Photos are here:          https://photos.app.goo.gl/wUJj6ke2qqcqBygF9

Before The Start:  My 37^th race of 2026 was the Let Freedom Run 5K held on July 4 in Schertz, Texas. This event started and finished at the Civic Center just off of Schertz Parkway. There were 2 categories of participants: the 5K run/walk, which had 294 participants and the 5K active military/veteran, the category which I was in. which had 96 finishers.  Since Schertz Parkway would be closed starting at 8 a.m. because of the parade, I got to the race site pretty early, going down FM 3009 and them getting onto a road that took me past a high school and then to a lower part of Schertz Parkway. After passing the Schertz Library, I was able to turn onto Schertz Parkway and find parking in the city’s huge parking lot near the city’s municiple offices and the Civic Center. I got there pretty early – just under 2 hours before the 9:15 a.m. race start – and got my race packet, as the packet pickup volunteers already had everything set up for that. The Athlete Guild crew was busily getting the start/finish line set up; putting out water near the start/finish line and so forth; and several of the representatives of the race’s sponsor company were also setting up their booths an tables. After getting my packet, I wandered around the area getting some pre-start photos of sponsors, other participants, supporters, the Athlete Guild Crew, etc., and handing out a couple of dog treats to a few dogs that were there, as this is a dog-friendly event. Participants and supporters continued to arrive, so the parking began to get busy, but the parking area across from the start/finish area is huge, so there was ample parking; and there were also several spaces in front of the 3 city office buildings that are in this area. Also nice was that there was a restroom building with indoor facilities – so no porta-potties. Finally, it was time for us to get started.  All categories started together. The National Anthem was played and then we got going.  There was some cloud cover when I first arrived but by start time that was gone. For this one we had bright sunshine, a temperature of 86 degrees, humidity of 70%, with a ‘feel like’ heat-index temp of near 90. There was virtually no shade at all on this course, until we got to Mile 2 that took us through a residential area, and even that shade was pretty skimpy.

On The Course: At my age, my two primary race goals were as usual:  finish standing up, and no ambulance waiting specificially for me, lol. After going through the timing chute, we then made a left turn onto the Schertz Parkway, heading in the direction of FM 78. Our 5K route was also the parade route. We started at 9:15 a.m. and the parade started at 9:30 a.m., so we had to run to stay ahead of the parade, or else hitch a ride on one of the floats, lol, if the parade caught up to us. .  As we went along the course, our closest parade spectators, waiting for the parade to start were on our right. I did my usual run/walk thing (8-minutes-run/2 minutes walk) and, since I had 2 pockets full of dog treats, I kept checking for any dogs with their humans among the spectators and if I saw one, I stopped for a few seconds to hand its human a treat for the dog, and got a lot of nice comments and thank-you’s on this; it was quite a lot of fun. Also nice, is that in this part of Schertz, there is not a hill in sight, so it was a very nice, flat course, with just a few very minor inclines.  As we got closer to FM 78, we made a right turn on the last Scherzt road that is right before going over the railroad tracks to get to FM 78. This road took us onto a road that headed us in the direction of Pearsall Park. If I rememer correctly, I think this road is where the parade ended, so the spectator crowd thinned out a bit here, but still quite a few people out there cheering us on.  We got to a point where we could see Pearsall Park on our right. At the next intersection, we made a right turn onto Aviation Boulevard and hit Mile along this stretch of the course. This part of the course took us through a housing area. One lady was out in her yard with her hose, offering a ‘wet spray” to anyone who wanted it to help cool off a bit. In the housing area, we hit Mile 2 and after that I just continued steadily on, ignoring my garmin beeping at me for walk breaks. Aviation Boulevard brought us back to the Schertz Parkway, where we made a left turn and then went the last ½ mile back to the finish line in reverse of the way we had come out.  The parade was still ongoing, so I made a quick stop to get a photo of a covered wagon and some horse riders, and then got going again. I crossed the finish line. I ended up 3^rd in my active/veteran military category with a chip time of 46:04. My old-time Garmin 35 – which is just a tad off of actual time but I love it anyway, lol – had me at a chip time of 46:11, averaging 14:51 per mile and listed my splits as Mile 1: 14:21. Mile 2: 15:53, Mile 3: 14:23.

After My Finish: I stood near the finish line – away from the timing devices – and got some photos of others finishing, including some personal friends.  After that, I did a short cool-down walk;  got some water and found a shady spot to just sit and do nothing for a while. After rehydrating a bit, I then began wandering around again getting some after photos, and enjoying chatting with friends/other participants; volunteers;  representatives with the sponsor companies; my friends with Athlete Guild; the guys who did the awards ceremony for us;  and also enjoyed chatting with others I had not met yet.

Epilogue:  This race certainly has a late start and it sure can be a warm one, but it really is a very fun event with, as noted, a mostly flat course, and  very “cool’ interacting with some of the spectators and having them cheer us on.  I would definitely do this one again and would recommend it to others. Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants:  Athlete Guild – and thanks to my Athlete Guild friend, Sherry Purnell for finding my race bib number for me; all the many volunteers at this one for us, as well as the law enforcement officers along the course for our safety, and the EMT folks out there for us, just in case; and, of course all those spectators cheering us on and interacting with us. This is a very fun event I will certainly do 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.