Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/soKsZZ7sFnW5QxVF7

Before The Start:  My 33^rd race of 2026 was the Texas Sun Showdown 5K held on Sunday, June 14^th at McAllister Park in San Antonio. This event included a half marathon, team relay events (2-person and 4-person teams, if I remember correctly), and the 5K.  The half marathoners started first, followed by the relay teams, and then the 5K was the last to start. This event was put on by e-Dragon Productions. The timing and ressults were done by iaap, a top-notch San Antonio-based race management company. Per iaap results, there were 144 finishers for the 5K; 44 finishers for the half-marathon; 18 teams for the 4-person half-marathon relay (72 total participants); and 7 teams for the 2-person half-marathon relay (14 total individuals), so a very nice turn-out for this one.

On The Course:  All event courses were on the park’s paved roads and paved off-road trails. Because of some rain the day and night before, the start times were delayed a bit as the course was checked for standing water and other possible course impediments (debris, etc).  For the majority of the event, we did have a pretty clear day with bright sunshine, a temperature of 78 degrees, and due to the possible threat of more rain, the humidity was a whopping 90%, making it feel VERY muggy for this event. The park roads and trails for the most part, thankfully, do have a lot of shade cover so that helped a bit. e-Dragon folks and race volunteers had marked in chalk the various paths to be taken for each event.  I did my usual thing of 8-minutes-run/2 minutes walk and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  The 5K marked directions were pretty easy to follow, as we basically just made a big loop through the park.   The 5K route took us from the start past some soccer fields on our right, then past a youth baseball stadium. We then went straight up an asphalt park road heading in the direction of Becken Pavilion. Just past Mile 1, we made a left turn onto a paved trail that looped through some woods on either side and then took us near a police sub-station adjacent to the park.  This trail eventually did take us past Becken Pavilion. We went by that and then crossed an asphalt park road, going by a water station on the course, and then back onto an off-road paved trail just past the water station. This trail looped us through the park a bit, eventually taking us onto a trail that put the lower soccer fields on our left. After following this trail, we came out onto the first paved road we had gone onto after the start. We made a left turn on this road, and then went back to the start line in reverse of the way we had come out, passing by the baseball field and soccer fields again and then into the finish chute.  I ended up with a chip-time finish of 43:40 averaging a 14:03 pace, and ended up 3^rd in my 70-99 males age group, as there were only 3 in my age group, lol.  I’ll take it. 

After My Finish: I got my finisher medal and then stood well back from the finish line so as not to interfere with other race participants – especially the relay folks who were making the baton exchanges as they came into the finish area and got a few photos of others finishing and got a few more photos in that area. I then wandered here-and-there, chatting with other participants, volunteers, supporters, etc, and got a few after-photos.   There was also some very nice post-race goodies, including 2 types of beer, and also pulled-pork sandwiches, which were pretty good.  I can’t drink alcohol anymore (darn cancer side-effects I am still dealing with), but the Shiner Bock folks there had a really good non-alcoholic beer and, wow, that stuff really does taste like actual beer, very nice.

Epilogue:  This is a well-done event put on by e-Dragon Productions – and their second one of the weekend too, as they also oversaw The Longest Day 5K that I did on Saturday, the day before this one. Kristine Burciaga, if I remember correctly, served as Race Director for both, and did a great job with each. All the many volunteers there also did a great job for we participants; from what I saw, race-day packet pickup went pretty smoothly; the Awards ceremonies for each event were nicely done; and lots of post-race goodies from the sponsors and vendors. The finisher medal with ribbon is huge and very nicely done, and the race shirt is really nice quality. Our MC, Anthony Zamora did his usual great job for us, as did iaap and all the many volunteers there. Also, thanks to the law enforcement officer out there for our safety; and, as the park was still open to all park users, including non-participants, thanks to the non-racing patrons for their patience as we participants invaded the park for quite a while.  Iaap, as usual, also did a great job for us. Thanks, also to any others involved that I may not have mentioned here.

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.