Photos are here:       https://photos.app.goo.gl/8indHuJ1WaaXHsNe6

Before the Start:    My 82^nd race of 2025 was “A Merry Christmas 5K” put on by thebestraces.com.  Held on December 27^th at Ladybird Johnson (LBJ) Park, this was a fairly laid-back event, with Best Races providing race shirt and race packet shipped directly to your home. Best races also gives you options for the ‘wave’ you want to participate in, with times varying from 7:30 a.m.., the first wave, to 9 a.m., the last wave offered, and you just show up for your wave and participate.  These are self-timed events. You provide your finish time to the Best Races registration folks at the race, and they include your time in the posted results.  The weather for this one was very cloudy, overcast skies, a temp of 64 degrees and pretty humid at 81% humidity. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I handed out some dog treats too.

On the course:   I chose a wave time of 8 a.m. After arriving at the park, I got my race bib from two Best Races race-day registration/packet pickup ladies who knew me from doing some previous Best Races events.  The 7:30 wave participants were already doing their wave, so there was already a lot of coming-and-going as the course was 2 laps. I got a photo of the volunteer ladies and a couple more before my start, and then exactly at 8 a.m. all we participants of that wave got started. We went down steep, but fairly short incline that took us to the main paved Greenway Trails of the park. At the Greenway Trail, we made a left turn, which took us in the direction of the Los Patios Shoppes and a Loop 410 frontage road, but we did not go that far out. Our turn-round point was just after crossing a bridge going across Salado Creek. After making the turn-round, we went back to the start/finish, did a turn-round again and then did the 2^nd lap of the course.  I did my usual thing of running 8 minutes/walking 2 minutes and getting some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  I also took a few really short photo stops – maybe about a minute or so – to get a few extra photos, aside from those taken during my walk breaks.  I saw my talented running friend, Ralph, on the course too, and got a photo of him.  Overall, I was feeling pretty good and pretty much ended up the 2^nd lap almost completely non-stop, with just a couple of photos taken.  I even ran back a couple of times to get a couple of photos, which made the course a tad longer for me, lol, but it was all good. I ended up with 3.19 miles done in a time of 48:01, averaging 15:03 per mile and my last mile was my fastest, and a negative split.

After My Finish:  I got my finisher medal and then stood near the finish line getting some photos of others finishing up.     Sometimes I’d get ready to take a photo, and the participant would turn round and head back on the course, which made me know he/she still had the second lap to do; so I only got finisher photos of those who kept coming right at me, lol, since those folks were finishing up their second lap. After that, I wandered around the race area, chatting with other participants; handed out some more dog treats; and got a few photos of some of the happy finisher and their supporters.  There was water post-race and there was also available a variety of small, individual snack packages.

Epilogue:   I always keep telling myself at times that I am just going to sign up for races that actually have timers doing the timing for us and then posting the results the same day; somehow it never works out that way, lol; I usually end up doing at least one of these Best Races events at least once a month. They are pretty low-key, but the fact of the matter is they are quite fun to do, and I always do enjoy myself on their courses.  They have quite a variety of participants – including some really talented/speedy runners too; and love it that this is a dog-friendly event.  If you can’t find a race you want to do on a specific weekend, check out their race calendar, you just might find a fun race you can do, with no pressure since there are no age group awards, so you’re only testing yourself; and, as noted, they can be quite fun; and they actually do get quite a nice turn-out for these events.

Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for us participants:  All the people who organized this one for us; all the many volunteers out there for us participants; the Park Police Officer on-site for our safety;  the official photographer that was there; and, as the park was still open to the public, the patience of all the park patrons at the park who were not involved in the event, as we flooded the trails for a while; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all!

Whatever your personal exercise passion is, may you always be successful and may you always stay healthy enough to keep on doing it.   Maybe you will see me at a future event sometime; if so, give me a shout-out and we can chat and maybe even get a photo tother, if you are so inclined.  I have one more event to do this year, a 5K at Ladybird Johnson Park on December 27^th. Happy and safe holidays to you all.