Photos are here:        https://photos.app.goo.gl/J4fKuDNzZEWQWkh66

Before the Start:   My 20^th race of 2025 was the San Antonio Roadrunners Mission Run, which included a half marathon (0715 start) a 10K (0730 start) and a 5K (0745 start), which is the one I did. Held on Sunday, April 13^th at San Antonio Missions County Park #1, this was my second race of this weekend, after doing the Life is Good 5K on Saturday. I knew this would be a pretty popular event – the 5K alone had 313 finishers – so I arrived a little past 0630 and found pretty good parking. Walking to race day packet pickup, I encountered my awesome friend Jorgina, who signed up for the half marathon – her 150^th lifetime half! She is amazing.  After getting my packet, I then wandered around chatting with other participants, volunteers, supporters, etc. and getting some pre-start photos. The place was pretty active already, with vendors/sponsors setting up; iaap, who did the timing/results, doing their setup things, and race day packet pickup volunteers doing their thing. Our Music Man, Paul, was already doing his thing, entertaining us with a variety of music, and our MC, Anthony, was also giving us a lot of commentary about race start times, instructions about the start times, lining up, and so forth. Just before the half was started, Anthony announced The National Anthem would be played and said “Let’s have a veteran hold the flag for us…” and handed it to me; so I had the honor of holding the flag high for The National Anthem. I was thankful Old Glory for this event was a single flag on a very simple wooden staff so I could hold it; it if had been on the heavier ‘full-staff” larger flags, my arthritic back would never have been able to maintain.  As it was, everything went well, thankfully. There was then a kid’s race before the main events started.  After the half folks got started, I continued to wander here-and-there, chatting with friends, participants, supporters, etc. and getting more pre-start photos.  The 10K folks started right on time also, and finally it was the turn of us 5K runners and walkers, and we started right on time also.

On the course:   I initially thought this event was going to be along the Riverwalk by the park, but with all these participants – hundreds of us for all 3 events – that probably would have been a safety hazard on the narrow riverwalk, possibly with some people ending up splashing into the river; so we stuck to the roads.  We started in front of the main pavilion at the park, went down a sidewalk in front of the park, then crossed park’s entrance road and went onto another sidewalk. This took us to Padre Drive, where we made a left turn. This is a nicely paved road, wide enough to accommodate a lot of people.  I also started seeing a few of the speedier 10K leaders already coming toward us, heading for their finish.
Padre Drive took us to Pyron Avenue.  A left turn onto this road took us up-and-down a series of short inclines – nothing you could really call a hill – and then past a water station. We went a bit farther past the water station and just before an overpass bridge we did a turn-round just before the bridge and then headed in reverse of the way we had come out.  As I headed for the 5K finish, I began to see more 10K people showing up – most of whom passed by me pretty quick, lol – as each of them headed for his/her finish. After Mile 2, I pretty much ran non-stop to the finish, with just a couple of quick photo stops, ignoring my garmin giving me my run/walk interval signals.  I ended up finished my 5K with a 40:58 chip time, averaging 13:11 per mile; per my Garmin, my last mile was done in 12:35, which is pretty speedy for a slow, old dog like me, lol. I was surprised to find that I was first in my 70-99 males age group, and thought that would change if somebody who got a late start came in with a faster chip time; however, that did not happen, so I stayed first in my age group; WHAT? At that slow pace? Well, okay then, I’ll take it.

After My Finish:   After getting my finisher medal, I then got some water into me, and wandered around chatting with others; getting some post-5K photos; and, as this is a dog-friendly event, handing out treats to the doggies; I was very popular with the dogs, lol.  The 5K awards ceremony was the first to be held, and they started with the senior folks first – thank you for that MC Anthony.  Age-group placers got a straw Sombrilla hat and small jar full of various treats.  I got an “award photo” with my hat and treats and then gave the Sombrilla to a kid, lol, since I really hate wearing hats. When I retired from the Air Force, I jokingly asked a legal officer if I could sue the Air Force for giving me that bald spot on the top back of my head from having to wear all those service hats. Umm, that would be a big no, lol.  I got a nice photo of me and the young lad and his family, while he was wearing the hat, with a big smile.  I stuck around for quite a while after that, waiting to see Jorgina finish her her 150^th half.  My friend Woody waited with me too for a bit, but finally we both had to leave, so we never did see her come in. I know she got it done though – she always does – so big congrats to her!

Epilogue:   One of the most fun & entertaining events I’ve done this year.  Kudos to San Antonio Roadrunners for doing such a great job with it. I definitely would do this again and would recommend it to others. Lots of post-race goodies, including grilled sausage wraps, Shiner Bock Beer – including a non-alcoholic beer they have that actually tastes like true beer, which is what I had since I was driving myself. There was lots more too. My friend, Gilbert The Fruit Master was there, making sure I got my post-race banana that I usually have after my events; also nice to see friend Whitney there; haven’t seen him for a long while;  he was helping out with the event; thank you.  Very nicely designed small finisher medal; really nice quality race shirt; and unique age-group awards.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for us, including San Antonio Roadrunners folks there for packet pickup, race day registration, etc.; all the many sponsors and vendors; The EMT guy there – had a nice chat with him; the law enforcement folks there for our safety; Pushbutton Photography folks for all the photos they took;  our MC Anthony and our sound guy Paul, doing their usual great jobs; iaap for the timing and results and also, saw a couple of them on the course as Course Marshals; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all!  See you at this one next year!