Photos are here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/nqrMwtLibQQ8pvp47

Before the Start: My 62^nd race of 2024 was the Ryan Bielke 5K,  October 27^th, put on by Two Rivers Running, an excellent running store in New Braunfels.  The event was held at KL Ranch Cliffside in New Braunfels, Texas, with a start time of 0800. The main event was the Two Rivers Half-Marathon, which started at 0730.   Ryan, who passed away in 2019, was a runner and New Braunfels resident who completed multiple half-marathons, half-iron man, and three Texas Water Safaris. In 2019, he was diagnosed with ‘bile cancer’ and sadly passed away that year at age 24 years old.  I’d never been to this location, so started out fairly early to give myself plenty of time to find the place.  As I got closer, I missed a turn, so did a turn-round in a parking lot, but did not see the sign I was going into the exit and ended up flattening one of my tires on a spike.  It still had some air in it, so I ‘limped’ my vehicle along very slowly and managed to get to the race site. Well, it’s early Sunday morning, so nothing I could do about the tire then, so I just went to the start/finish area to being this 5K experience, getting a few pre-start photos. Both events started right on time. It was a very nice turn-out too and a popular event.  Per Athlete Guild, a very good race management company, there were 333 finishers for the half-marathon and 256 finishers for the 5K.

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.  We started on the camp grounds, going down a VERY ‘gravelly” road for the first part of the event and then turned onto the paved River Road. We went up the road, passing the camp on our right and the Guadalupe River on our left. We did a turn-round and went back the way we had come out, with the river now on our right. We then continued on River Road, leaving the camp behind us and crossed a bridge over the river and made our way down to a recreational vehicle camp area. We went through this area, and then went back over the bridge, heading for the finish. We went down River Road, and then went up a short, rocky uphill path that took us back onto the camp grounds, and then ran the flat, last part of the course to the finish.

After My Finish:  I ended up with a chip time of 43:01, averaging 13:51 per mile, and was 2^nd in my age group primarily because, lol, there were only 2 in my age group. The first guy did a 10:45 pace, zowie. I then went to take care of my flat-tire issue and two guys offered to change it for me and started…but I did not have the tire-lock key, so they could not get the tire off, well, shoot; tried to call my road service and text, but signals at this place are iffy, so couldn’t get hold of them; so heck with it, back to the race, just in time for the awards and got my 2^nd place medal. My friend, Sherri, owner (co-owner?) of Two Rivers, took a nice photo of me and the guy who came in first.  I then stuck around for a while, getting some more photos of happy finishers, etc. Some of the half-marathoners still on the course were continuing to come into the finish as all this was going on, with our MC, Anthony, announcing their successful arrival in completing the half.  After that, went back to my car and decided I probably need to get a tow; and that is when two WONDERFUL angels-people stepped in, Suzanne and Joe.  They found an open O’Reilly’s auto store and talked to them about my key lock.  They took a photo of my tire and then took that to the store and then came back with the tire lock key and so the spare was able to be put on.  I did not have an air pump, but my luck held when another Angel came by in a truck as he was leaving and he did have an air pump, and helped me out too, getting some more air into the spare, so I could make the trip home. 

Epilogue: First off, I owe those three people BIG TIME for helping me get home.  Suzanne even texted me to make sure I had gotten home safely, God bless her. I told them to go out and get some champagne, have a fancy dinner, see a show, or whatever, and it was on me.  Secondly, my wife was so patient through all this, keeping in touch with me via text and morally supporting me; this woman is a gem, I am so lucky she chose me; and finally…this is a really well done event, one I plan to continue to do whenever I can – especially now that I know the way to get there, lol. Aside from the start of the course – tough running on that gravel! – the 5K is a really scenic course with lots of views of the river; I’m not sure what view the half-marathoners had, but I think they had hills; we 5Kers did not. Nice, flat route, probably good course to shoot for a 5K PR if one is so inclined. Race shirt is very nice quality too, and the age group placer medals are very nicely designed. This is definitely an event I would recommend to others.  Much thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, e.g., Two Rivers Running staff; all the many volunteers; law enforcement and EMT folks there for us; Athlete Guild for the posted results; e-Dragon Productions – another very good race company that also puts on really good events; our MC Anthony doing his usual great job; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here; thank you all so much!