Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/a9QGtrtpduLjKydz6
Before The Start: My 62nd race of 2026 was the Viva Mobility 5K held on November 7th at Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio, Texas. This event supports Project Mend, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in San Antonio, Texas, that refurbishes, reuses, and distributes medical equipment and assistive technology to individuals in need. It also accepts donations of medical equipment. The event was put on by Soler’s Sports. I arrived with about an hour to go to the 8:30 a.m start time, got my race packet and then got some pre-start photos. The race location for this one was appropriate as Morgan’s Wonderland. fouded by Gordon Hartmann and named for his daughter, has a mission “to provide a barrier-free, inclusive environment for individuals with and without disabilities, offering a fun, clean, and beautiful space free of physical and economic barriers where everyone can come together to play, learn, and enjoy life regardless of age, special need, or disability.” This race weekend was a very busy one in San Antonio and Texas with several other ongoing events on the same day, so the 5K was a fairly small one with a total of 41 male finishers and 40 female finishers. Prior to the start, a uniformed “Colors Guard” presented the flag for the playing of The National Anthem. After that, we got some instructions from the Race Director and then got going.
On the course: I did my usual thing of 8-minutes running/2 miuntes walking and got some on-course photos during my walk breaks. The course started with us doing a loop around the park’s man-made lake with some nice views of the lake and some of the park’s rides and the dock of the park’s boat which provides customers with rides on the lake. After we made the loop around the lake we then went through the start/finish area once more, and then down a bit further we made a left turn that took us out of the park onto a road that headed us in the direction of Heroes Stadium, an athletics an event stadium of the Northeast Independent School District in San Antonio. The road we were on took us behind Heroes Stadium and then we made a left turn on a road that took us past the Multi-Assistant Center (The MAC) of Morgan’ Wonderland. The MAC is a non-profit one-stop service facility in San Antonio designed to coordinate medical, therapeutic, and social-determinants-of-health support for individuals of all ages with disabilities and special needs. After passing The MAC we then turned into one of the stadium parking lots, did a short jaunt past the stadium, and then went back onto the road that had taken us on the way out past both the stadium and The MAC. We then went back to Morgan’s Wonderland in reverse of the way we had come out. After going back into the park we then did another loop around the lake and then went finished the 5K back at the start/finish line. I ended up with a finish time of 45:55, averaging 14:47 per mile, ending up first out of the two of us in my 70-99 males age group.
After my finish: I got some photos of other finishing, and a couple of the finish area volunteers. After that I then headed over to the park’s Event Area, which was a huge ball-room type of room with a stage, lots of tables, and booths/tables of the vendors who were sponsors of this event. There were also food tables set up offering breakfast tacos; various drinks that included water and orange juice, and more. Service dogs were allowed in, so I gave out a few treats to the humans of the service dogs to hand them to the dogs, as I know not to interact with service dogs without the permission of their humans. However, I think they knew who their ‘treater” was, as they definitely had an interest in me, lol, after getting the treats. The awards ceremony was nicely done with them presenting to the senior citizens first – they started with my age group first, nice – and worked their way down. There was also a raffle. The organizer also announced upcoming things that would be happening and the times of some of them went past 11 a.m., so it appeared that the post-race things would go on for quite a while on this day. After getting my placer award, I stayed for just a while longer and then headed on home.
Epilogue: As noted, a fairly smaller event, as there were many other races in the local area as well as around other places in Texas; several of my running friends signed up for The Harbor Half, a popular event held in Corpus Christi; There was also a Turkey Shuffle 5K in San Antonio; and a San Antonio Veterans Day 5K, held in downtown San Antonio, if I remember correctly. I kind of liked this being a smaller event as it was more ‘personal’, with we participants getting to interact with each other more. I will certinaly continue to add this event to my race calendar and I would most certainly recommend it to others. Also, all race participants get free admission to Morgan’s Wonderland on race day.
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 be successful in all your endeavors and may you always stay healthy enough to do them.
