Photos are here:        https://photos.app.goo.gl/WogK5SEV5wcSfxCK6

Before The Start:  My 17^th race of 2026 was the Margarita 5K, put on by Andiamo on Sunday, March 29^th at Mission County Park.  I almost did not make this one as I mis-read the start time as 9 a.m. – it was actually at 7:30 a.m. – and then got caught in some traffic on the way to the race site after an accident happened on my way to the race site, causing another delay. I finally got there about 8:15 a.m., got my race packet and then saw finishers crossing the finish line, including my friend Jorgina, who told me the start time had been 7:30 a.m.   Well, shoot. Umm, I’ve never been a DNF (Did Not Finish) for any race I’ve ever done and I was not about to start now. I talked to my timing friends of Iaap, who were doing the timing and results, and told them I was just going to do it on my own, as I’ve done this course several times for several races over the years and knew the route.  They told me to go ahead and kindly kept the timing mat open for me. So off I went.

On The Course:    As usual, I did my 8-minute run/2-min walk thing and did not expect to see other signed-up participants on the course; however, there were actually some walking participants on the course heading toward the finish, so I got a few photos of them. After that, I was pretty much the solo race participant on the course, but not all alone. This actually ended up being a pretty entertaining 5K for me as I encountered a few other runners I knew doing their own thing; and also some walkers walking their dogs, so got to hand out some treats too; on couple had 2 beautiful dogs, one of which was blind, but when I got the treat out for that one, wow, that sniffer of his…dog knew right where that treat was and came right to my hand to get it. Both dogs gave me a ‘sniff-over’ too, lol, and I told their human ‘parents’ they’ll probably know me for life now, lol.  As anyone who has done this course knows, this is a fairly challenging course with all the hills – both up and down – along the way, but wow, you sure get some nice views of the river.  Finally, after climbing a pretty long hill, I went under a bridge and could see the bridge ahead where people could cross the river and knew that was the turn-round, so downhill I now went to get to that bridge – and encountered another couple with a dog, so stopped to give them a treat.  If I remember correctly, the turn-round is usually on the side of the river I was running on, but I actually went onto the bridge to get a photo, and then started heading for the finish. For the last few weeks, I’ve been training to run the last half of a 5K to the finish non-stop, so that is what I on this course. That last bridge hill – down on the way out, up on the way back – is quite a challenging hill, but I managed to get all the way up it with no issues; thankfully, I do hill training once a week and it paid off for this course. I was still feeling pretty good and going well, and my last mile to the finish was a negative split, nice. My garmin showed my splits as Mile 1: 14:05; Mile 2: 14:03 and Mile 3 in 12:29, zowie!

After My finish:  After I crossed the timing mat, the iaap guys looked up my time and told me based on my chip time, I was first in my age group. Well, I knew the awards ceremony had already been done, so I didn’t want to shove some guy out of getting his medal since he already had received it, and the finisher medal was good enough for me; so I just told me to put me into the results and let the guy keep the medal since he was actually on time for the start, lol. So we went over to see the Race Director and told him what was going on and he said that was fine.  After that, I wandered around chatting with people still there and getting a few after-photos of some of the participants still there; the guy serving up the margaritas; and a few more. Then it was time to go, so I headed over to one of the gyms at JBSA Fort Sam Houston – a pretty short drive from the race site – and got a nice hot shower and change of clothes, very convenient.

Epilogue:  Sorry I missed all the pre-race activity and doing the 5K with all the other participants, but this actually turned out to be pretty enjoyable for me. I felt good the whole way, enjoyed some really nice weather and some great scenery, finished pretty strong and got a nice medal.  The race shirt is very nice quality; and even though most participants were long gone by the time I got done I still managed to enjoy myself with the people still there, e.g., s few other participants, volunteers,  iaap crew, and so forth.  I will definitely do this one again – on time for the next one, lol – and I would recommend it to others.   

Mucho thanks to all the people who made this one happen for all participants, e.g., all the many volunteers for laying out the course; race-day packet pickup; serving up various drinks, snacks, etc.; the two police officers out there for our safety; our MC – apologies, I don’t remember her name – and some of the participants that were still there after I finished with whom I enjoyed chatting and getting a few after-photos.  I would definitely recommend this one to others and I would do it again – at the correct start time, lol, for the next one.

Whatever your passion is, may you always enjoy it safely and have much success. If you’re a fellow runner/race participant and see me at an event, give me a shout-out; love chatting with my fellow runners, and if you are so inclined, we can get a photo together for my race report I do for each of my events.  You may have a lot of opportunities to see me; I have a race scheduled for every weekend in April, staring with my first one on April 4^th, the City Managers 5K at SeaWorld.