Photos are here:       https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZLKFqfbHKygykXNt8

Before the Start:   My 34^th race of 2025 was Ya’ll Means All 5K, held on June 14^th at Ladybird Johnson Park in San Antonio, with a race start time of 8 a.m. I did this one in honor of my daughter. This race, originally started to support those with AIDS, is now a race that supports community diversity.  The proceeds for this year’s race supports The Alamo Area Resource Center. There were 476 participants for this event, so quite the nice turn-out.  This is a Pride Race put on by the Loop Crew, with timing done by Split Second Timing, and the course set up by local race management and running gear company iRun Texas, which also hosted the pre-race packet pickup at one of its local San Antonio stores. Race start time was at 8 a.m.  I live only about 5 miles from this park, but arrived about an hour before start time, so I got some nice parking. iRun and the vendors/sponsors for this event were still setting up their areas. I wandered around chatting with various people, sponsors, iRun folks, etc., and got a few pre-start photos and, living up my name, lol, handed out treats to the doggies there.  San Antonio had some torrential rain on the Wednesday night before and early Thursday morning the week of this 5K, so there was quite a bit of flooding and still lots of water around,  even on race day. iRun folks checked the course and, thankfully, for the direction we were heading, it was all clear. In the opposite direction from which we were going, one of the park bridges was still under water. Glad we did not go that way; I am not into Steeple-Chase races, lol; me and water don’t get along so well when running; I’ve run off the Riverwalk once; in England, hit a root and fell into the River Cam – much to the amusement of all the Cambridge University students around at the time, lol – and going over a creek on bridge made of board, the darn thing cracked and I went into the creek. 

On the course:  We started right on time. This was a very humid outing with the temp around 78 degrees, and the humidity was something like 82%. It had been mostly cloudy when I first arrived, but that fickle Mother Nature brought the sun out just before we started.  Thankfully, the paved trails in this park are very well shaded by lots of trees, so it was not too bad. LBJ Park has a small traffic circle which we proceeded around and then went down a short concrete paved trail down to the main paved trails in the park. We made a left turn – going away from that flooded bridge – and headed in the direction that, for those of you familiar with the park, would take us to a turn-round within the Los Patios shoppes area. The majority of the course was pretty flat with just a few up and down inclines; nothing you could really call a hill.  I’ve done this course several times on my own and with other races, so I knew what to expect. Because of my spinal arthritis, I did my usual run/walk thing of 8 minutes running/2 minutes walking and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. My first mile is usually my fastest as this is the one I do non-stop until my watch beeps for my walk break.  My time for getting to mile 2 and the finish line is always slower, as those miles are when I am usually taking my on-course photos, so I usually end up with positive splits and today was no exception.  I finished with a chip time of 41:48, averaging 13:27 per mile. This was still good enough for 1^st in my 70-79 males age group as I was the only male IN that age group, lol.  I’ll take it.

After My Finish: I got a few photo of others crossing the finish line, and then got a few more photos of other participants, supporters, etc., and handed out some more treats. I then made my way over to the park’s pavilion, just sitting and relaxing post-race and chatting with a very nice couple. The guy was a fellow Air Force veteran, so we had a nice chat about some of our experiences; I think I talked the poor guys’ ear off, lol, with my 24-years-service and all the crazy things that I went through, as I was overseas for 18 of those 24 years and everywhere I went something happened. None of my fellow Air Force friends wanted to be stationed with me, lol.  We did enjoy some laughs, though, so hope I did not bore that couple too much. There was also a raffle drawing for everyone who had purchased a ticket, and some nice prizes were giving away. There was also this cool thing that you could stand on, and these cameras went circling around you taking your photo – or maybe it was a video, I don’t remember exactly – but lots of people were having fun with that.  I did not partake, because that spinning thing would have kicked up my vertigo, but it sure was fun to watch. Epilogue:   This is a very well done event, and the camaraderie for this one among the participants, volunteers, sponsors, vendors, supporters, etc., is truly wonderful. This is one of the nicest events I’ve done, with a lot of great people there; and also dog-friendly, which I also like. I certainly will continue to do it in the future, and I definitely would recommend it to others. Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants; all the sponsors/vendors; our MC, Anthony Zamora doing his usual great job; our lady DJ playing the tunes for us; iRun Texas for packet pickup location, course setup, and checking the course for our safety; Split Second Timing for the results – which you can find on RunSignUp website, by the way; the police officers that were out there for our safety;  and thanks to all the folks who brought dogs so I could hand out treats; even though my wife and I have 6 cats – all rescue – I still love dogs too, and interacting with them.  Whatever your exercise passion is, whether it be running, cycling, yoga, or anything else, may you always stay safe, happy, and injury free. Next up for me: I have another race the day after this one, on June 15^th – San Antonio Road Runners Showdown 5K at McAllister Park.  See you there, if you will be doing that one.