Photos are here:       https://photos.app.goo.gl/aAvjJTcaXWjA4v2s7

 Before the Start: My 50^th race of 2024 was the Gruene 5K held in Gruene, Texas, just outside of New Braunfels, Texas. There was also a 10K.  Race management company  Athlete Guild, co-owned by my good friends Amy and Scott Wood, put on this event. They are both great people, and Amy is a fellow cancer survivor.  Gruene is famous for Gruene Hall, a music and dance hall built in 1878 by Henrich “Henry” Gruene and still operating today for various events, concerts, and so forth.   Musicians, singers, etc. who have performed there include Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, LeAnn Rimes, George Strait, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Lyle Lovett, Hal Ketchum, and Gregg Allman. For the movie ‘Michael’ the dance scene of John Travolta was filmed there.  Start time for the 10K was 7:15 and the 5K followed after at 7:30 a.m.    There were 351 finishers for the 5K and 187 finishers for the 10K, so a pretty nice turn-out. I arrived about 40 minutes before start time, got my packet from Sherri Purnell – nice to see her in person again, it’s been a while – and then got a few pre-start photos as I wandered around chatting with friends there and other participants.  The weather was fairly cooperative; it was sunny and in the low 70s but did not feel too humid out there to me.

On the course:  Each of the events started right on time, in a parking/picnic area right across from Gruene Hall.  The 10K route took them down a long hill in the direction of Rockin R’ River Rides on River Road.  They went 3.1 miles out and then did a turn-round, came back the way they had gone out and then did the 3.1 miles 5K loop course to get in their 6.2 miles.  We 5K folks did not have to go down the hill, thank goodness, lol.  We made a turn in the other direction from the 10K route, going past Gruene Hall on our right and then heading down the road to make a left turn into a residential area. We made a large winding loop through this area, which eventually brought us back to the main road that took us back to the start/finish area.  After having been in the Emergency Room on Thursday for quite a while for a prostate cancer side-effect issue.  Per my doctor’s instructions, I gave away an entry I had for a Friday night 5K, to rest up, and for this 5K, also per my doc, just take it nice and easy and finish. To do that, I made my goal for this one to do positive splits. I took more walk breaks than I usually do and just took it pretty easy the whole way. I succeeded in doing my positive splits and ended up 4^th in my 70-75 males age group with a chip time of 45:04, averaging 14:30 per mile

 After My Finish: .  I did feel tired after this 5K, but not overly so; I went and sat in my car for about 10 minutes with the a/c on full blast while drinking some water and Gatorade I had put on ice and brought with me; really hit the spot. After that, I went back to the race area to get some goodies and take a few post-race photos.  Enjoyed chatting with old friends there and making new ones. As usual, I also had a pocket full of dog-treats, so I soon had all the dogs at the event loving me, lol, as I handed them out. I handed some out while I was on the course also, to some dogs of the residents who were outside watching us pass by and cheering us on.  Shiner Beer folks were there too and had some nice cold beer; I enjoyed about half a cup. Epilogue:  Athlete Guild does a pretty good job with their events. This was a really nicely done event, although there were a couple of glitches, such as the water ran out by the time I got back, so when I finished there was no post-race water to be had. Thankfully, one guy had an extra bottle and kindly gave me one, appreciate that; and I had brought my own too, which I drank when I went to do a cool-down in my car.  I think they also had a computer glitch for a reason beyond their control, so they were having difficulty in verifying who placed where, so no awards ceremony was done. Well, stuff happens sometime, so you just go with the flow and deal with it. It was still an enjoyable event for me – I was just happy my doc gave me permission to do this one, it felt good to be out there, mentally and physically – and I enjoyed chatting with people post-race and doing my usual thing of getting post-race photos. This is a very friendly event with lots of friendly people, and also dog-friendly, stroller friendly, walker friendly…just friendly, lol.  The race bibs and finisher medals are pretty cool for this year’s event. I’ve done this one a few times in the past and will do it again in the future and would recommend it to others. Mucho thanks to all the people making this one happen for us, e.g.,  Athlete Guild folks; all the race sponsors;  the residents who patiently let us invade their space for a while; all the many race volunteers; the police officers out there for our safety; and the EMT responders; sadly, around Mile 2, I saw that some of them were on the course, taking care of a young lady who had an issue; hope it turns out okay for her, and glad they were there for her; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here; thank you all!  Happy running, my friends and fellow runners; may you always reach your goals and stay safe and healthy while doing so.