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

Before The Start:  My 5^th race of 2026 was the Martin Luther King 5K held at Martin Luther King on Sunday, January 18^th.  This event “raises funds for The Young Men’s Leadership Academy, the first all-boys public school in San Antonio. “ 100 percent of the raised funds support student programming.  The 5K start time was 9 a.m., with a packet pickup on Saturday at the school.  I picked my packet up on Saturday and then, on Sunday, arrived at the park just after 8 a.m., with a little less than an hour before start time.  A cold front – cold for we non-winter San Antonio citizens, lol – had moved into our area, with the temp early on Sunday morning at 32 degrees; thankfully, there was very little wind.  The people who had to be at the race site very early got the brunt of most of the cold morning. By the time I arrived at the race site, we had plenty of sunshine, very little wind, and the temp had climbed to about 38 degrees; still cold, but not freezing, at least; even so, I layered up with a warm base-layer shirt underneath my race shirt, and even wore a nice hat, which is rare for me since I really literally hate wearing hats.  The hat I work was a nice compromise for me, as it was one I got as part of a goody bag from an e-Dragon Productions race I had previously done; very light-weight and nicely designed to keep the cold out. It worked great. Pre-start, I chatted with friends, other participants, supporters, volunteers, etc., and got a few pre-start photos.  There was a band there – I’m assuming from the school – who played for us and also played very well The National Anthem before we got started.  There were several vendors/sponsors there too, offering various products, and some of the students were selling cups of hot chocolate and coffee, to help raise further funds. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I handed out some treats to the dogs I met.

On The Course:  We started right on time, with local race management company iaap doing the timing and results and I think they also laid out the course for us, which was an out-and-back on the paved trails at the park, which are part of San Antonio’s Greenway Trails System, which connects several of the  local parks together, so if you are so inclined, you can get in a really long run, walk, or bike ride via this system of trails. For this event, there were virtually no hills at all, just a few minor up-and-down inclines, with the longest one being down to the 5K turn-round and then back up it as we headed back to the start/finish area; but even this was pretty mild overall. I did my usual run/walk thing – can’t run non-stop anymore for a whole race due to some spinal arthritis – and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. I felt pretty good the whole way and after the turn-round, I pretty much went non-stop back to the finish, with just a couple of quick stops to take a couple more on-course photos. I ended up with a gun-time finish of 42:17 and chip time of 41:43, which was good enough for first place in my males 70-79 age group, as there were only 2 in my age group, lol. There was a total of 375 finishers, with the largest group being females, ages 30-39.  When I neared the turn-round, I saw my friend, Mary already heading for the finish.  She is in her 80s and am amazing runner, who does just about as many races as I do. Sometimes after I make the turn-round, I catch up to her, but not today, lol.  She finished a good 2 – 3 minutes ahead of me.

After My Finish:  I stood a bit back from the timing mat and got a few photos of others finishing, including a few friends I personally knew. After that I wandered around chatting with other participants, supporters, vendors, etc., and got a few after-photos.  Post-race goodies included the same pre-start goodies, as well as some grilled Kiolbassa sausages too, nice; my personal favorite; There was an age-group awards presentation for the top 3 in each age category and they first started with the most senior participants. I appreciated that since, you know, early morning start event, so we old guys would like to go home and get in our nap after all this activity, lol. The age group awards were these nicely wood-carved round tokens, with  “MLK 5K 2026.. I HAVE A DREAM” carved on one side and then on the other side, your place (mine read 1^st PLACE MALE) and the name of the academy; definitely unique from other races I’ve done. I do so many races over a year – I did 83 total last year – that I usually toss my medals into a big bag and then when I get enough I donate them to the disabled kids at Morgan’s Wonderland or to kids with cancer, as I was a disabled kid myself for a while and I’m a 4-time cancer survivor.  I also don’t usually get a race shirt since I’m running out of drawer space, lol, with so many races done;  when I register I just ask the race organizers to give it to some kid; it’s all good.

Epilogue: Mucho thanks to all who made this one possible for we participants:  all the many volunteers out there for us; the sponsors, vendors, etc., who helped pay for it all; the medical people there for us if needed; the band, who did a great job for us; iaap that did the course setup, timing, and results; law enforcement officers there – I saw two, and chatted with  them a bit after I parked – my Dad was involved with many officers as I grew up, as he worked as a juvenile probation officer – I could not get away with anything, lol – and also thanks to Dr. Derek Brown, a man I consider my friend and the head of the school; great guy who has done so much for this school over the years, and is involved with the SAISD community too, of which the school is a part, if I remember correctly. Also, thanks to all the people I talked with at the event, and hope I didn’t bore you too much with all my stories, lol; and thanks  to anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  May all of you stay safe and happy and be successful at reaching any personal goals you have set for yourselves.  Maybe I’ll see you at an event sometime in the future.