Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/vrPmi8xk1HYVbomY8     

Before The Start:   My 13^th race of 2026 was the St. Paddy’s Day 5K held on March 14 at the Dance Slab at Landa Park in New Braunfels.  There was also a Kid’s Leprechaun Run. Since I’m directionally challenged, lol, I left San Antonio pretty early and took some back roads to avoid ongoing construction in San Antonio on the I-35 and got onto I-35 via the Schertz access road. It did not take me long at all to get to the park.  One nice thing for directionally challenged people like me is that Ne Braunfels has these “directional posts” that have signage that has on them the names of things like parks, museums, etc., so basically all I had to do is follow these things until I got to the park.  Very convenient. I arrived around 7:15 a.m., got my packet, and also had a very nice chat with a very nice guy who was a team member of the medical folks that were there for us. After that, I wandered around, chatting with volunteers, participants, etc., and as this is a dog-friendly event, I handed out some dog treats. During all this, of course I did get some pre-start photos.  Several of my running friends also attended this event, so got to chat with a few people I had not seen in a while.

On The Course:  If I remember correctly the Kids Run went first, and then we started right on time.  The weather was pretty nice for this one:  a bit overcast, with lots of cloud cover, just about no wind, and a temperature in the 60s; fairly humid, but not too bad.   I did my usual thing of run 8 minutes/walk 2 minutes and took photos during my walk breaks.  We started in the park in the area where the dance slab is and then made a left turn as we exited the park. The majority of the 5K was done on paved roads that took us through a neighborhood area near the park. After we exited the park, we followed a paved park road that took us past the park’s train station and then made a left turn that took us up a pretty good-sized hill. After we crested this hill, the majority of the park was fairly flat for a while.   The streets along the course were very wide, so we were able to spread out quite a bit, each running or walking to his/her own fashion; plenty of room for everyone.  At one point I saw the lead women runner coming back, and the lead male runner was about 50 yards or so behind her. Those two were really moving.

After they got by us, we made a right turn onto another wide street.  Some of the residents in these homes were flying the colors, so as is my custom when I run and see a flag flying, I did quick stops to salute the flag in memory of friends lost during and friends I served with during my Air Force career.  After getting through this part of the course, we made another turn and ahead of us I could see a train ahead.  Thankfully, the course had us turn left, and we ran parallel with the moving train on our right.  One lady I ran beside for a few minutes said to me, wow, a train along the way. I jokingly told her “Yes, and we’ve had cars too, so now we just need a plane to fly over and then we’d have Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.”  After the train, we then turned left into another part of this neighborhood area and, wow, another pretty good-sized hill to climb.  Once we crested the hill, the rest of the course was pretty much flat, until we got back onto the road that took us to the finish; so of course we then had to do a downhill on the road we had started on and then up a hill that had been a downhill on the way out. After cresting that, the route was flat all the way back to the finish.  I finished 6^th out of the 10 participants in my males 70-79 age group with a chip time of 43:54, averaging  14:08 per mile. My fastest mile was the last one as I pretty much ran the last mile non-stop. I was pretty happy with that, as I’d made my two primary goals: finish standing up and no ambulance waiting specifically for me, lol.

After My finish:   Cool-down walk and then enjoyed some post-race Gatorade and a few snacks as I wandered here-and-there getting some post-race photos and handing out more treats to the doggies. Mark Purnell, our MC for this one, started the awards ceremony with the overall winners and then ladies announcing the ladies who placed, starting with the youngest first.  Mark, Mark, Mark…always start with the senior folks first….we have to get home to get our naps after a race, lol.   Since I already knew I had not placed, I continued to wander around taking some more photos and cheering on those who had placed, especially my friends, like my speedy friend Sammy who was first in his age group.

Epilogue:   This is a very good event, done very nicely by the Athlete Guild team.  The route is mostly flat, with just a couple of hills along the way, but at least they were not giant hills like those in San Antonio at such places as The Rim, Eisenhower Park, or Helotes. There were all kinds of post-race goodies, including beer, water, some kind of spicy food dish which I could not have (darn cancer side-effects I’m still dealing with), some really tasty cookies, and lots more. The age group medals were this button/pin things and all finishers got a really nice finisher medal.  The race shirt is really nice quality with the event name on the front, beside a running leprechaun. This is also a very nice park and area to run in. I haven’t been at Land for a few years, so had forgotten how nice this park is, with some nice water views, indoor restrooms, and really nice adjacent neighborhood areas. I would certainly recommend this even to others and will surely do it again.

 Whatever your passion is, may you always be successful and stay healthy and injury-free to keep on doing it. If you’re a fellow runner, maybe I’ll see you at a future event; love chatting with fellow runners and we might even get a photo together.  Stay happy, stay safe.