INTRO

I am Scott aka Scottydog, runner since 1983, cancer survivor, retired Air Force, employee of University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), friend of dogs, fun-runner, and all-around goofball.  In 2003 I had spinal arthritis flare up and ever since then I’ve done the run/walk method since it hurts my back too much now to run continuously with no walk breaks.  I’m on what I call my “2F Plan” which stands for Fun and Finish.  At events that I now do for fun I carry my camera, chase “Great Legs” to help motivate my slow old man self to keep moving forward, and take pictures before, during, and after the race. Sometimes I even get a nice post-race sweaty hug from one of the Great Legs ladies.   I then do a pictorial race report of my events.  I also carry dog biscuits with me to treat any dogs I may meet at a run, hence my nickname “Scottydog.” Here is yet another of my Race Reports With Photos, and my thanks to all the people I interacted with for their graciousness and good humor in letting me take photos of them.

THE DETAILS

Paint the Parkway Pink to help fight breast cancer - http://painttheparkwaypink.com/race-information/ -  was my 56th race of 2014.  Held on October 18, 2014 at North Central Baptist Hospital in the Stone Oak Parkway area.  Put on by Women in Medicine and Law For The Cure.  Events for the day included a timed 5K run through the Stone Oak area, along with an untimed one mile walk, a Kids Fun Run & Diaper Dash.  I'm not sure how many participants were there, but it was quite a nice turnout.   There was also a health fair and many vendors/sponsors out there giving their support and providing lots of various goodies from food to all kinds of other stuff.  The weather also cooperated by pretty much staying overcast until the 5K was done, and the temp was pretty mild at 67 degrees for the 9:15 a.m. start, although it was a tad humid, but not nearly as humid as our days in September.

BEFORE THE RACE

This event did not start out too auspiciously for me, as I went to pick up my packet on Friday after work, since the info on the website said packet pickup for Friday was from 12 - 6 pm.  So I got off work at 4 pm and crawled through rush hour traffic to get to the packet pickup spot - where there were about 10 other folks getting there the same time as me - only for all of us to be told that the packet pickup person had 'closed shop" at 4 pm.  Pretty darn annoying.  So went home and got up early on Saturday to go to race site and get my packet on Race Day.  Packet Pickup volunteers for Race Day pickup were VERY efficient and I got all my stuff in just about no time at all.   Stowed my stuff away and then wandered around getting pre-start photos.

From where I parked, I could view a 'sea of pink' in the pre-start area....all those pink shirts are the race shirts that were in the goody bags of the participants.

When I got down to the area one of the first folks I met was the mascot of the Bexar County Sheriff's Department...

And this guy....

and this guy.....

and this charming lady....

and these characters....

These folks were handing out treats and breakfast tacos....

yummy....

This was a breast cancer survivors tent where they could relax pre-and-post race and enjoy some goodies just for them.  I'm not a breast cancer survivor, but they did kindly allow me access to take some photos.

And, of course, lots of good folks that I encountered out there pre-start....

The lady in this photo I know from iRun Texas, a very good local running specialty store.  That store also puts on some really good races during the year, some of which have become quite popular with the local running community.

These ladies were our event MCs and did it very nicely too.

My friend Mary and her husband.  Mary is slowly and surely working on completing her goal of doing a race in every Texas county...and there are a LOT of Texas counties!

At the start/finish line and getting ready to go....

ON THE COURSE

We started and finished on the campus of Reagan High School, which is adjacent to North Central Baptist Hospital.  The course was an out-and-back, going around the campus for a bit, then out one of the gates and into a nearby neighborhood, where we went to a turn-around point and came back.   There were a couple of hills along the way. 

The parkway really did get 'painted' pink....

Heading up the hill toward the turn-around point

And down for a bit...

Around the turn-around point and then back up for a bit...and on the other side of the road, folks just cresting the hill on their way to the turn-around point

Down for me and others now....some folks still climbing on the other side

Looking back at the hill we all had to climb to get to the turn-around point

Ahhh, left turn...hill almost done...

And then I ran all the way back to the finish.   There was one more slight hill on the way back but not like that other one.

AFTER THE FINISH

I ended up with a chip time of 37:01 and mentioned to some of my Garmin-wearing friends that I guess my stopping to take some extra photos along the way had slowed me down, since even with the photo stops I usually finish a 5K in about 34 to 35 minutes.  My 'garmin-wearing' friends said "Nope, Scotty, you did not slow down all that much, the course was just a tad long, it was 3.3 miles."  Oh. Okay, then.   From what my pals told me, apparently there was a big chalk 'turn-around arrow" marked on the road - but no volunteer at that point, and I never even saw that arrow myself...probably cuz in "traveling' my wife is the one who gives me directions, and as I did not have my navigator with me....  - so everyone just ran down to where this motorcycle police officer was with cones blocking the road, and we all turned around there instead, thus adding a small distance to the course.  No big deal, it was a really nicely laid out course, and I had fun along the way.  And I'd rather have the course a tad too long than way too short, which has happened at a few past events I've done, too short is just annoying....too long is just more 'bonus distance' and you get to enjoy the course a bit more.

After I got some water and cooled down a bit, I went wandering around getting "Happy Finishers" et al photos.  I call them the "Happy Finishers" photos because it seems to me a lot more people are always smiling after they are done than before they start or when they''re on the course.

Our race timing folks...

Happy Finishers et al....

PARTY......the DJ (on the stage to the left of the bouncy castle) was playing the tunes and lots of pink-shirted folks were down there in the music area dancing up a storm....I climbed on a wall and took these two photos of "Dance Fever" folks and others below me...

And  a good time was had by all! 

EPILOG

A really very nice event for a good cause. Lots of pre-and-post race activities going on, lots of goodies, very nice race shirts, a good course and, of course, what really made this race:  all the good people out there.  Definitely would do this one again and would recommend it to my fellow runners.  Mucho thanks to Women in Medicine and Law; all the law enforcement folks that were out there for us;  all the volunteers and sponsors  that helped make this happen for us; Reagan High School for letting us use their campus; and North Central Baptist for allowing us to invade their space for a while.

Hilly run, but it looks like a good one.  Lots of enthusiasm.

Great event! I'm surprised that there are so many 5ks in your area.

For most of the year, we have about 3 or 4 races available each weekend.  The only time it really slows down is over the Xmas/New Year's holidays and in August, which is our hottest year of the month.  I  am very lucky to live in this 'running mecca', because with Austin only 70 miles from San Antonio, we "Austin - San Antonio Corridor" runners have a lot to choose from!

Nice report!