Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Wfv2Ui375d4A31nH6

Before the Start:  My 55^th race of 2025 was the Gruene 5K held in the historic district of Gruene, Texas on September 13^th.  There was also a 10K and a Kid’s Run.   Gruene is in the New Braunfels, Texas area. Put on by a top-notch race management company, Athlete Guild, the start and finish of these events were right across the street from Gruene Hall. Built in 1878, Gruene Hall is the oldest and most famous continually operating dance hall. Music artists who have performed there include Willy Nelson, George Strait, Lyle Lovett, and many more. This event is a very popular one, so I knew the race area would get crowded pretty quickly, so I got up around 4 a.m., got myself ready, had my breakfast and then headed for the venue, arriving at 5:30 a.m., and got really nice parking. Start time for the 10K was 7:30 a.m., and 8 a.m for the 5K, so I had plenty of time.  I got my race packet, got a few photos of some of the race day volunteers – thanks to all of them for being there so early for us – and then enjoyed a short nap in my vehicle. After that, I wandered around chatting with supporters, vendors, other participants, and so forth, and got a few more pre-start photos. The Kid’s Run was held first, followed by the 10K folks heading out on their course; and then we 5K participants started after that. All the events started right on time.

On the course –   The start/finish timing chute was directly across from Gruene Hall. We 5K participants made a left turn after crossing the timing mat and headed up the paved street. The entire 5K was done on paved streets that including passing by some businesses and private homes on the main street and then looping through a really nice residential area with some very nice apartments and houses. The 5K course was very flat – the course of the 10K folks took them down a hill that went past Rockin’ R river rides, and I think into a neighborhood near that, which also has some hills if I remember correctly. After they came back up that hill, they pretty much did the 5K course too, so they had quite the workout.  I did my usual run/walk thing – 8 minutes running/2 minutes walking – and took on-course photos during my walk break.  I also had to slow down a tad, as the draw-string on my darn running shorts broke, thus once in a while I had to grab the waistband on them and occasionally pull them back up a bit, which made for some interesting running at times, lol, especially since I did not want to freak out participants behind me by having them see “the moon” come out so early. I did manage not to let that happen and, surprisingly, ended up with a finish time of 42:34, which is about my normal race time for a 5K, so I did better than I thought I would in spite of the wardrobe malfunction, and making a few stops to hand out dog treats to the dogs I encountered during the event, lol. I was 2^nd in my 70 -74 males age group, mainly because there were only 2 in my age group, lol. My speedy runner friend Robert was first, literally finishing almost twice as fast as me in 23 minutes and change.     

After My Finish:  I stood a little up from the finish line and got some photos of others finishing. After that, I then got some water continued to wander, chatting with friends and other finishers, and some after-photos of happy finishers, friends, volunteers, etc., and also handed out more dog treats.  This is a dog-friendly event. All-in-all, I was quite happy with my results, and how everything worked out.    

Epilogue:   I can’t remember how many years this race has been put on, but it is always a very popular event. The 10K had 104 finishers and the 5K had 250 finishers, so a pretty nice turnout.  I am happy I got to do this one, as it is one of my favorite events of the year. I wasn’t sure if I would make it or not since, in late August I was found to have skin cancer on the back of my neck so had a surgical procedure for that. However, the doctor did clear me, telling me I could run a week after the procedure, so I actually got to participate in 2 other 5Ks before this one; doing okay at those two helped me validate that I should be okay for this one also; and, nicely, two days before this 5K, I got the news from pathology that it had not spread out, so they had gotten it all, so I was coming into this event as one happy runner, lol, let me tell you. Would I recommend this event? Absolutely! A very nice course; nice quality  race shirt; a very nice, unique finisher medal; and post-race goodies that included these small sandwich things – not quite sure what they were – Shiner Bock beer, lots of water, of course, and some fresh fruits too. This one is definitely a keeper on the race calendar. It was also good seeing my friend Scott Wood, co-owner of Athlete Guild, and all the Athlete Guild crew members; I have a long history with them, and Amy, who is also a co-owner, is a fellow cancer survivor and one of my personal inspirations to keep on going and stay strong. MUCHO thanks to ALL the people who made this one happen for we participants, e.g. Athlete Guild; the many volunteers out there for us; law enforcement folks on the open roads for our safety; the EMT that was there; all the many race sponsors of course – and thanks to drivers, residents, business owners in the area, etc., for their patience in letting us invade their space for quite a few hours. Whatever your passion is, may you always be successful.  Maybe I will see you at a future event sometime; if so, give me a shout-out; always happy to see fellow participants at the races.