Photos are here:      https://photos.app.goo.gl/QbvRpUATnppKKxju9

Before The Start   The Stock Show and Rodeo 5K, held on February 7^th, was my 5^th race of 2026.  It should have been my 9^th race of the year, but in January I missed one due to illness;  because of crazy weather, one was postponed to be scheduled at a later date; one went virtual; and one I slept right through my darn alarm going off.  Hope to make it up a bit in February;  I have 6 more races scheduled for February. This event supports the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarship Fund. This is a very popular event that had 700 finishers this year. The start and finish was at Milam Park in downtown San Antonio, which is fairly close to the UTSA Downtown Campus.  The start time was 9 a.m.  I arrived at race site with about an hour to go.  I had already gotten my packet at the packet pickup day before race day so I wandered here-and-there, chatting with friends, other participants, volunteers, etc., and getting some pre-start photos before the 9 a.m. race start time.

On The Course:   We started by the grounds of Milam Park, and the course gives you a nice tour of the downtown San Antonio area, passing near the UTSA Texas Institute of Cultures; going along part of the San Antonio Riverwalk, where we came to the Mile 2 marker, and went through part of the King William District that has some historic homes and mansions. We went down a short part of Main Avenue, then turned onto Houston Street that took us back to the finish. I did my usual run/walk thing and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  I caught up and passed my speedy friend, Ralph, which never happens at the same races we do – he is usually much faster than I am – so I knew he must be having some kind of issue; asked him if he was okay and he told me he was fighting a cold. The last mile, he began walking and told me to go for it. I pretty much ran the last mile non-stop, crossing the finish line with a chip time of 43:44 and a mileage of 3.3, as I tend to walk back a bit at times when I’m taking my on-course photos, so that puts a tad extra on my mileage. I averaged 13:11 mile, and my last mile was done in 13:20. My fastest was Mile 1 in 12:58.  I need to reverse my first and last mile numbers, lol.  

After My Finish:  I stood a bit back from the timing mat and got a few photos of others finishing, including Ralph who finished not that far behind me. After that I wandered around chatting with other participants, supporters, vendors, etc., and got a few after-photos.  Per my Garmin, I ended up with a chip time of 43:44, and this would have made me 2^nd in my age group, but I am not listed in the 70-79 males results posted by iaap, and I figured out why; this is not on iaap, it is on me. I normally put my race bib on a bookcase right near my garage door, and pin it on right before I head to the race site. I did the same thing on this race day…but the bib I had up there was the one for my race that went virtual because of the weather. I didn’t even notice that, so that is why I am not in the results, because that bib, of course, was not registered with iaap or the race, duhhh.  Oh well, it is what it is, and I have no heartburn about it. I actually think it’s kind of funny…me and my idiocy at times, lol. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this event and had a great outing, so no regrets.      

Epilogue: This is one of the most fun and entertaining events I do each year and the course is great; wide street so accommodate all participants;  I even had my name on a poster board that thanked all the ‘loyal’ people for doing this one for so many years – in my case 7 years. I thought that was a nice touch done by the organizers.  The age group medals are really nice, the race shirt is a very nice quality – I got a small and asked the organizers to donate it to a kid; I do so many races, I’m running out of race shirt drawer space, lol, so I get medium or small and then donate them to kids.  There was an array of various snacks and goodies post-race, and I believe there was food truck nearby too.  Mucho thanks to all who made this one possible for us 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 police officers on course for our safety; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all.  The only bad time I had was after the race; I missed a turn on my way home and ended up roads that were under construction that had several detours, so I was driving downtown for quite a while, until I finally figured out how to get to 281 to get back home. Yes, lol, I am directionally challenged.

Anyway…whatever your passion is, may you always stay healthy enough to do it, and may you always meet your personal goals. If you are a runner/race, maybe I’ll see you at a future event.  As for me, I am going to be lazy tonight as I have another 5K to do this weekend – the Scallywompus 5K in San Marcos on Sunday, February 8.  Umm, I will make sure wear the correct race bib this time, lol.