Photos are here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/S2D5QMTrrfR8KgsY8

Before the Start:  My 60^th 5K of 2024, and second of this weekend, was the Mascarita 5K held on Sunday, October 20^th, after doing the Zero Prostate Cancer 5K the day before.  Mascarita is a type of professional Mexican wrestling tradition, with the wrestlers wearing masks originally to keep their private lives private from their public appearance bouts, if I understand it correctly. This event was put on by Andiamo Race Productions, with my friends at iaap doing the course setup, timing and results. The event had a 7:30 a.m. start at Greenline Park on Sidney Brooks Street.  I have never been to this park, so it was a new experience for me running at this venue.  There was a total of 196 registered finishers for this event.  There were probably more finishers, in actuality, as several people had unregistered family members and friends keeping some of them company on the course.  Since I was not exactly sure where I was going – even with map directions, lol, I am still directionally challenged – so got an early start in case I got lost along the way.  I did miss a turn, but then I recognized a friend in his truck who does a lot of the same races as I do, so I just followed his truck and that got me right to the race site, really early around 6:30 a.m.  I got my packet and then got a few pre-start photos with my old-time Canon push-button camera, which really does not like the dark, lol, even with the flash one, so apologies for the quality of some of the photos.  As I was by my car getting my race bib on, I heard someone playing the National Anthem at 6:45, so thought I had maybe mis-read the start time; found out later he was practicing for when he would play it for the start; never-the-less, the National Anthem was playing, practice or not, so the Veteran in me stopped what I was doing and held a salute until the music stopped.  After that, I got myself together and wandered around getting a few pre-start photos.

On the course:  The National Anthem was played for real, lol, and then we lined up to get started.  As usual, iaap had its drone there flying overhead taking a bunch of photos. We started right on time.  The course was done on the paved trails of this park, and we often had a view of the nearby river (creek?), not sure which one it is. The course was kind of both an out-and back and loop.  I did my usual 8-minutes run, 2 minutes-walk and took photos during my walk break.  Masks were included in the goodie bag for the event and several participants wore his/her mask during the 5K, so probably a good thing we had some fairly decent and cooler weather for this one!  Dang, if I tried to wear one of those masks when running…my pacemaker would probably explode in my chest, lol, as my heart-rate skyrocketed. The course was mainly flat with just a few mild inclines.  It really is scenic too, with views of the water near us, as well as some wide-open spaces around us.  We made our way to a turn-round point and then went back the way we had come out. As we came to the intersection where we had turned after starting, instead of turning to go back to the finish, we turned in the other direction and then did an out-and-back that way, climbing up a not-too-long incline to another turn-round point. After that, we then went back to the park pavilion where the start/finish line was. It really is a pretty well-thought-out course with opportunities to see friends coming-and-going and also cheer on fellow participants. There were 5 participants in my 70-99 males age group and I finished last in that group, with a chip time of 42:22.  I had a negative split for the last mile, so that was nice. My running acquaintances in my age group, Juan and Ben were respectively first and second; Juan finished averaging 10:07 per mile, wow.

After My Finish:   All kinds of post-race goodies included fresh fruits – mainly bananas – breakfast tacos, nutrition bars, bottle water, some juices, and more.  I indulged in a banana and then wandered around chatting with people and getting some post-race photos. I gave the mask in my goodie bag to a young kid; I forgot I had ordered a youth medium shirt, which I would have also given to a kid, but ended up taking it home as I didn’t take it out of the goodie bag while at the event.  The race photographers also got everyone in their masks – those who had them – and took group photos of the large group of participants.  Awards were given to first overall male and female and then to those who finished first in their respective age groups.  The drone, of course, continued to fly overhead during all this, . I think Jose Iniguez might have some spy blood in him, lol.

Epilogue:   Very nicely done event, one I would definitely do again if it’s held at this park again. I liked this race location MUCHO better than the Missions Park location, so hope Andiamo keeps this event at this location.  Very nice quality finisher medal; lots of post-race goodies; indoor restrooms; a very nice pavilion area, and really good course.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants and were out there for us, e.g., iaap; Andiamo; all the sponsors and vendors; all the volunteers; the young man who played The National Anthem; the police officers at the road crossings we did in the park (there were 3, if I remember correctly); the water station crew; our MC, she did a great job; and our music and sound person.  Thank you all so much!  Definitely would do this one again and would recommend it to others.