Photos are here:     https://photos.app.goo.gl/g9SqhwdimbmxES9N6

Before the Start: My 51^st race of 2025 was the Summer Sizzler 5K, held on Sunday, August 17^th at Pearsall Park in San Antonio, Texas. This was my 2^nd race of the weekend, after doing a 5K the day before at Ladybird Johnson Park. The races for this event included a Kid’s Run; a 15K; a 10K; a 5K; and a 1-mile walk. There was quite a nice turn-out for this event between all the events, but not sure how many total participants there were for each one, as only the results for the overall top 3 in each race are listed, from what I could find.  There are actually 2 parking/event areas for Pearsall Park, both of which are on Old Pearsall Park Road, a lower one, where e-Dragon did its last Summerfest 5K, and another one up a hill from that one, and that is where these events had its start and finish.  The Kid’s Run went first, and the start time for all the other events was at 7:00 a.m., so we had to be there pretty early. I arrived about with about 20 minutes before the start time; got my packet and got a few photos before the start.  The National Anthem was played and then participants of all races started together.  The 1-mile walk participants and the 5K participants did an out-and-back.  The 10K and 15k participants each had to do 2 laps for their courses.

On the course:  Participants of all events started together.  The first part of the course was on a dirt/rocky trail and after about ¼ mile, we then went down what I call “Erik Hill” that I named in my head for my friend Erik Burciaga, co-owner of e-Dragon Productions; some of his events often have this hill in the courses. This is no baby hill; it is a very steep dirt-and gravel hill that goes just about straight down, which I am not fond of, as I have spinal arthritis and downhills are much tougher on my back than uphills; however, I used a kind of ‘shuffle-and-slide” method that my physical therapist had taught me – it took me a while and few falls, lol, to get it right – that makes the feet barely come up from the ground, so a lot less pounding. I got down in pretty good order, and then the course became some of the concrete paved trails at the park; very wide trails that can accommodate a lot of people. I did my usual 8-minute-run/2 minute walk thing and took some photos during my walk breaks. The course had both flat areas in places and a few hills that were not really all that steep, but a couple were quite long, both up and down. Going to our respective turn-round points, we had woods and Salado Creek on the left sided of us, and we could see off-road trails to our right that had GIANTLY STEEP hills, wow; glad we did not have to do those.   Because all these courses were out-and-back, there was a continuous flow of runners/walers on either side of the trail, participants called out to each other, cheered each other on, and so forth.  After my second walk break, I then got ambitious and went nonstop to the 5K turn. One thing I noticed on the way, for any of you who may have done Erik’s last Summer Series 5K here – which included parts of this course – I saw that ‘infamous’ turn-round branch was lying beside the course. Yeah, I passed it this time and went to the actual turn-round, lol. I continued doing my run/walk thing and getting a few more photos, until I got to Mile 2, at which point I then ignored my watch beeping for my next walk break and ran nonstop back to Erik Hill, since I knew I definitely would be walking some on this part of the course, as this darn hill was just about straight up on the way to the finish. I ran up the lower part of it but walked up the top part of it which was the steepest. I finally crested the top of the darn thing and then ran nonstop the last flat part of the course to the finish line. I ended up with a time of 45:08, averaging 14:34 per mile. Mile 2 on the paved part was my fastest mile, 13:27. Mile 3 was my slowest at 16:08 with that darn hill and walk/crawl up that steepest part of the hill.  I was happy to be done and still standing, lol.

After My Finish:  I stood near the finish line and got a few photos of others finishing.   The finish line volunteer gave me a really nice, huge, finisher medal. After that, I went and sat in my vehicle for a bit, with the a/c on full blast as I drank some water and Gatorade I had put on ice and brought with me. After this 10 minute-or-so cool-down, I went back to the race area, chatted with friends and other participants; treated some doggies still there with some dog biscuits; and got a few more photos.  I also found out I had finished 2^nd in my age group, so got a small ‘placer pin’ for that.    

Epilogue:   This was a pretty nicely organized 5K. The race MC, who also helped with the timing and results, did a good job for us, as did his lady helper. The finisher medals are huge and very nicely designed, and the race shirt is a very nice quality also.  Additionally, there was a food truck on sight, which got a lot of business post-race.  There were actual small indoor restrooms at the park, and also several porta-potties too, so I never saw any long ‘facility-use’ lines, which is nice. The race folks also made sure there was plenty of bottled water post-race, as well as this “blue’ drink stuff to re-hydrate with; not sure what it was, but it was popular. It was a pretty nice little after-event.

Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, e.g.,  Big Foot Running; all the volunteers out there for us, as well as the law enforcement folks there for our safety; our race day packet pickup volunteers; the patience of the other park patrons not doing the events, e.g., cyclists and other runners and walkers, as we participants invaded the park for a while; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you, all.   Next up for me, I had planned to do Beat The Heat 5K in Kyle, Texas, on August 23, but that one got cancelled; so I will now be doing an untimed fun-run/walk in Castroville, the Little Comets 5K that supports the students of St. Louis High School. As it’s an untimed fun run, I will not include this in my yearly race count; however, if you know of a timed 5K on that weekend somewhere in the San Antonio-New Braunfels Corridor on that day, let me know about it, please, and thank you. The last week of August I will be doing nothing, as I will be having my procedure that week to take care of my current bout of skin cancer on the back of my neck (this is my second time for skin cancer), so doc told me no running until Labor Day (Sep 1) when I will be doing the San Antonio Roadrunners Whine Run 5K, so I will just kick back and relax from the 27^th through August 31.  May all of you always stay safe and happy and may you have much success in whatever personal goals you have set for yourself. Give me a shout-out if you see me at an event you are doing.