Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/jhh2ANjJsU8jKDKt7

Before The Start:   My 34^th race of 2026 was the Big Kahuna 5K held on June 20^th at Southside Lions Park. There was also a Kids Run and a 10K. Posted race start time was 7 a.m., but that was changed to 7:30 a.m., as part of the 10K course was flooded due to heavy rain the night before the event, so race folks had to check that out for safety reasons. The result was part of the 10K course was impassable so the 10K participants ended up doing 2 laps on the 5K course.  I had picked up my race packet the day before the even so upon arrival I found some parking – which took a while as this event was sold out.  I found a spot about a 10 minute walk away from the start/finish area, which was nice, and  after getting to the pavilion where everthing was happening, I  wandered here-and-there, getting a few few pre-start photos and chatting with race day volunteers, friends, and supporters of particicipants. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I handed out a few dog treats too.   

On The Course:  Before the main events started, there was a Kids Run.  After that, since the 10K folks had to do 2 laps of the 5K course, they started about 5 minutes before the 5K folks started to spread all the participants out a bit, which was nice  for this one, so that staggered start between the events at least got we participants spred out a bit on the course., which was helpful, as per RunSignUp, 556 total participants were resgistered; however, after the 5K one of the Bigfoot volunteers who was tabulating the results told me there was a total of 400+ showing in the results for 10K and 5K, so I guess there were some no-shows for the race. We did get a few sprinkles of rain  and no downpours on us at all, thankfully. It was pretty humid though, with a temp at start time of 74 degrees, no wind and humidity at a whopping 83%.  I did my usual run/walk thing and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. It had rained pretty heavily the night before this event, so there were some muddy areas on the course, as well as some small puddles of standing water. The course was done on the paved off-road trails of the park. The first part of the course was pretty flat, with just a couple of mild inclines, nothing you could really call a hill. The first part of the route took us on an off-road paved trail heading in the direction of the lake that is adjacent to the park. At about the ½ mile point, we crossed over a park road and this took us on another set of paved trails that headed us in the direction of Comanche Park on Rigsby Road.  We did not go all the way to that park, but the route took us underneath an overpass; then down a hill, and over a stone bridge – and we could see the creek bed water was VERY high and swift-moving – and after the bridge we then made a left turn and went up a very long and fairly steep hill – not as steep as, say, the hills in Hilotes or Eisenhower Park, but still a pretty good climb – to get to the 5K turn-round point. After making the turn-round, we then went back to the finish in reverse of the way we had come out. I took a couple of quick photo stops on the way back to the finish, but for the most part ran the return-to-the-finish half of the 5K non-stop.  Per my Garmin, I ended up with a finish time of 45:32, averaging 14:30 per mile and my last mile was a negative split. This was good enough for me to finish first in my age group; however, when I checked the race results on RunSignUp website, it noted that my name – I register as Scotty Dogg – and results could not be found, so don’t know what’s up with that. One of the volunteers at the race did look me up on her phone in the results and she told me my chip-time finish was 44: 18, so don’t know why I’m not in the RunSignUp results, but no big deal.

After My Finish: I did a short cool-down walk and got some hydration into me. After that, I enjoyed wandering here-and-there, chatting with participants, supporters, volunteers, handing out some more dog treats, and getting some after-photos. It was still very humid, but Mother Nature was kind and did not pour rain on us.  About all we had was just a few light sprinkles off-and-on. Finally it was time to head out. I tend to stay quite a while at the race-site post race, which is okay because then, by the time I leave, most people have already left, so very little traffic to deal with when getting out of the park.  Also nice to be a veteran, as JBSA Fort Sam Houston is not that far of a drive from the park, so I was able to go to the gym and take nice relaxing shower and get into some dry, clean clothes and not have to drive home all soggy-sweaty, very nice.   

Epilogue: This was a really nicely organized event by the Bigfoot folks and all their volunteers. Packet pickup the day before the race was a breeze, it took me a total time of less than an hour to get down there, get my packet and then get back home, probably because it was Juneteenth Day, a holiday in San Antonio, so there was very little ‘rush hour’ traffic out. The race route is very nicely thought out and can accommodate a lot of participants. The race shirt is very good quality and the finisher medal all finishers receive is really nicely done. I would certainly do this one again and would recommend it to others.    
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.