Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZG6D3Q7zifw14Cd97

Before the Start:   My 50th race of 2025 was the Run For Mental Health 5K held on August 16^th at Ladybird Johnson Park in San Antonio, Texas.  There was also a 10K and a half-marathon and a 1-mile walk, if I remember correctly. Put on by The Best Races, these events are kind of ‘laid-back’ events, that are self-timed, and you get to choose from a variety of start times in the morning and then show up at the park for your start time. I live just a few short miles from this park so got to sleep in a little bit. I  chose a 7:30 a.m. start time, arriving at the park around 7 a.m., got my race bib and then got a few pre-start photos.  There were already some people on the course that had chosen earlier start times.  I could see there was quite a nice turn-out for this event as both the parking lot nearest to the start area and the outer parking long nearest to the park entrance were quite full.  The weather did cooperate somewhat, giving us lots of cloud cover, and the trails at this park do have lots of shade along the way. The temp at my 7:30 a.m. start time was 78 degrees, and the humidity was a whopping 82%.

On the course:  All the courses were out-and-back and done in two laps. The start and finish for all events finish was right at the top of the park’s trailhead adjacent to the park’s traffic circle. We went down an incline from the start, crossing a short bridge over a dry creek-bed and then made a left turn onto the park’s paved concrete trails, heading in the direction of Los Patios shopping area and the 410-frontage road. I did my usual 8-minutes running/2 minutes walking and took photos during my walk breaks. With 3 ongoing distances, the trail was quite busy for my first lap. The course was mostly flat, with just a couple of up inclines and down inclines, but nothing that was a major hill. After going down another incline and across another short bridge, the 5K turn-round was just after we crossed the bridge and went on a trail that would have taken us to the Los Patios shopping area if we had continued onward. The 10K and half folks, of course, kept going towards Los Patios for their turn-rounds; I am not sure how far they had to go for their turn-rounds, but I would guess the half folks most likely had to go all the way through past Los Patios, cross the 410 frontage road and go under the Loop 410 overpass to get to their turn-round. I was feeling pretty good overall and did my run/walk pretty well, but, as usual, with my run/walk method, I had positive splits. I ended up with 3.2 miles done in 45:26, averaging 14:09 per mile. Mile 1 was 13: 57; Mile 2, 14:21, and Mile 3 was 14:19, so a negative split by a few seconds from Mile 2. I guess I would have finished faster without taking 3 dog-treat stops along the way, lol, to hand out treats to doggies on the course, but what the heck, I enjoyed myself.    

After My Finish: I reported my time to the Best Races folks – they post the results on their website – and a couple of photos of others finishing up; and a few of the volunteers and sponsor organizations. After that, I sat for a bit, enjoying a post-race banana and some cold water and chatting with other participants nearby.  There were also a couple of dogs near me, resting after they’d been on the course, so with the permission of their humans, I handed out a few more treats.       

Epilogue:  When I first heard about Best Races and how they managed things, I was a little skeptical of doing their events, but now that I’ve done a few, I am quite starting to like them. They really are laid-back events, where you just do your own thing but still kind of get the advantage of doing an organized event. You can also choose to have your packet mailed right to you and avoid race day packet pickup, which includes your race bib and race shirt if you elected to get one; I keep forgetting to select this option, lol, so usually just get in on race day. The last two times I did this: the packet pickup race day folks saw me coming, recognized me – I guess from my previous race reports of their events – and already had my items ready for me by the time I got to the table, lol; nice service.  After you finish, you do get a very nice finisher medal; for this event there were two different designed medals you could choose from. They also do have water stations on the course; and post-race they have a nice array of snacks, including bananas and some other fruits, assorted chips, crackers, etc., and lots of bottled water. These are nice ‘no pressure’ events – unless you put yourself under pressure, lol, if you want to set a personal PR for one of the distances, or do one of the miles in a certain time, or whatever.  These events also support local organizations. This event, for example, helps support local mental health initiative organizations.  Of course, I will continue to do lots of ‘regular” timed events that have awards, and so forth, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break and do one of these. Much thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, e.g., Best Races; the sponsors supporting the event; all the volunteers out there for us for registration, water stations, post-race goodies; the EMTs that were there just in case – I saw a couple of them – and there was also a park police officer present for our safety too, and any others involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all!  If you are a fellow runner/walker, hope to see you at a future event sometime; may you all meet your personal goals and always stay safe.