Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/GygUssosBgovk2A39

Before the Start: My 68^th race of 2025 was the Carry Forward 5K on October 25^th.  Held at Morgan’s Sports, a division of Morgan’s Wonderland park, this event raised funds for the Wounded Warrior Project. The initial start time was to be 8 a.m., however storms rolled into the San Antonio area late Saturday night, with quite a bit of rain, lightning, and thunder. My wife was flying home from an event she had been attending most of the week, with an arrival time around midnight, so I was sitting up watching old-time movies, waiting for her to call me when she landed to come pick her up. Apparently the flight was delayed, so I ended up getting her a little after 1 a.m. Got to bed around 2 a.m., then got up at 6 a.m., got some breakfast and then headed out to get my packet, which was supposed to start at 6:30 a.m.  As I left my garage, I was welcomed by Mother Nature with a lot of rain and quite a lightning show peeling across the skies, so was not sure if this event would be cancelled or postponed. I only live a very short way from Morgan’s Wonderland, so got there pretty quickly, and the parking lot was already pretty full. Found some parking, then went to get my packet; one of the packet pickup volunteers told me the race day pickup had been delayed for a while, so I went back to my car and sat there for a bit watching Mother Nature continue to put on her Wild Weather Show; lots of thunder and lightning flashes. I returned to packet pickup and got my packet. We were supposed to start at 8 a.m., but one of the volunteers told me we were now in a ‘wait’ pattern until 8:30 a.m., when there would be a decision made to continue with the event or post-pone it to a later date. Well, at least the rain had let up, although we were still getting some occasional lightning flashes. I wandered around the ‘gathering’ area, chatting with volunteers, other participants, supporters, etc., and getting a few pre-start photos.  We finally got the word that the event would go on, starting around, or just a bit after, 8:30 a.m. The National Anthem was played, and then we all got going.  The weather actually had improved quite a bit; lightning was done and, although it was a bit humid, it did not feel too bad out there at all. I was kind of way in the back of a lot of participants, both walkers and runners, who all started together, so it took me about 5 to 10 minutes just to cross the start line. We shuffled forward a bit, stopped, shuffled some more, slowly getting there. I kept thinking, this must be how cattle feel, lol, when being herded in the stock yards. 

On the course:  I finally crossed the start line, started my Garmin and then began carefully running, weaving in and out and around slower people ahead of me, both walkers and runners.  We exited the Morgan’s Sports area, made a left turn and then headed toward Morgan’s Wonderland Park, passing by The Lighthouse at the park’s splash-pad just before the entrance to Morgan’s Wonderland. Upon entering the park, we then did a loop around the man-made lake on the park’s paved concrete trail that goes around the lake, giving us nice views of it. With this many people doing the event – not sure how many but, dang, this was a PACKED event – it took me a while to get around the lake, negotiating ‘passage-way’ in and out and around other participants in front of me. I also did my usual thing of run-8-minutes-walk-2-minutes and took a few photos during my walk break. After going around the lake, we exited the park, making a left turn, following some traffic cones on the course. We rounded one at the end of this part of the course and then headed back in the direction of Morgan’s Sports, passing the splashpad lighthouse on our right now. We were pretty much going back the same way we had come out from the start.  I’ve done this 5K course before at other 5Ks held here, so knew what to expect; however, I got the unexpected. When we got back to the road we had started on, we turned onto that and then went directly to the finish line…what the heck? This sure won’t be a 5K. I saw my speedy friend Johnny, who had already finished, and asked him if they’d changed the route. He said yes, they sure had, they changed the event from 5K to a 1K, so once we crossed the finish line, we were done.  My garmin had stopped for a few seconds when I started, so I don’t think I have what the exact distance we did was, but my Garmin showed a finish time of 15:23, with a distance of 1.08 mile. I believe 1k IS 0.62 miles, if I remember correctly, so my mileage might have increased a tad from that by me doing a bit of back-and-forth when I was taking photos during my one walk break.  I was kind of disappointed that they changed the route and I did not get to do the full 5K, but I get it.  Morgan’s Wonderland Saturday hours of operation are 10:30 a.m. to 5 pm so, between the weather and that, they may have lessened the distance to help get us of the park area, maybe; and maybe there were some other issues too.

After My Finish: I got my finisher medal and then wandered around, chatting with other participants, volunteers, race sponsors, and so forth, and getting a few after-photos. There were a few dogs there too – mostly service dogs – so I did hand out some doggie treats, with the permission of their humans. I enjoyed chatting with several people, including one very nice young lady who worked for Morgan’s, and she told me the company was in the process of now building a YMCA, which should open next year sometime. I assume it will be a fitness center adapted to accommodate disabled, like the park and the other Morgan facilities, so that’s nice. I’d like to check it out though. When I told her I am already a member of the YMCA, she said, well then, you are able to use our facility too,  after it’s built; nice!

Epilogue:  As noted, although disappointed that we didn’t do the 5K distance – and I get that, between the weather situation, the time allowed for the event, and so forth,  this still was a very enjoyable event for a great cause, and they sure got a nice turn-out, raising quite a bit of funds for The Wounded Warrior Project. All finishers got a very nice finisher medal, and the race shirt is really nice quality. The race bib is also well designed and has a space underneath the bib number with the phrase “I CARRY FOR: and then a line where participants can put the name of a veteran being honored by him/her.   There was also a very large contingent of race sponsors with booths, etc., that had all kinds of various items, food and drink items, various clothing items, tote bags, and so forth; some for sale, some were free give-aways.  This is also a very friendly event with lots of friendly people and lots of my fellow veterans participating; lots of ‘war stories’ told at this event, lol, by several people, including me; I did 24 years in the Air Force, 18 of those years at overseas locations, and had some quite unique experiences.    I also enjoyed interacting with my fellow veterans and hearing what their military experiences were – including some of the spouses; they also served in their own way. I thank them all for serving our country.  Mucho thanks to all who helped make this event happen for we participants, e.g., all the many volunteers; the sponsors/vendors who helped pay for it all; the law enforcement folks out there for our safety; the person that played The National Anthem for us in a very unique way; our MC who kept us apprised of the race status as the morning went on; the EMTs on sight for us; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all so much! Whatever your personal goal may be, may you always stay safe while striving for it, and I hope you thoroughly enjoy what you are doing.  Maybe I will see you at a future event sometime, or maybe you might see me, lol; if so, give me a shout-out; I always enjoy meeting and chatting with my fellow participants.