Photos are here:       https://photos.app.goo.gl/XQ1B58RiW6SgEoVj9

 Before the Start:   My 23^rd race of 2025 was the Beards vs Beans “Run To Remember 5K” held on May 3^rd at Comanche Park in San Antonio.  There was also a 10K; a 0.5 Beer Run after the main events finished and  and an assisted wheelchair event for which Ainsley’s Angels, Houston Chapter, participated. Ainsley’s Angels has a mission of assisting the disabled to be able to enjoy the racing experience too, and they do a great job at it, inspiring a lot of people along the way. This event was created by two brothers, Matthew and Miguel to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s and raise funds for The Alzheimer’s Association and for helping to research finding a potential cure. They each host a running event – the next one will be in June, “The Longest Day”  – and the one who raises the most funds at ‘his’ event wins a friendly contest. Matthew is the Beard and Miguel is the beans; whichever brother raises the most funds, then he gets to give a “quirky’ challenge to the other brother who has to complete the task.  It’s a brotherly bantering way to raise awareness about this disease and the brothers have raised over $135K for the cause since they started these two events.  Race start time was 7:30 a.m. The weather was pretty nice for this time of year; not too humid, in the lower 60s, clear skies and some sunshine. I arrived with friends Carolyn and her dog, Lucy with about 45 minutes to start time and got a few  pre-start photos.  There was a pretty nice turn-out, with 226 finishers for the 5K; 37 for the 10K; 25 for the Assisted Duo 10K (chair pusher and person in the chair) and 11 for the Assisted Duo 5K.

On the course:  The chair folks started first, about 15 minutes before the 5K and 10K, if I remember correctly.  The 10K and the 5K started together at 7:30 a.m. We started on near the park’s pavilion and did a loop through the parking area of the park. This took us to one of the park’s off-road paved trails, which we stayed on until getting to a turn-round point. The course had a few hills on it, some mild, some a bit steeper, but no really steep challenging hills, more like a gradual up-and-down climb for most of them.  The events were out-and-back.  As I was going out, I could already see some of the speedy Ainsley’s Angels folks already heading to the finish line, wow; some of those folks were really speedy.  As I was doing one of the downhills, on my way to the turn-round point, some of the 5K leaders were already heading for the finish. Speedy! The first 10K person finished in 45 minutes and change; that’s about my 5k time, lol. The first 5K guy finished in 17 minutes and change, zowie! I did my usual run/walk thing and took photos during my walk breaks. We had to climb a couple of small up-hills to get to the turn-round point and when I saw the turn-round point, my first thought was this course will be a tad short.  I’ve done a lot of races at this park, and the 5K turn-round is usually farther down on the trail than where it was placed for this event; but it is what it is, so just went with it. I got a photo of the 5K turn-round/water station volunteers and then headed for the finish. I took one more walk break and got a couple more photos and then ran the majority of the last mile non-stop, interacting with a young lady and her father. There was also a bike police officer along the trail – thank you –  so I jokingly called out to him “Aren’t you supposed to be following me in case I need a ride?” lol. After that, non-stop to the finish. Sure enough, when I crossed the finish line, the mileage was at 2.8 miles, and other participants verified they had the same. Well, it is what it is.  I ended up first out of 4 in my 70-99 age group – which is practically a miracle, lol, me being first at my slow pace, but I’ll take it.  Chip time of 37:02, averaging 11:55 per mile, and my last mile was my fastest.

After My Finish:  Got a few photos of others coming in, including my friends Carolyn and Lucy-Dog, and then enjoyed lots of water, a post-race banana and  a Kiolbassa sausage wrap.  They also had post-race Shiner Beer, which I like, but passed on that for today.  I then intermingled with other finishers, supporters, volunteers, etc., getting more photos and enjoying some nice post-race chatting with a lot of people. This is a dog-friendly event also so, yes, the dogs did get treats from me. As usual at a dog-friendly event, I was very dog-popular, lol.      

Epilogue:  This is an event that is always on my race calendar and that will continue. The two brothers are really super-nice people with a great sense of humor and a great cause; I think we all probably know someone, either friend or family member, that is affected by this disease (including me, to a small extent right now; getting some therapy for it) so the two brotherly annual rival events will always have my support. If you’ve never done this one, you’re missing out; well organized, lots of post-race goodies, nice course (usually not short, lol), nice facilities at this park (pavilion, indoor restrooms, water fountains, good trails, etc), and lots of runner/walker camaraderie.  Nice quality race shirt; finisher medals to all finishers, and unique age-group award medal.  Definitely a keeper event. MUCHO thanks to all the people who made this one happen for we participants, including all the many volunteers it takes to put on an event; race company iaap for the timing, results, start-and-finish line set up; friend Erik of e-Dragon for helping with the course layout; the law enforcement/park police and EMT folks out there for us, just in case; our music guy, Paul, rocking out the tunes for us; or MC, Anthony doing his usual great job as MC; all the vendors and sponsors, of course, that help pay for it all; the bike lead guys for the events, who had to really be pushing the pedals with the speed of some of these front runners; and, of course, Miguel and Matthew who started all this way back in the beginning, and anhone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all! Whatever your exercise passion is, may you always stay safe and happy with it.  Rest time for me now; I have another race scheduled for the day after this one – and it’s right back at this same park, lol.