Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5b14Lj1tMssZSCYF9

Before the Start:   My 67^th race of 2025 was the Spooky Sprint 5K held at McAllister Park, San Antonio on October 19^th.  There was also a Kid’s Run; a 10K; and a half marathon. Race start time of 8 a.m.. This event was put on by Bodies Race Company. Headquartered in Greenwood, Missouri, this private sports company that organizes and manages racing events at several locations across the country for family wellness and fitness. Per their website, the company is “dedicated to getting communities active and healthy by offering high-quality, affordable events.”   I arrived around 7:15 a.m., got my race packet and then got a few pre-start photos. This event had a really nice turn-out; for the 5K alone, there were 250 finishers.   I could not verify the totals for the other races because every time I went to the Bodies  Race Company website, their results kept taking me to RunSignUp, which had a crappy results listing for this event. It did not even list me as a participant and I know darn well I did this one, good grief. I don’t get why Bodies just does not put the darn results right on their own website, it would make them so much easier to find.  Anyway, thankfully, we had a ‘cool front” move into San Antonio over the weekend, so the temp at the 8 a.m. start time was only around 71 degrees – yes, lol, that is a cool front for San Antonio at the time of year, and the humidity was about 82%.

On the course:  The start and finish was at the trailhead of the parking lot where the dog parks are located. This is the trailhead that you first come to, if you enter the park via the Wurzbach Parkway, and it is right across from the baseball fields on the right. We started a bit after 8 a.m., but that was okay. The National Anthem was played and then all participants for each of the events all started together. The course was done on the park’s paved trails of the San Antonio Greenway System. We had level ground for about ¼ of a mile or so and then started downhill. When we reached some level ground we then went under the Wurzbach Parkway overpass, and made a left turn. This took us up a short incline, and then we had a bit of flat for a while before the hills started. These were no baby hills, either. Not quite as steep as the ones in Helotes or at Eisenhower Park, but they were a climb.  We went up the first hill, curved around a bit, and then went up part 2 of this hill.  Other participants, way faster than me, lol., were already heading for the finish. They were on my left; I was on the right side of the trail, heading for the turn-round. After we crested the hill, then we had a winding downhill trail that took us to the 5K turn-round and headed back for the finish. Of course, now we had to climb back up that winding hill we’d come down and it was a pretty good climb too. I finally crested it, and had flat for a bit, and then it was down the hill we’d first climbed on the way to the turn-round.  Finally got back on level ground for a very short bit; went back under the overpass; had about ¼ mile of flat, and then we started climbing again to get to the finish. I did stop a couple of times to get a few more photos, but for the most part, I ignored my watch beeping for me walk break, and just keep going until I finally saw the finish line and gave myself a last push, crossing over the finish line with a chip time of 42:58, averaging 14-minute miles, and I had a negative split from Mile 2 to the finish, nice.

After My Finish:  I got my finisher medal, did a short cool-down walk, and then got some photos of a few others coming in. After that, I just relaxed for a bit, rehydrating, and then wandered here-and-there, chatting with other participants and their supporters and, as this is a dog-friendly event, handed out treats to the doggies, with the permission of their humans, and, of course, took several after-photos. There was no awards ceremony per se; you just checked your results and if you placed then you went to a table where a very nice young lady gave you your age group award; I ended up 3^rd in the 5K for my 65-99 males age group.  I did not have my phone with me, so Bigfoot Running folks were kind enough to look up my finish time for me. I left the race area later than most 5K finishers, as I had a friend who was doing the 10K, so waited for her to come in, to get a couple of photos of her and my friend with her, Lucy Dog, finishing, and then a couple of after photos. I also took a few more photos of other participants still there. Finally, time for me to go home and get cleaned up.  

Epilogue:   Bodies Race Company did a really nice job with this event, pretty well organized from what I saw, with a very quick race-day packet pickup; and, overall Bigfoot Running did a nice job with laying out the course – the distance was right on from what my Garmin had – and they were also very helpful in looking up finish times for people like me who don’t take their phones with them on runs.  The race shirts are quite unique, as are the finisher medals, which are very cool.  Once you crossed the finish line, you went to a  table near the finish line and there was a variety of finisher medals that each had some kind of ‘monster’ on it, e.g. witch, werewolf, and so forth. Since I’m a dog, lol, I chose the werewolf one. At the packet pickup pavilion, there was also a variety of goodies, such as bananas, various types of crackers and other goodies and bottled water.   All-in-all, the event was managed pretty well. Since I don’t carry my phone when I run, the only problem I had was not being able to find results after I got home. Since Bigfoot Running did the timing, I thought they would be there but that was not the case. . I went to RunSignUp, apparently a partner company of Bodies Race Company and got a popup saying my name Scotty Dogg was not in the results…it would be nice if Best Race Company just put them on their site, making it easer to find. However, I do owe them an apology because they were there and I found them after the Race Director emailed me and told me how to get to them..so I am a technology idiot, lol. Oh well, it is what it is. Anyway, overall, a really nicely done event. I’d do his one again and would recommend it to others. Mucho thanks for all the people who made this one happen for we participants, e.g., any sponsors; the Park Police Officers out there for our safety; all the many race volunteers; the patience of the non-race users of the park – other runners, walkers,  cyclists, etc. as we horde of runners ‘invaded’ the park trail for a while; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Whatever your passion is, may you always be safe and successful at it.