Hi, everyone! Have not been here for a while, with this darn "pandemic" going on. I am sure a lot of you know how that is.  University I work for is still "open", sort of, but everything right now is online, including all the staff, so I have been working from home like crazy.  Feel quite lucky that I have a job where I am able to still work and get paid, some people are not so lucky.

San Antonio is starting to open back up a bit and there are even a few organized races being done again, although on quite a smaller level than what a race in San Antonio is normally like, with hundreds of people.  i did a 5K this morning  - 113 finishers; normally this event would have about 300 - 400 - and a 'staggered start" where  3 - 5 runners at a time were allowed to go.....then every 2 - 3 minutes, another group went - so it took a while to get us all started.  Even so, very nice event, given the circumstances.   Below is my report and the link to the photos I took for it.

Photos are here:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/V9NMsgrUuRX3TVGp8

 BEFORE MY START:     My 16^th race of 2020 was the Run for the Hills 5K in Bulverde, Texas on June 20, 2020.  There was also a 10K. This event supports the Bulverde Spring Branch Activity Center, which facilitates active aging and enhance the quality of life for older adults. Nice turn out, with 113 5K finishers, and 44 finishers for the 10K. There was also a 1-Mile walk, not sure how many did that.   Race time of 7:30 a.m. and already in the upper 70s and very humid. It even rained on us for about 5 minutes, right after I started.  The start was a staggered one to help with social distancing, with a few runners at a time starting off and then a couple minutes later a few more.  Since I was a little late in getting to the venue, I think I was actually the very last 5K entrant to start.  My wife, Gail, participated to, walking the 5K.  With her speedy walking pace, by the time I started she was already well ahead of me.  Also, I took a couple of photos right before I started too.

 ON THE COURSE:    This was an out-and-back course, starting and finishing at the Activity Center.  I’ve done this race in the past, so knew what to expect.  Despite the title, there really was not anything on the course that you could call a hill. More like just a few inclines.  Road camber was really slanted though, so I tried as much as possible to run right down the middle of the road where it was most level, and watching out for vehicles, as the course roads were open to traffic.  I did my usual thing of run/walk-and-take-photos along the way.   I went fairly slowly,  just enjoying myself and per my Garmin ended up with a finish time of 41:05, averaging 13:03 per mile, and was 4^th in my 60 – 69  males age group.

After My Finish:    Waited at the finish line to see Gail coming in, but she did not for a while, so I thought maybe I had just missed her.  I found out later, she had walked right by the turn-point to come back to the finish, so she had to turn around and come back, and she ended up doing 3.6 miles.  My first organized race since all the COVID stuff started, so nice chatting with friends and getting some post-race photos.  Felt like old times, except the majority of post-race time I was wearing my face mask. All good though, just felt nice to be out there.

Epilogue –  A nice ‘welcome back to doing races” event for me – I guess with what’s going on again, we’ll see how long a time the authorities let organized races continue – and this was an enjoyable one to do.  As noted, have done this one in the past and would do it again in the future.   Really nice goody bag, packed with a lot of stuff a nice quality race shirt.   Mucho thanks to all the organizers, volunteers, police officers, sponsors and everyone else involved who made this race happen for we participants.