Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qXoQ1kXy1SurV9r77

Before the Start: My 37^th race of 2025 was the Big Red and Barbacoa 5K held on June 28^th at Comanche Park in San Antonio, Texas. The race start time was 8 a.m., with a kid’s race before the main event started. There were 267 finishers for this event. I arrived about an hour before start time, picked up my packet, and got a few pre-start photos and also handed out treats to some dogs that were there. This is a dog-friendly event. The weather was, as usual for Texas summer, already quite warm, with a temperature in the upper 70s and the humidity at race start time was 85%, with very little/no wind. The course was off-road paved trails in the park.

On the course:  There are two different courses that can be used for a race in this park, both out-and-back. One  was on a trail that took us down a long hill and up another couple of hills and underneath and overpass  before getting to the turn-round point, which was the course for my 5K last week. For this 5K, we used the other course that took us on a trail, where we could see from the park, Rigby Road on our right. This course had a couple of hills – more like long inclines –  but nothing like that other course; so I was glad to find out this race used that second course. One thing about Comanche Park, it does have a lot of shade trees, which is nice, so we were only in direct sunlight for very short periods of time. The course did have us cross over two bridges – one which was really ‘bouncy’ on the way to the turn-round, with all those people crossing it – and go beneath one overpass. I did my usual run/walk thing, taking photos during my walk breaks. There was a down incline before getting to the turn-round point, and that leveled off just before we got to the turn-round point, where the was a water station, which I took advantage of, getting some more water in me before heading for the finish. There was also Gatorade at the water stop. After the turn-round point, I pretty much ran nonstop to the finish, with only a couple of short stops to get a photo here and there. I’ve been ‘practicing’ during my training runs to do the last half of a 5K non-stop, and it worked pretty well.  I was also surprised that I was pretty much in the same proximity as my friend, Ralph, a talented runner who is usually pretty darn quick and leaves me in his dust. I never did pass him, but did keep him in sight all the way to the finish. He’s been having a foot issue, so I think that was probably the reason I was able to be not too far behind him. When the finish line came in sight, he picked up the pace a bit, and pretty much left me way behind him, even though I still had him in sight. I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 41:27, averaging 13:21 per mile, and mile 2 to mile 3 was a negative split for me, nice. I was 4^th in my age 70 – 99 males age group out of 8 people. I knew before the start I would not place as my speedy friend Jim was there (8:31 per mile pace), and the first two finishers in my age group were even faster; never-the-less, at my age I met my two primary race goals: finish standing up, and no ambulance there specifically for me, lol; anything I get after that is a bonus.

After My Finish: I got my very nice finisher medal, got a couple photos of others coming in, and then went to my vehicle for about 15 minutes, sipping my cold Gatorade I had put on ice and running the a/c at full blast..ahhh, felt much better after that.  I then returned to the race area to watch the awards ceremony and get some ‘after the finish’ photos of participants, supporters, etc., and, of course, handed out more doggie treats. Epilogue:  This is really a nicely done event put on by iaap, a family-owned top-notch San Antonio-based event management company, and probably is #1 in San Antonio in its category in my opinion. They are ALWAYS busy with a variety of events and always do a great job. The finisher medal is very nicely done as are the age-group awards. The race shirt is very nice quality – although I did not get one, since I do so many events, I am running out of drawer space, lol – and really nice post-race goodies, including Barbacoa – which I can’t eat, since it’s spicy; yellow mustard is the spiciest thing I am allowed to eat, as a result of my digestive system being a bit screwed up from my first cancer (I’ve survived 3 different cancers); but they did have this really nice electrolyte drink – very cold, and delicious too, which was really great; there was also plenty of bottled water too, and popsicles – now that I can eat, and enjoyed one – and some other items.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants: Big Red and Barbacoa, the primary sponsors, and all the other sponsors/vendors; our MC Anthony Zamora for doing his usual great job; all the many volunteers doing duty for packet pickup, course marshal, bike lead; the official race photographers; the law enforcement folks out there for our safety; the patience of the park patrons also using the park who were not race participants, as the park trails were still open for general public use; the EMT that was there for us; and anyone else I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all!  OK, time for me to rest; I have another 5K the day after this one, as also do many of the participants I chatted with.  Runners, golfers, soccer players, I think, must be some of the craziest people around, lol, when it comes to their sports. God bless us all. BTW, I used to golf a lot…but gave it up because those darn windmills kept knocking the ball into the water.