making sure everyone was okay. For the most part, this course was really flat, with a few small inclines to climb, until we got near Mile 2, and then we had a couple of fairly long  up inline climbs. They were not really steep, they just kept going up and my legs felt those a bit, after the hillier Missions 5K I’d done the day before. This winding course eventually led us back to Crestway Drive, heading toward the finish line in the opposite direction from which we had started. We had a fairly long downhill on this end of Crestway, and then a climb up to get back to the finish, whew!.  Overall, I felt pretty good, doing my usual run/walk thing until just after the halfway point and then I ran most of the rest of the course nonstop, with just a couple of quick photo breaks.  I ended up with a finish time of 40:05, averaging 13:41 per mile and had negative splits too, for each mile, nice.

 After My Finish:   A volunteer handed me a small bottle of water – thank you! – and I did a short cool-down walk and then got some post-race photos.  One of the firefighters also kindly took a few photos of me standing in front of the awesome flag the firefighters displayed.  I ended up being first In my 70-and up males age group, since I was the only one in my age group, lol.  I also enjoyed post-race chatting with several other participants there and getting a couple more photos.

Epilogue:  I have not run in Windcrest for several years – I did a couple of races here way back when, after I first moved to San Antonio – and had forgotten how really nice this small city is. It really is a great place to get in a good run, walk, ride, or whatever your exercise passion is. Takas Park is a very nice park too, with some paved trails, tennis courts, batting cages, a really nice dog-park close by, indoor restroom, water fountains, and more. I will definitely start using this location for some of my future training runs.    Mucho thanks to my friend, Deborah, for telling me about this one when we did our Saturday 5K. I will definitely keep this one on my race calendar and would recommend it to others.  I don’t know if my friend, Race Director Lisa, wants this one to grow or not, lol, since that would involve a whole lot more work for her, but if it does, it surely is for a good cause.  Mucho thanks to all the people that made this one happen for we participants, and were there for us,  e.g.,  Windcrest city officials; the Windcrest Fire and Police departments; all the volunteers out there for us; the city residents along the course for their patience, as we invaded their space for a while, and who had some of their roads blocked off during the event; the military musician folks who were there entertaining us; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all so much. See you again next year if this one happens again; I sure hope so; it really is a very nice quality event.