Photos are here:      https://photos.app.goo.gl/oaWqT3QQFyBSn5C79

Before the Start:  My 12^th race of 2025 was the San Antonio Activate 5K held on March 8^th at Misson County Park.   Start time just past 8 a.m. This race, put on by San Atonio Sports, had only a $5 registration fee, so it got lots of entries.  Per results posted on the iaap website, there were 1,179 finishers, WOW.  Not sure how many actually registered; some participants probably did this event virtually, including my wife. I had picked up my packet a couple of days before race day, so I was ready to go. I knew the parking would be kind of crazy – and parking opened at 6 a.m. – so I left early and got there around 6:15 am and got some fairly decent parking in a field right up from where the start area was.  After that, since I had a while until start time, I napped in my car for a bit, lol.  Around 7:15 a.m., I headed over to the start area.  Iaap folks were still busy getting the start/finish line and all the railings set up for the event.  There were actually quite a few dogs there too, some service dogs and some regular “pet” dogs; so, as usual for me, I wandered around chatting with other participants, friends, volunteers, sponsors, etc., getting a few pre-start photos, and handing out treats to the doggies. Most of them knew who  I was after that, lol.

On the course:  The start area with the railings/barriers put into place ran from one spot on the park’s access drive, where the timing mat was, all the way back to the mural on the wall of the building where the park stage was, and where there were vendors inside that pavilion on the floor in front of the stage. Because there were so many participants what they did was start the speedier participants first; then started others based on their minutes-per-mile pace. Each group started 30 seconds after the group in front of them went, so it was well organized and went pretty well.  After getting over the timing mat, we proceeded past the pavilion areas on our right and then past the off-road parking area on our left.  At a stop-sign we turned left, proceeded up a paved road to another stop sign where we made another left, and this put us onto Padre Drive, going past Mission County Park 2 and one of the Missions on our right. The course was pretty flat, until we made a left turn onto parkway that took us down to our turn-round point. This parkway had us go down a steep, but thankfully short, hill, and then up another short hill in front of us.  We then rounded a bend and could see the river on our left. We entered a small parking lot on our right, went around some cones and then headed back the way we had come out, passing a water station on our right as we headed to the finish.  After doing the short hills in reverse on the way out, we got back onto Padre Drive and returned to the finish the way we had come out.  There were 10 people in my 70-99 males age group, and I finished 7^th out of the 10, with chip time of 42:19.

After My Finish:   The course was nicely thought-out with lots of room for everyone as Padre Drive and that parkway are pretty broad streets. It certainly was crowded, of course, but from where I was at any given time on the course I never say anyone interfered with; participants were being very friendly and aware and cheering each other along as the to-and-from runners and walkers passed by each other. After I crossed the timing matt, I stood near the finish, out of the way of everyone and got a few photos of some other finishing. After that, enjoyed wandering around chatting with other runners, participants, supporters, and volunteers,, getting some more photos, drinking my water, treating some more dogs, and just generally unwinding. 

Epilogue:   For as many participants as there were, San Antonio Sports handled all this very efficiently, with the every 30-seconds runners releases, the course support from the volunteers, and a nice after-party with all those vendors that had all kinds of different goodies.  There were sports drinks post-race, and several of the vendors/sponsors had free give-away items.  There was an awards ceremony, but I don’t remember if they gave medals to the top 3 in each age group or just the first overall in each age group. The overall male winner did the 5K in 15:54 chip time, wow, and the overall female was not that far behind him, 19 minutes and change.  Mucho thanks to all the people who made this one happen for we participants:  San Antonio Sports; all the many sponsors and vendors; the police officers and EMT folks there for our safety; all the very many volunteers it took to get this one done; iaap for the timing and results; and also to the guy at the start line – I don’t remember his name – who gave us our start instructions to make sure we went in orderly waves so we would not be ‘stampeding’ into each other on the course, lol.  A race this large is a lot of work for the organizers, and San Antonio Sports did it quite well.  I would do this one again and would recommend it to others.