Photos are here:       https://photos.app.goo.gl/CjyhZRb7jwfPvw2y5  

Before the Start:  My 58^th race of 2025 was the 911 Heroes Run, held on September 20^th at Mission County Park in San Antonio, Texas.  There was a 5K held for runners, walkers, and those who wanted to ruck  the event.  There was a total of 151 finishers for the 5K. Put on by the Travis Manion Foundation, the run honors the heroes of 9/11, service members, and first responders who have served the nation. The run also “aims to fulfill a promise to never forget the sacrifices of 9/11 heroes and to empower local veterans, active duty personnel, first responders, and their families” per the foundation’s description of this event. The Travis Manion Foundation is headquartered in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Per the foundation’s website “Lieutenant Travis J. Manion was killed by a sniper on April 29, 2007, in Iraq during his second deployment. He was leading a counterattack and exposing himself to enemy fire to draw attention away from his wounded teammates, allowing all members of his patrol to survive. For his heroic actions, he was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star with Valor. His mother, Janet Manion, founded the Travis Manion Foundation to honor his legacy and inspire others to serve through the motto, “If Not Me, Then Who…”.  Race start time was at 7 a.m.  I arrived at the park around 6:15 a.m., got my race packet, and then got a few pre-races photos. Prior to the start, an honor guard presented the colors,  and a young lady beautifully sang The National Anthem. After that, we lined up for the start and got going.  The race was chip-timed, so the race director asked all those running start first, and the walkers would start about 5 minutes after the runners got going. The weather was pretty warm, with a temp around 76 degrees and the humidity was a whopping 91%.

On the course:  We were on a sidewalk adjacent to the Mission County Park pavilions area, with the pavilions on our right. We went over a timing mat and then proceeded to paved trails that are part of the San Antonio Greenways Trails system, As we departed the park area, we made a left turn and then went down a short, fairly steep hill.  We had a very short flat area for just a few minutes and then began climbing up a long hill. This is a very hilly course, so we continued going up-and-down for quite a way. We also passed under a few high bridges, some of which had traffic going over it. If I remember correctly we went under 3 of these bridges. After going under the third bridge, we then did a downhill and that took us to the only flat part of the course, with nice views of the river on our right. We went down this flat part of the course to a bridge that was our turn-round point, and then proceeded back to the finish the way we had come out.  As usual, I did my 8-mi-run/2-min-walk thing and got a few on-course photos during my walk breaks. Going out to the turn-round, I had several other participants around me. After making the turn-round, the participant crowd had thinned quite a bit, especially with my slow pace, lol, so I had much more room on the course heading back to the finish than I had when going to the turn-round and even had the course all myself at certain points. This is a dog-friendly event also; so, since I carry dog treats with me, I stopped along the way at times to hand out treats to the dogs.  Yes, I am the “Good Humor Man” for dogs, lol.  Of course this slowed my time down, but I didn’t mind; at my pace I didn’t think I was going to win anything anyway. I only have two goals when I do a race: finish standing up, and no ambulance waiting specifically for me, lol.  I was feeling pretty good, so the last mile, I pretty much ran non-stop.  I ended up with a chip time of 44:28 and ended up first in my 70-and-over males age group since, lol, I was the only one in that age group. I’ll take it.

After My Finish:  I got some water and did a short-cool down walk and then got a couple photos of others finishing.  After that, I wandered here and there, chatting with friends,  other participants and their friends and family, race volunteers,  etc., and getting a few after-photos.  Finally, it wat time to go, so, as a member of the YMCA, I headed right up the road to the Harvey Najim YMCA, located about a half-mile from the park, where I got a nice hot shower and changed into some dry clothes; very nice; so I didn’t have to drive home all wet-and-sweaty.

Epilogue:  This is a very nicely done event, well put-on by the organizers. There was water available before the event and also on the course, so that was nice. As noted, the course is very hilly, but the paved trails are nicely done, very smooth.  Pre-start and after the finish, there were several vendors/sponsors there that had a variety of things to eat and drink.  The race shirt is really nice quality and the medals for the age-group placers are really nicely done. I would do this event again, and I would recommend it to others.  Mucho thanks to all who made this event happen for us, e.g., all the many volunteers; sponsors; vendors; the folks who did the timing and results for us, and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all!