Photos are here:     https://photos.app.goo.gl/L2qRA68vxY3aCeTi8    

Before the Start:  My 7^th 5K of 2025 was the 4^th annual Aiden Memorial 5K in honor of Aiden Alexander Memorial 5K. for sudden death syndrome and infant loss. Aidan sadly passed unexpectedly due to birth issues.  His family started this 5K in memory of Aiden. Proceeds from this event support stillbirth and infant loss syndrome organizations, such as  Kain’s Comfort, which donates Comfort Boxes to bereaved mothers in the hospital; and Sarah’s Heart which offers free counseling and support groups to those who have experienced infant loss.  I do this one every year – I think I may have done all 4, but not sure of that – as I have a personal experience with infant loss, having lost my 4-month-old son and first wife to a drunk driver. I picked up my packet the day before this event, so upon arrival I chatted with friends, volunteers, supporters and other participants, as well as getting some pre-start photos.  The event was held in Lady Bird Johnson Park in San Antoinio, on Nacogdoches Road, with a  9 a.m. start time.  I live about 5 miles from the park, so I got to sleep in a bit, which was nice.  

On the course: Weather at 9 a.m. was around 54 degrees with crazy high humidity at something like 71%, good grief, very sticky, and lots of cloud cover.  Thankfully, it did not rain on us. The timing and results were done by iRun Texas, an excellent San Antonio-based activity store, selling gear for runners, walkers, swimmers, cyclists, etc. They also hosted the pre-race packet pickup for this event. The event was chip-timed. The course was the most frequently used one for a 5K at this park. We started in the park’s traffic circle near the park pavilion, doing a loop around the circle and then down a short hill paved hill that took us onto the park’s paved off-road trails. Once on the trails, the course took us all the way out to the Los Patios Shoppes area, where we proceeded to the Loop 410 frontage road, did a turn-round and went back to the finish the same way we had come out.  I did my usual 8-min-run/2-minute walk thing and took photos during my walk breaks.  After I made the turn-round, I was feeling pretty good, so ended up running most of the way to the finish, with just a couple of photo breaks.  One lady, who was also doing run/walk,  told me she was going to try and keep up with me to the finish, and she was true to her word, lol.  For the occasional stops I did – I think I made 2 stops on the way to the finish – when I looked behind me, she was not all that far behind me, doing really well.  As I got closer to the finish, I began to push it a bit more, feeling pretty good. Finally, saw that hill we had come down to get to the main trails and knew the finish line was near. Pushed a bit more going back up to the traffic circle, then wound around in reverse of the way we had started…and I was done, yay.  Chip time of 40:54, gun time of 41:08, gun time. I was first in my males 70 – 99 age group, nice; umm, I think I was the only runner in that age group, lol; even so, I’ll take it.  

After My Finish:  Short and quick cool down walk, then got some photos of others coming in, including the 2 ladies I had been the most in proximity with on the course.  I also treated a few dogs that were there – I always carry dog biscuits when I run; treat the friendly ones; toss the biscuit in the other direction, if one chases me, giving me time to walk away; I like dogs so don’t want to hurt one, and this system works well; which is why a friend way back when nicknamed me “Scottydogg”, lol, and that name stuck so I use that as my race name.  I also gave a few treats to the dogs in the park’s dog-park, with the permission of their humans. Back at the park pavilion, enjoyed a banana, chatting with other participants and volunteers, and getting some more after-photos.    

Epilogue:   Infant loss support has come a long way from back-in-the-day when my loss happened.  I am sorry for the need of this kind of event, but it is an event that serves a very useful purpose,, making people aware that there is help out there.  One volunteer told me there were 300 registered, but not sure how many actually did the 5K.  On this Saturday, there were several races in our local ‘driving-distance’ area, which includes San Antonio, New Braunfels, and more, so lots of events for participants to choose. Even so, this was very nicely done, as always, with a very nice quality race shirt; chocolate and vanilla cupcakes; breakfast tacos; coffee and water;  Kind bars; and more. The race shirt is very nice quality; awards for Overall Male and Overall Female; and a nice quality small medal for those who placed first in his/her age group; so I got a nice quality small medal, which, as usual for me, I toss into a bag and when I get enough of them, I then donate them to kids with cancer (I am a survivor myself) or to the disabled kids at the MAC (Multi-Assistance Center) at Morgan’s Wonderland, as I was a “March of Dimes” baby – look that up if you are too young to know what that is – born with dislocated hips, so can relate to that too.  I will continue to do this event, and certainly hope it keeps on growing. Much thanks to all  who made this one happen for us:  all sponsors; the founding  Alexander Family; all the many volunteers; iRun Texas for the course setup, timing, and results; also thanks to other park patrons – the park was still open for public use – e.g., cyclists, walkers, and other runners – for their patience with us invading the park space for a few hours; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all.  Next up for me:  Street2Feet 5K on February 16, the day after this one.