Photos are here:         https://photos.app.goo.gl/WSicTGSY6dMTndRv9

 Before the Start:   My 32^nd race of 2025 was The Big Run held on June 4 primarily in Brackenridge Park in San Antonio. The start was on Avenue B in a playground-and-restrooms area next to the Shake N Shack restaurant. The Witte Museum staff kindly let us use their parking garage for the event, which was nice of them. It was a warm ½ mile walk to the start area, as this event began at 7 pm, so the temp was around 92 degrees, and it was very humid. I had already picked up my packet, so after getting to the start area I got a few pre-start photos as I chatted with other participants, volunteers, friends, etc.  There were 253 finishers for this event, so this little park was quite crowded with all those participants, the volunteers, the vendors/sponsors, etc.

On the course:  We started on Avenue B, heading in the direction of the Witte Museum parking garage. After passing that by, we then made a left turn, going into Brackenridge Park. At the first intersection, we could see the train tracks for the Zoo Train. We made a right turn at this intersection, going past the Zoo Aviary area on our left.  After rounding  a curve in the road, we then crossed the park’s Wooden Bridge and then went past a baseball field on our left. This took us onto a sidewalk, which we looped around, now with the water on our right. This loop brought us back out to where we had started the loop. We went back over the Wooden Bridge, this time with the aviary area on our right, returning to the intersection. We turned right and headed in the direction where the front entrance of The Zoo would be. We then rounded a curve and took the park road that headed us in the direction of Mulberry Avenue.  Just before getting to Mulberry, we turned off the road and went onto one of the park’s trails. The route took us onto a couple of the trails and then back out onto the paved road near the train tracks.  After getting back on the road, we passed the Mile 2 marker and then went back to Avenue B, made a right turn, and headed for the finish. I did my usual thing of run 8-minutes/walk-2minutes  – and took a couple of extra walk breaks because of the heat – and took photos during my walk breaks. I ended up with a chip time of 43:25 and had a negative split for the last mile. This was good enough for 3^rd place out of the 5 guys in my 70-99 males age group.

After My Finish:  Hydrate!  Got some water and found a nice chair to sit on and just sat there for a bit, cooling down and drinking some water and some Gatorade. After that, I wandered here-and-there chatting with others and getting some post-race photos. I also went into the restroom and the a/c’s in the restrooms were on full-blast; wow, it was almost COLD in there, so I sat there in there for about 5 minutes and that really cooled me down, lol. After that I went back outside and enjoyed getting some more photos and chatting with lots of people and also getting my award for 3^rd place during the awards presentation.  I think the first place finishers got a medal, and we 2^nd and 3^rd place finishers got a pair of socks. I gave mine to a friend who loves socks, since I have so many socks at home right now I am running out of drawer space, lol.  I headed out after that, and good thing I did, because I had left a chance of clothes at the nearby YMCA, with plans to take a shower and get into some dry clothes before going home. However, when I got to the Y, I found out they closed at  9 pm – I thought they closed at 11 – so made it just in time to get my stuff out of the locker, whew, and then drove home.

Epilogue: Soler Sports put on this event and for what they had to work with, it was a well-thought-out course with wide streets and trails that had room enough for everyone to maneuver around, and no hills at all; a very flat course with just a couple of very minor inclines.  There was a water stop on the course, and we also passed by one restroom area that had water fountains, so plenty of on-course water, if needed. It was pretty humid, so by the time we all finished, we were pretty much sweat-soaked, but lots of water and other liquid refreshment at the finish area, and a variety of various eats too. The race shirts are nicely designed and good quality. There were also some door prizes and we had our DJ Paul doing his usual great job of giving us some great music.  I would probably do this one again and recommend it to others; although I’d get there way earlier next time, lol, to get closer parking.  My problem is not running, my problem is walking afterwards, with this darn spinal arthritis. It took me almost 20 minutes to shuffle back to the parking garage – like Tim Conway on the Carol Burnett show, lol, for those of you who remember that show.     There were lots of open spaces at various places closer to the start/finish area, but those businesses and apartments are privately owned, so no parking allowed.  Even so, good event; Lisa and her crew did a good job considering what they had to work with. Much thanks to all who made this one happen for us and were out there for us: all the many volunteers; the sponsors/vendors; the park police officers out there for our safety; our music man, Paul; iaapweb for the course setup, timing, and results; the patience of all the other park patrons not doing the event; Anthony Zamora doing his usual great job as MC; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all! Next up for me: Aid The Silent 5K in Boerne on June 7^th.