Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/AfRG4SjxxqyF8Uzw8        

 Before the Start:  My 26^th race of 2025 was the Andiamo Taco Run 5K, held on Sunday,  May 11 at Mission County Park #1 in San Antonio. I don’t usually do Andiamo events, since I am not fond that they give age group awards to only the top finisher in each age group, but this was the only local race I could find for this Mother’s Day Sunday, and I was trying to keep my plan going of doing a race each weekend day of this month.  This was my 2^nd race of the weekend starting and finishing at this park, after having done the Girls On The Run 5K on Saturday, May 10^th.  Start time for this one was 7:30 a.m. It was a lot less crowded – 341 finishers – than the one the day before, which had about 1400 participants; so, when I arrived at 6:45 a.m., I found pretty good parking; got my packet pretty quickly and then got a few pre-start photos. Several running friends were also doing this one, including Woody Wilson, Keyes Hudson, Roland Benavides, Alan Orlowski, and more.  Race start time was 7:30 a.m.. Prior to the start, The National Anthem was beautifully played by a guy with tuba; I think it was a tuba, and the guy played it great, not missing a beat; very impressive and moving.

On the course: The course of this event was an out-and-back held on the concrete/cement Riverwalk trail adjacent to the park; so…. anyone who has ever done a race here knows that THAT means:  hills and more hills. After going over the timing mat we then went immediately downhill, and then started going uphill, and that was the course for the majority of the 5K, with, for the most part, just 1 level spot on the course, when we approached the turn-round point.  My Dad served in WWII and Korea, and I remember a song he used to sing “Over hill, over dale, the caissons keep moving along..” and that song usually pops into my head when I do this course, lol. I did my usual Run-8-Minutes/Walk-2-Minutes and took on-course photos during my walk breaks, and a few extra ones too before some of the walk breaks, mostly of the participants around me, but also some shots of the river that was on our right going out, on our left going back.  As I headed to the turn-round, I saw a guy named Juan, who is in my age group, already heading for the finish, so I knew I wasn’t going to get an award today, which is okay, since my two major goals for a race are: finish standing up and no ambulance waiting specifically for me; anything I get after that is a bonus, lol. I ended up 2^nd in my age group with a chip time of 40:34.  Juan finished ahead of me by a good 10 minutes.

After My Finish:Got some water and did a short cool-down walk and then wandered around getting some after photos, chatting with friends and other participants. This is also a dog-friendly event – there were a couple of dogs that did the course with their humans – so I handed out treats to the doggies there, with the permission of their humans, of course. I watched the award ceremony and my friend, Woody, was first in his age group, so congrats to him.  There was also post-race free tacos for all participants, with a very long line for that, which was okay since, with my #!#! colon cancer I had- my first of three cancers I dealt with – it screwed up my digestive system a bit so the spiciest thing I am allowed to eat is yellow mustard – nothing with onions, salsa, no peppers, etc., anything that is even remotely spicey – so pretty much no Mexican/Hispanic cuisine at all, lol.  It’s all good though, I get by and am doing fine. Epilogue:  Very nicely done event. Andiamo does put on a good show for their events. They have a series of races over the year and, if I remember correctly, you can do sign up for them individually or you can register for all of them for the year – kind of like what Scallywompus has.  Very nice quality race shirt.  The age group awards for this one was not a medal but a hand-painted portrait of a taco figure on a cardboard background.  The finisher medals that all finishers got are really nicely done; I liked them better than the age group award thing, lol.  All the volunteers were great; and there were also two photographers on the course taking photos that, I am sure, are a lot better than my amateur ones, lol. There was one water station on the course, at the top of one of the hills we had to climb, so that was convenient and just in the right place; if you did stop for water there, you got a really nice view of the river below and some of the countryside beyond it. Our post-race MC – I don’t remember her name – did a great job for us; and there was also this contest for a gift coupon, in which a few people did a ‘dance-off’, which was hilarious, with the crowd really getting into it.  Although I don’t do a lot of Andiamo events for the reason I noted, I do admit they really do a great job with the races they put on, so if you’ve never done one, you might want to try one and see how you like it.  I am just about positive, there will be Andiamo races in my future every once in a while. 

Much thanks to all the ones who made this happen for we participants, and who were out there for us:  all the many sponsors, Andiamo staff members, and volunteers; the taco food truck staff; the law enforcement folks there for our safety; the water station volunteers and the race photographers; iaap for the course setup, timing, and results; our young lady MC – I don’t remember her name – who did a great job for us; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all!  Whatever your exercise passion is, may you always be successful with it, and stay safe always.