Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/2dAKd3wMePymE2gJA      

Before the Start:  My 35^th race of 2025 was the San Antonio Road Runners (SARR) Texas Sun Showdown 5K held on June 15^th at McAllister Park in San Antonio. This was my 2^nd 5K of the weekend, after havind done the day before the Y’all Means All 5K.  For this Sunday event on Father’s Day, there were 3 races for this event: a half marathon; a half-marathon relay with teams of 4 members and teams of 2-members; and the 5K. I signed up for the 5K that had a listed start time of 7 a.m.  I had picked up my race packet the day before, so after arriving at the race site, I got a few pre-start photos.  An announcement was made that start times would be moved back a bit since, due to all the rain San Antonio had a few days before, parts of the courses had water over them, so the courses had to be re-routed for the safety of participants.  After this got done, the events started, with the half-marathon relay and half-marathon starting first, followed by the 5K. The turnout was quite nice, with 204 finishers with the 5K; 49 for the half-marathon;  112 for the 4-person relay half marathon; and 22 for the 2-person half marathon relay; so 387 total participants; along with the many vendors, sponsors, volunteers, etc., there, so it was quite a crowded area. I had arrived about an hour before the original 5K start time of 7 am., so had plenty of time to wander around, chat with friends, volunteers, other participants, and get some pre-start photos. This is also a dog-friendly event so, as usual with me, handed out treats to the doggies.

On the course:   All the courses started and finished across from the lower soccer fields at the park. It was a pretty warm event too, with a temp in the low 80s, and the humidity was a whopping 82%. If I remember correctly, all the courses were mostly a kind of loop course that included one of the park’s  paved roads, and then some of the off-road paved trails. We started across from the lower soccer fields in the park, passing by a baseball field, and then onto one of the park’s paved roads.  As we went along we could see the relay team members coming and going, carrying their batons as they did their thing. Our 5K route wound around this road, heading in the direction of Becken Pavilion in the park. About ¼ mile before getting to Becken Pavilion, we turned off the road and went onto a paved trail that took us toward a police sub-station near the park. After that passing by the sub-station, we continued on the trail that brought us around to a part of the course that showed the paved road on our left. We went toward the place where we had first come onto this trail but then made a right turn onto another paved trail. This was another short loop that brought us back to the paved road, farther up from where we had exited it. After getting back on the road, we then proceeded to the finish line the way we had come out.  Because of the re-routing that had to be done due to the water on the original course, we ended up doing a total of 3.5 miles. When my watch beeped 3 miles and we weren’t near the finish line yet, I thought my old-time garmin watch might finally be going whacko, lol; but a few other participants near me told me yeah, they too, had the same mileage, so ok then. I ended up 4^th out of 5 in my 70-99 males age group with a chip time of 46:54, averaging 15:06 per mile, with taking some extra photo-stops. The guy who finished 3^rd was only 4 minutes ahead of me.

After My Finish:  I got some water, did a short cool-down walk and then  got a few photos of other finishing, and some of the relay people coming and going, and then got some water and walked back to my car and sat in it with the a/c on full blast to cool down a bit and drank some Gatorade I had put on ice. It was VERY humid and pretty much all participants were pretty sweat-soaked.    Felt much better after my short respite, so I went wandering around again to chat with others and get some post-race photos. Also, I found where my friend Gilbert was located and went to sit with him a bit.  Gilbert always has a chair and a banana waiting for me, lol, in cool shade of his tent. That was a nice little relaxing time.  After that I went back out-and-about, chatting with others and getting some more post-race photos of happy finishers, supporters, vendors/sponsors, and handing out more dog treats.

Epilogue: This is a very well-done event. Kudos to race Director and friend Erik Burciaga who laid out the news courses very nicely for us to avoid any water on the course; the 5K course was well-thought out; lots of room for everyone, and a water station that we passed by twice. Finisher medals to all, and they are really nice medals, one of the best I’ve ever seen; I opted not to get a race shirt, but after seeing them at the event I might get one if they maybe have some for sale; really nicely designed. Lots of post-race goodies, including C-Force water; a plate of Texas barbecue with sides; Shiner Bock beer; various fruits and drinks from some of the vendors/sponsors; and a nice shaded pavilion to sit in and enjoy it. This event is definitely a re-do for my future races calendar; I certainly would recommend it to others.  Much thanks to all those who made this one happen for we participants, e.g., all the sponsors/vendors; the many volunteers for packet pickup, water-station, race day registration, etc; Push-Button photography for their professional-grade photos; our MC, Anthony Zamora – who was also the MC for my Saturday race the day before this one – doing his usual great job; law enforcement folks there for our safety; our music-and-sound guy, friend Paul; and anyone else involved not mentioned here. Thank you all!  Whatever your passion is, may you always stay safe and stay healthy; maybe I will see you sometime at an upcoming race.