Photos are here:     https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ri9461WcJJmhgmWR8  

Before the Start:   My 74^th race of 2025 was the Stars and Stripes 5K held on Sunday, June 16^th at the Stars and Stripes Drive-In Movie Theater in New Braunfels, Texas.  This was my 2^nd race of the weekend, after doing a 5K on Saturday in San Antonio. I initially thought this was my 75^th 5K of the year but forgot I had to forego one due to a short illness and forgot to remove it from my personal calendar. Even so, 74 races for the year is still pretty good, lol.  Since I live in San Antonio, I got up pretty early Sunday morning to give me extra time and took a bit of a circuitous route to avoid all that ongoing road construction on the San Antonio parts of the I-35.  There were 3 races for this event: a half marathon; a 10K; and a 5K. The starts were staggered, with the half starting first, then the 10K, and then the 5K. I got there about an hour before the 5K start, so I had plenty of time to get my packet and then get a few pre-start photos. This event was put on my e-Dragon Productions, a family business co-owned by my friend, race director Erik.  The timing and results were done by Athlete Guild, a New Braunfels-based race management company owned by my friends Scott and Amy; yes, I get around, lol.    

On the course:  All the courses started and finished on the grounds of the movie theater. As usual, with my spinal arthritis, I did a run/walk of run-8-minutes/walk-2minutes and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. We started near the lobby building and pavilion/playground area of the theater, going down the entrance/exit  driveway, past the ticket booths and then onto the road in front of the theater, making a right turn. This took us up a short incline and then we made a left turn onto a road that gave us a pretty good uphill climb, passing some houses under construction on our right. At the top of this hill we turned right at a stop sign and had a flat part of the course for maybe 5 minutes and then proceeded onto a very long downhill.  There were already some  of the speedier runners heading for the finish; I think a couple of them may have been 10K folks.  Farther along down the hill, I saw other runners heading toward me and knew these were the speedier 5k folks as I recognized a couple of my pretty speedy friends who I knew had signed up for the 5K.  After getting down the hill, we then had a level part for about 30 yards, lol, then another very short climb, and then turned onto a flat road that took us to our turn-round. After the turn-round we then went back to the finish the way we had come out; so of course we now had to go UP that long hill to get to the finish; and then that first hill we’d been on coming out was now a downhill for us. After getting up the long hill, I got a couple more photos and then after being on the now-downhill part of the course, I went nonstop to the finish, ending with a chip time of 45:08, which was good enough for being third out of 4 in my 70-99 males age group.

After My Finish:  I stood near the finish line and got a few photos of others coming in. After that, I wandered around chatting with other participants, supporters, volunteers, etc. and getting some post-race photos, as well as handing out treats to the doggies that were there, since I carry dog treats when I run; hence my running name, Scotty Dogg, bestowed upon me by some of my fellow runners.    I also enjoyed that free post-race cheeseburger and fries from the movie theater staff, and they had Powerade too, which was nice, since I don’t drink soda anymore. I made a point of personally thanking the theater manager and his workers for what they were doing for us and got a photo of all of them together, so they could save that after I posted it.  After that, it was back to wandering here-and-there, taking some more ‘after’ photos and enjoying some post-race chats with lots of interesting people. After that, finally headed home to a nice hot shower and some rest while watching some football – yay, Houston Texans managed to win in a pretty low-scoring came – with 3 of our 6 cats keeping me company, lol.

Epilogue:   This is a really nicely done event by both e-Dragon Productions and Athlete Guild. The course is a bit challenging in places, but nothing like the huge hills some events have on their courses; these two hills are very manageable.  The race shirt is a really nice tech-tee; the finisher medals are very nicely done; and that’s a nice touch with the age-group award coin with the code to get a registration discount for a future race.  Also, who doesn’t like free food post-race? The theater staff took very good care of us; and we were also allowed to use their indoor restrooms; no porta-potty lines. Shiner Beer was also one of the race sponsors, so there was also Shiner beer post-race for those who enjoy that.  The theater parking area is huge, so plenty of parking for all.    I’ve done this one in the past and will definitely do this one again sometime in the future.   Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for us participants, e.g. the movie theater staff; all the many volunteers for packet pickup, registration, course marshals, bike leads, etc., Athlete Guild for the timing and results; e-Dragon for putting on another excellent event; our professional photographers there; our sound guy; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all!  May you all stay safe and happy and reach whatever goals you may have set for yourself.