Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/BDYpuNo8rMdQ7jez6
Before The Start: My 59th race of 2026 was the Monster Dash 5K held on Sunday, October 25th at Comanche Park in San Antonio. This was my 2nd race of the weekend after doing Ima’s Run 5K in Old Town Helotes Saturday, October 24th. This event supports the “Now You See Me Foundation”, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that raises money for critically-injured athletes and spinal cord injury research. In addition to the 5K for this one, there was also a half-mararathon; a half-marathon relay with an option of 2-person or 3-person teams; a 10K; a 5K that also had a wheelchair division; a 1-mile family run, walk, or roll; and a 400-meters Kid’s Run. I picked up my two friends, Caroloyn and her dog, Lucy – both in costume – and we then arrived at the race venue pretty early so got some really good parking. We were so early, the race folks were still putting together the start/finish line chute. Packet pickup was open, so I got my packet and then wandered here-and-there, taking some pre-start photos. I had plenty of time to do that as the 5K start time was around 8:30 a.m. There were several people in some pretty unique, cool, and funny costumes and also lots of people – friends and fellow runnners whom I knew from being members of the San Antonio running-and-racing scene either as fellow race participants; race day volunteers and/or organizers; race directors of other local events, and so forth. The half-marathon events started first, as they were going to most likely be on the course longer than anyone else; the Kids Run was done next, followed by the 10K participants; then we 5K participants, and then the 1-mile participants. We 5K folks got started around 8:30 a.m. All the courses were out-and-back.
On the course: Because of my spinal arthrits, I cannot run non-stop anymore, so I did my usual thing of run-8-minutes/walk-2-minutes and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks. There are two major trails on Comanche Park that can be used, but our MC announced to us there was damage on one of them, so we used a paved trail that took us in a direction that headed us toward a connecting park, Southside East Lions Park. This is a fairly hilly course, with it being flat for about the first half-mile and then we began to go downhill, with some of these hills being pretty long, which meant we’d be doing a lot of uphills on the way back to the finish. After getting down the longest hill, we then crossed a bridge and did an uphill that took us below an overpass and in the direction of Southside East Lions Park. My speedy walking friend, Peggy – she walks about as fast as I run – was behind me and passed by me when I took my walk breaks. I’d then catch back up to her when my Garmin beeped for me to run again. When I took a walk break, I’d look behind me and there was Peggy almost right behind me, lol. She is a very strong power-walker. This pretty much went on for the whole 5K. Peggy and I were pretty much close to each other for the whole 5K, until the last miile which I usually try to run non-stop, a thing I’ve been practicing on my training runs. For this one, after getting to the 5K turn-round point, I decided I’d try to run mostly non-stop, to the finish. I did stop for just a minute or so to get a few on-course “quickie” photos….and look behind me and yep, there was Peggy, lol, still close behind me. Of course, since the way to the turn-round was mostly downhill, we then had several uphills to climb on the way to the finish, and some of these were a pretty good climb. After I got to the Mile 2 marker, I then did run non-stop to the finish. The official results are not yet posted on the Run Race website, but per my garmin, I ended up with a time of 45 minutes even, averaging 14:23 per mile. My splits were: Mile 1 – 12. Mile 2: 14:43. Mile 3: 14:28, so a negative split from Mile 2.
After my finish: I stood back from the finish line so as not to impede anyone and got some photos of others finishing, including some of the faster half-marathoners and 10K participants. I then went and got some of the post-race food, which included things like potato-and-egg and bean-and-cheese tacos; various type of chips and other snacks; Powerade to drink; and lots more. After that, I went wandering againg getting some more after photos. There was also a costume contest, one for kids 10 and under, and another for the adults in costume, winners chosen by applause. There was also a raffle for $25 gift certificates to Academy Sports.
Epilogue: This is a really nicely done event with some long hills, both up-and-down – but not as challenging as those crazy hills at places like The Rim, Helotes, or Eisenhower park. This course was very well thought-out and we had a bit of secnery with some views at times of Salado Creek – the creek that primarily flows through most of San Antonio’s Greenway Trails System. The after-party is a lot of fun, with lots going on. Also nice is the park has two restroom buildings – no porta-potties needed – and water fountains too. The race day organizers, volunteers and sponsors were all great, with lots of food and post-race drinks. The finisher medal is awesomely done, and the race shirt is really nice quality. I do so many races in a year, I am running out of drawer space for running shirts, lol, but this race shirt will be a keeper for me. This is definitely an event I will continue to do and I certainly would recommend it for others. It sure does support a great cause too. I also want to thank all my friends and fellow participants there who knew I am currently battling cancer for the 5th time – this time melanoma skin cancer – who kindly gave me a lot of encouraging and kind words. I’ve beaten cancer 4 times before and, the Lord willing, I AM going to beat this one too. NEVER GIVE UP. 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, race volunteer, organizer, or whomever and you see me at an event, give me a shout-out. I’d be happy to get a photo with you. God bless and may you always be successful in all you do.
