Photos are here:          https://photos.app.goo.gl/htW22DB4NCdmXziA8

Before the Start: My 64^th race of 2025 was the Project Mend “Let’s Roll” 5K held at Morgan’s Wonderland park in San Antonio.   Project Mend provides refurbished medical equipment – such as wheeled chairs for the disabled, and other items – and then donates them to individuals who may not be able to afford the equipment they need. The event, officially named the ¡Viva Mobility! Let’s Roll 5K, is a Día de los Muertos -themed race that supports Project MEND. The race was put on by Soler’s Sports race management company, owned by my friend Lisa Soler. The company also does shirts, medals, souvenirs and other ‘swag” for events, groups, and individuals. Lisa did the printing for several of my race shirts, putting my personal motivation motto on them.  Timing and results were provided by iaap, a top-notch San Antonio-based race management company.  There were two categories of runners: adaptive – those in the race using their race chairs, and also those with a mobility issue who were walking using a walker, etc.  – and non-adaptive, the rest of we 5K participants. Race start time was 8 a.m., so, since I live pretty close to Morgan’s Wonderland, I was able to sleep in a bit. I arrived around 7:45 a.m., got my packet, and then got some pre-start photos.

On the course: We started inside Morgan’s Wonderland Park and did a loop that took us around the park’s man-made lake. After that loop, we exited the park, making a right turn and went past the Lighthouse at Morgan’s Wonderland Splashpad on our right and on our left was Toyota Field, the home stadium of San Antonio’s professional soccer team.   We followed the road that took us in the direction of the Wurzbach Parkway. We made a right turn and this we passed on our left Heroes Stadium, the stadium of the North East Independent School District of San Antonio. After passing the stadium, we made a left turn and passed by the side of the stadium on our left.  This road took us down to one of the stadium’s parking areas. We made a left turn into this, went past the back of the stadium, and then got back on the main road and returned to the finish the way we had come out, doing a second loop around the man-made lake.  I did my usual 8-minutes-run/2 minutes-walk thing, taking photos during my walk breaks. After passing the Mile 2 marker, I then did the last mile non-stop to the finish. I ended up with a chip time of 41:38, averaging 13:24 per mile and for my last mile of the race had a negative split of  12:56. This was good enough for 2^nd  out of the 3 in my 70-99 males age group.  

After My Finish:    After getting my finisher medal, I then got a few photos of some others coming in, and then got a few more photos of happy finishers, participants, volunteers, and supporters.  There was also an awards ceremony at the outdoor stage area of the park, with the ‘adaptive’ participants getting their awards first, and then we non-adaptive participants getting our awards.  They started with the younger participants first, so being in the 70-99 males age group, I had to wait a bit, lol. Note to Race Directors: um, we are old; start with us first; we need to get home and get our naps after all this, lol. It really was a nicely done awards ceremony, with recipients going up onto the presentation area, getting the medal, and then a photo taken.   After that, I went wandering around Morgan’s Wonderland for a bit, getting a few more photos in the park.  Gordon Hartman started this park for his daughter, Morgan – an ‘adaptive person’ herself, and hence the name Morgan’s Wonderland  – and designed it so that people with disabilities could enjoy park rides, the splash pad, and more. The park ferris wheel, for example, actually accommodates wheel chairs. Mr. Hartman started a trend and many other parks across the country now have similar things to accommodate those considered disabled. I am a great admirer of his; as well as the park he created, he and his family via their foundation, also do so much more other things for our local area.

Epilogue:   The 5K was a fairly smaller event with 57 finishers and 6 in the adaptive category.  This is probably because this was a very busy race day, with several other popular events in our local area, including those up the I-35 Corridor in New Braunfels, etc.  It was okay, though, because it felt like we were a large group of friends who had all gotten together to support this great cause and just enjoy being with each other, which we did. I will certainly continue to do this one and I would definitely recommend it to others. Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants, including the Hartman family for allowing use of the park; Soler’s Sports for putting this event; iaap race management company for the timing and results; all the many volunteers involved who were doing packet pickup; race day registration; course marshal duties, food preparers, etc.; Push Button Photography, the official event photographers; the several law enforcement officers out there for our safety; our MC for the awards ceremony, and our sound-and-music guy there; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all!  Whatever your passion is, may you always be successful at it and stay safe doing it. If you are a runner or walker, maybe I will be at a future event that you do; if so, give me a shout-out, and we’ll get a photo together for my race report that I do. Cheers to all!