Photos are here:       https://photos.app.goo.gl/rPJFBfKjJjH4UaTc7      

Before the Start:   My 6^th race of 2025 was Cupid’s Chase 5k, held at OP Schnabel Park, San Antonio, on February 8, 2025. This event was put on by the San Antonio office of Community Options, Inc.  This is a national organization with offices in several states in the United States. In their various locations, they assists people with disabilities (both mental and physical) with helping to find housing, employment, education opportunities, and much more. As someone who was a March of Dimes baby, and who now has some disability from that, and from other incidents, this event is always on my race calendar every year. Race start time was 9 a.m., with two packet pickup opportunities on both Thursday and Friday before race day, so I was able to get mine on Thursday.  There was also a packet pickup on race day at 8 a.m., also convenient, as a friend of mine who had registered could not make it, so after arriving with about an hour to go to start time,  I picked up his packet.  After that, I wandered here and there, chatting with volunteers,  other participants, supporters and, as this is a dog-friendly event, handing out treats to the doggies. Chris Suchan of WOAI-News 4 was there as well, serving as the ‘starter’ for the event. Athlete Guild, a New Braunfels-based company owned by my good friends Scott, and his wife, Amy, who is a fellow cancer survivor who went through some of her cancer treatments around the same time I was getting mine for my prostate cancer. Thankfully, we are both still here.

On the course:    We started right on time, with Chris Suchan starting us off.  I did my usual 8-minues running/2 minutes walking thing.  The start line was in the park’s parking lot near the park pavilion, with the route being the paved off-road trails in the park.  We began by going uphill, passing by a small pavilion on our left, and then making a right turn and going down a long incline.  A left turn brought us to another downhill, and then after going around a curve in the trail, we proceeded onto a downhill bridge. After the bridge, we turned right and went onto the paved trails.  We came to a trail intersection with a trail to our left closed off, so my first thought was “Darn!” (well, maybe a bit stronger word, lol, but I’ll behave) because, having run in this park several times, I knew that closed off trail was a bit flatter than trail we proceeded onto; and so on we went and, sure enough, we did have hills along the way; not really long hills, or all that steep, like in Eisenhower Park or Helotes, if you’ve ever run there, but it was still a bit challenging. I only have 2 running paces, slow-and-slower, and I was also taking photos along the way, some on the run, some I stopped to get,  and also handing out treats to the doggies I saw – with the permission of their humans, of course – so it took me a while to get to the turn-round. My old-time push-button Canon camera is not really a “motion” camera, so some of the photos probably came out a bit blurry.  I was not even to the halfway point when I saw the lead runner already heading to the finish and glanced at my watch…..dang….the guy was doing 6-something minute miles, good grief. Finally got to the turn-round and headed back to the finish, after getting a photo of the water-station volunteers, and handed out another doggie treat, lol.  I took one more walk break and then, since I was feeling pretty good, did a stint of running non-stop back to that bridge we had come down on.  I got a photo of that going up – it was much less crowded, lol, than it had been after the start – and also got a photo of the next hill waiting for us around a curve after the bridge. After that I was then on the trail we had come out on,  heading for the finish; since this was down on the way out, we were going up on the way back. I finally saw the smaller pavilion on the course and knew that was the turn to take us downhill to the finish. I picked up my pace a bit, made the turn and went non-stop to the finish. I ended up 4^th out of 4 in my 70-and-over age group, with a chip time of 42:01 (42:17 per my Garmin) averaging 13 minutes and change per mile, and my last mile was a negative split, nice.

After My Finish:   I got a few photos of others coming into the finish and then wandered around chatting with other finishers, volunteers, supporters, etc., while I got some water in me, and also handed out more doggie treats.  All finishers also got a really nice finisher medal.

Epilogue:  This is a really nicely done event, one that will stay on my race calendar. It is not a huge event – there was a total of 223 finisher, 71 males and 152 females, and that was fine with me.   As noted, very nice finisher medal; nice quality race shirt; and very nice awards for the age-group winners. Only the top winners, male and female, in each category got an age group award, as well as the top overall male and female.  That’s fine with me; I know Community Ops has a pretty tight budget, so better the funds go to those people the organization helps. OP Schnabel is a nice park to run in, with well-made running trails, both paved and off-road;  a nice large pavilion with indoor restrooms; water fountain; and a kid’s playground; baseball fields; and more. There is also a YMCA right in the park, which is convenient for me, since I am a member, so post-race I was able shower and change before driving home. I would recommend this one to others.  Much thanks to all the folks who made this one happen for us and were there for us: Community Ops; Athlete Guild; all the sponsors, of course; the Park Police Officers that were there for our safety;  the other non-participating park users for their patience as they did their own thing – although some of those cyclists need to learn trail etiquette and call out Bike Back when coming up on the runners and walkers; most of them, though, were pretty good about it; the official race photographer – I’m sure her photos will be way better than mine, lol; and anyone else involved I did not mention here;  thank you all!  Maybe I will see you next year at this one, the lord willing; and next year the event actually is on Valentine’s Day.  Happy and safe running, walking, biking, etc., to all!