Photos are here:     https://photos.app.goo.gl/wwiVo412m4tv1dfu6 

Before The Start:    My 22^nd race of 2026 was the Loteria 5K held on April 19^th at McAllister Park with a start time of 9 a.m.  This event was put on by race management company iaap. This was my 2^nd 5K of the weekend after doing Our Lady of the Lake University Confetti 5K the day before this one. On Saturday afternoon and Saturday night San Antonio and several other spots along the San Antonio-Austin Corridor got some major pouring rain, making me think if this does not quit by tomorrow, this race might be called-and-postponed; however, by Sunday morning we had dry weather and some sunshine and a pretty brisk wind, with temperatures in the upper 50s. I headed over to the park, arriving around 8:20 a.m.  I noticed while going through the park, there were lots of puddles and many muddy areas, and he wind was pretty brisk, but at least it was not raining on us; we even ended up getting some sunshine too. I got my race packet and then got a few pre-start photos.  This is also a dog-friendly event, so I also handed out a few dog-treats.  

On The Course:  We started right on time   Per posted results, there were 181 finishers for the 5K; a pretty nice turn-out considering the weather we had, plus lots of other Fiesta San Antonio events scheduled, including other races. The course was on paved street and some of the paved trails at the park. We started from the Buckhorn Pavilion area – right across from the park’s lower soccer fields – and then past the baseball field that was adjacent to the soccer fields. We then went onto a paved road that would have taken us to Becken Pavilion if we had gone that far on the road. Just down from Becken Pavilion, we made a left turn onto one of the park’s off-road paved trails, where there were two volunteers at a water station. I noticed the paved trail to the left – one that would have taken us past a police substation – was totally flooded, wow. We made a right turn onto the trail and this did take us past Becken Pavilion. We crossed over a paved road here and then continued on another paved trail on the other side of the road. This part of the trail took us past another water station, and then onto a paved trail that was at the back of the lower soccer fields. I could hear our MC, Lana, on her loudspeaker announcing the arrival of the faster runners at the finish line. This trail wound us back to the paved trail where Becken Pavilion was. We passed that pavilion again, then went back to the water station, and then back onto the road we had started out on and this took us back to the finish line in reverse of the way we had come out. I pretty much ran the last mile non-stop, ignoring my garmin signaling my walk breaks, and ended up with a chip-time of 44:04, ending up first in my 70-99 males age group, and a negative split for the last mile, nice. Also, Mother Nature was kind for the last part of the race and for all the post-race activities, giving us some nice sunshine, although the wind was still blowing a bit.

After My finish:  I stood back from the start line, out of the way of the timers and the official race photographers and got a few photos of others coming into the finish, including several of my personal friends. After that, I wandered around chatting with others there; getting some post-race photo; handing out some more dog-treats and just having an enjoyable and relaxing time. There was also a costume contest – winner recognized by the most applause from the crowd and won $100 as the prize.   

Epilogue: iaap puts on some really good quality events and this one was no exception. It also was very entertaining, seeing the variety of costumes at the event. One lady was even dressed as a fruit vendor, with this big piece of designed cardboard at her back and a cardboard ‘table: at her front; how she ran so fast with that thing on amazed me, especially when we had some wind in a couple of areas; het she ran really well and she finished ahead of several people; if I remember correctly, I think she even placed in her age group. Various snacks and drinks were offered post-race; the race shirt is very nice quality; and the finisher medal all finishers got is very well done also. The course was, for the most part, very flat with just a couple of very minor up-and-down inclines; nothing you could really call a hill at all.  With all that precipitation the night before the course was well thought-out, keeping us safe and dry. I will do this one again and I certainly would recommend it to others. Mucho Gracias to all those who made this one happen for we participants:  iaap staff; all the many volunteers out there for us; our sound-and-music people; the law enforcement officers there for our safety; all the vendors/sponsors that helped make this one happen; and thanks to non-participant patrons of the park as we invaded their space for a while as they did their own thing.          
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 I sign up for. Stay safe, stay happy, and enjoy what you do. Cheers.