Photos are here:    https://photos.app.goo.gl/MsbP7C7crEptVp3K7  

Before The Start: My 51^st race of 2026 was the e-Dragon Run Festival, held on August 30^th at Comanche Park in San Antonio.  Aside from the 5K, events included a half-marathon; a 10K, a Kid’s Run, and a 1-miler.   E-Dragon Productions put this event on, with an entry fee of only $5, as a thank to you all the running community for its support over the years to e-Dragon events, community runs, etc.  There were 32 finishers for the half-marathon; 96 finishers for the 10K; 131 finishers for the 5K; and 22 finishers for the 1-miler.  I arrived pretty early to get some good parking and then got my race bib and a race shirt. The way packet pickup worked was that eac participant reported to the packet pickup table where he/she was given a a bib number and a race shirt. As this is a run festival, there was no specific race shirt for the event. Instead you got a shirt that was a race shirt from a race that had been done in San Antonio and running areas near San Antonio, such as New Braunfels, etc. I got one from a New Braunfels race. The race bib was also like that. I got a bib from the Texas Showdown event, which was appropriate, as I actually have done the Texas Showdown 5K in the past. After getting my packet, I then wandered around before the start, chatting with others and getting some pre-start photos.

 On The Course:  Prior to the start of all the event, The National Anthem was played and then we all going. The 1-miler was the first to go, starting at 7 a.m. The half-marathon participants also started around 7 a.m.  The 10K started about 10 t0 15 minutes after that, and we 5K folks got going around 7:30 a.m. I did my usual thing of run 8-minutes/walk 2-minutes and took some photos durng my walk breaks. Our course route took us onto a paved trail, taking us left toward a paved trail and then we went past a trail on our left; we turned right and went past this trailhead, going back  in the direction of the start/finish line. This trail took us past the start/finish area on our right, then up near the park’s large parking lot on our right. We went down the trail, crossed over a short bridge and continued onto the paved trail on the other side of the bridge, with Salado Creek on our left. This trail took us to another bridge that we crossed – a longer bridge than the first one, with some views of the creek on our left and right, and when several people were on the bridge at the same time the darn thing shook.  After the bridge, we went underneath an overpass on Rigsby Road, and then went down a fairly short, not too steep down incline, that took us past a course water-station where several volunteers were cheering on the participants. Past the water station, we then had some down inclines for quite a while, and then a bit of flat, and then a long down incline, and then flat part of the course that got the 5K folks to our turn-round. I looked at my Garmin and it said 1.7 miles..what? So I thought this course would be longer than a 5K, but it was not, which I will explain further on down in my report. After my turn-round, I saw Peggy coming toward me, almost right behind me, lol.  She and I often do a lot of the same races over the year and even when I run non-stop at times, she continues to stay almost right behind me, lol. She walks almost faster than I run.  After the turn-round, I did go mostly non-stop to the finish with just a few very short photo stops, and then was off-and-running again. We recrossed the first bridge we had gone out on, and then went back past the parking lot, this time on our left, and then we went straight back to the finish.  I ended up with a chip-time of 45:51, averaging 15:10 per mile.  I was 4^th out of 4 in my 70-99 males age group. Peggy was still just about right behind me, lol, and she finished first in her age group. I also noticed the 5K distance was spot-on, 3.14 miles, and I found out why from Kristine Burciaga: we did not go to the finish line the way we had come out from the start line. Instead, once back near the parking lot, we went straight to the finish line, so we would not have to pass by the start/finish line again on our way back. So this was why the 5K turn-round had been 1.7 miles, to make the distance an exact 5K.  Very well done, and much appreciated as, once we saw that finish line, we just wanted to go right to it, lol. Thank you, Kristine and Erik for doing that for us.

After My Finish:  I stood near the finish line for a bit, getting a few photos of others finishing, and cheering on other finishers as they came in, including several of my friends. As with the shirts, there were finisher medals froma variety of local area races on a table near the finish line, and participants could browse through them and take – one to a customer – a finisher medal they liked. I took one to throw in my bag of medals I have at home, to give to the disabled kids at Morgan’s Wonderland when I collect enough medals. After that, I went over to the tent of my friend Gilbert, who always has a post-race banana and chair waiting for me.  After relaxing a bit, I then wandered around some more, chatting with participants, supporters, volunteers, etc., handing out some more dog treats, and getting some after photos.      

Epilogue:   This is a very nicely done event by e-Dragon, and unique too, with the variety of race shirts and medals available. Post race goodies included various energy bars, fruits, watermelon, water,  beer, and other sundries from the sponsors.  The route is very well thought out for the 5K –  mostly flat with just a few hills, but very ‘easy’ hills, nothing like, say, The Rim, Eisenhower Park, or Pearsall Park. If, in a few more years, e-Dragon puts this festival on again, I would certainly do it again and I would recommend it to others.

Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants:  e-Dragon (Kristine and Eric are awesome); all the many sponsors that were out there for us, as well as the law enforcement folks there for our safety; our music-and-sound guy, Paul; iaap for all the timing and results; and the patience of the non-participant users of the park who were doing their own thing while we were out there; and to anyone else involved I may not have mentioned.  Thank you all.  Whatever your passion is, may you always enjoy it and may you have much success at it and always stay safe doing it!    If you are a fellow race participant and see me at an event, give me a shout-out. I’d be happy to get a photo with you. Next up for me:  my skin cancer biopsy on Sep 1^st;  this will be my 5^th battle with cancer;  a little nervous about this one, but so far so good; beat the previous ones and, with the help of my very supportive wife, I will beat this one too.  Appreciate any thoughts and prayers for good results.