Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/sfA31AerCjk1AggN7    

Before the Start:   My 61^st race of 2024 was the Jubilee Joy Fest 5K held on Saturday, October 25^th in San Antonio at Southside Lions Park, with a race start time of 8 a.m.  There was also a Kids Run before the 5K started. This event helps fund scholarships for students at the Jubilee Academies, a public charter school district with schools in San Antonio, Austin, Brownsville, Kingsville and Harlingen, Texas area. For the 5K, there were 101 finishers.  If I remember correctly, there was also an untimed 1-mile walk with several participants.  The local race management company, Soler Sports, did the organizing, with iaap doing the course set=up, timing and results. I arrived with over an hour to go to start time – it was still dark – got my packet at the 7 a.m. pickup time and then, after it became light enough, got a few pre-start photos.

On the course:   The National Anthem was played and then we got a few instructions about the course, and then we were off.  I did my usual 8-minutes-run/2-minutes-walk and took photos during my walk breaks. I also took a few other short stops to get some photos. The course was on the park’s off-road paved trails, with nice views of the man-made lake in the park as we started and finished.  There were also 3 bridges we crossed on this course, so did each of those twice, since the course was out-and-back. Mother Nature cooperated fairly well with the weather too; it was a bit sunny, with some cloud cover, no wind, and a nice temp of around 68 degrees; that’s practically winter in South Texas, lol, given the high summer temps we get. After crossing over one of the park roads, we then headed in the direction of Comanche Park, another park in San Antonio off of Rigsby Road, which connected with our race park via the Greenway Trails System that Parks & Recreation and the City of San Antonio has established. One can walk, run, bike, etc. for a LONG way with this system and go through several different parks if one is so inclined; it is great; we have a lot of options now for safe running, walking, cycling, etc., with no traffic on these paved greenway trails.  At my pace – average 12 – 14 minute miles with my walk breaks and photo-taking – I got to see a lot of the lead runners heading for the finish, including the guy who won first overall for this 5K.  I looked at my watch when he went zipping by me and thought, dang, this guy is doing 6-something minute miles. I wish, lol…but then, I’d have to stop doing course photos; where’s the fun in that, lol. It’s all good. As Popeye says “I yam what I yam.” I ended up with a finish chip time of 43:09, which was good for first in my 70-99 males age group; especially as I was the only one in my age group. I jokingly asked the person giving me my medal “I don’t get 3 medals, since I’m first, second, and third?”  Umm, no.  lol.

After My Finish:  After a cool-down walk, they old-man legs wanted to sit down and rest a bit, so I did that for a while, getting rehydrated. I wasn’t feeling exhausted or anything like that, just wanted to sit and relax for a while. After that, I was back up, wandering here-and-there, chatting with finishers, supporters, sponsors, volunteers, etc. and getting a few post-race photos of participants, volunteers, organizers, etc.  Chatted with the law enforcement officers too, several of whom work the local races for street closures, etc., so they knew me from previous events.  My Dad was a juvenile probation officer, so I am very pro-law enforcement; although…after I started driving as a teenager, if I got pulled over for something, like a bit of speeding, the first thing the officer would ask me after seeing my student ID is “Are you Bob’s kid?” Uh oh, lol.

Epilogue: Wow. This is the first time I’ve done this event, but it won’t be the last.  Jubilee Academies had all kinds of things at this event, such as face painting; raffle tickets to win prizes; all kinds of vendors with lots of interesting items; food galore, such as sausage wraps and lots more, purchased with very reasonably priced ‘tickets” – I think they were  one or two bucks each if I remember correctly –  to help with the scholarships fundraising; there was a music performance by some of the Jubilee Academies band people – very well done – and lots of other things going on.  A play area with slides, etc, was right near the gathering area, so the kids there enjoyed that; and this is a pet-friendly event, so I handed out a couple of dog treats, which I carry with me whenever I run. For a smaller event, participant-wise, this really is a super-nicely done 5K. Very nice quality race shirt and very nice quality age-group placer medal; also music and sound provided by our “DJ” at the event, and our MC – his name went right out of my old-man brain – did a great job for us, and especially with the post-race awards, cracking a few jokes as he went along, lol, while up on the presentation stage. He kind of reminded me of Sonny Bono from the old-time Sonny & Cher Show;  and if you know who they are, you must be as old as me, lol. All in all, a very nicely done event which I will certainly do again and would recommend to others.