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

• My 48th race of 2014.  Watermelon '14 5K held at Smithson Valley High School in Spring Branch, Texas
• 8 a.m. start time.  Temp was already in the low 80s.
• 253 finishers:  117 male, 136 female.  First male finisher: 16:51.  First female finisher:  17:20
• Me:  finished in 35-something, good enough for 3rd in my age group since there were only 5 in my age group.

BEFORE THE RACE

Spring Branch is only about 23 miles from where I live, so I got there relatively early.   Met the lovely  Brittney, our Race Director and the coach of Smithson Valley (SV) Cross-Country team, and got a photo with her.

Smithson Valley has a beautiful campus with a very large stadium...

My buds from local running company AthleteGuild who were doing the race timing

Some of the participants, supporters, volunteers, etc.

These folks in the green are displaying a nice view of the race shirt participants got in their goody bag

A couple of my runner pals, Gene and Loyce

More running pals of mine:  Bill, Chris, and Mary

Me and my "running crush"     Bernadette...

Some folks doing warmups on the football field before we started

The Jr. ROTC Color Guard that did a really good job presenting the colors for the National Anthem

The National Anthem was sung beautifully by an SV young lady and then we all lined up on the field, got some information from the RD about the course...and we were off!

ON THE COURSE

Tough course!  We first went across the football field; then out one of the stadium gates; wound around part of the campus roads and parking lot for a bit; and then it was x-country for a while, with a really STEEP wood-chip trail at one point.  On that wood-chip trail I was running in SLOW MOTION...which is hard for me to do, as I pretty much already run in slow motion on normal terrain, lol. After that we followed a kind of winding up-and-downhill trail, coming out onto another campus road.  Wound around that, then onto some x-country terrain again, finishing our x-country jaunt on a nicely manicured soccer field (I think it was a soccer field), which took us back to a paved parking lot, and then we went back to the stadium on the paved road we'd initially started out on.  Wound around that, went back into the stadium in a gate just farther down from the one we had started out of, and then it was around the track to the finish line.  Whew!

I did my usual 8 minute running/2 minute walk break thing and took photos at whatever point my 2 minute walk breaks occurred.

This part of the course is just after climbing the wood-chip part of the trail

Off that trail now and onto some paved ground again...

We are heading for that grassy area that is to the right of that chain-link fence in the distance.

People coming up from behind me

...and now they're ahead of me...

Two of our course volunteers

Off the grass/trail from where those trees are in the distance and back onto paved surface for the last time and heading for the stadium to finish.....those two young men were behind me here...and in the stadium for a while...but found their 'mojo' on the track and did a really nice 'kick"  to surge past me at the finish.  Great job, guys!

Course volunteer cheering us on as we neared the stadium

Brittney has a wicked sense of humor..she made us climb another hill right before we finished!  Not a large one, thank goodness...but even so...

After that it was non-stop for me to the finish.

AFTER THE FINISH

"Happy Finishers", supporters, volunteers, etc.  I call them "Happy Finisher" photos because it seems to me people are smiling a lot more AFTER they finish than before and during the race.

One of our watermelon volunteers.   After the race there was 'all the watermelon you could eat" as a post-race goodie.

1st Place AG awards were....watermelons! Which each 1st place person got to take home

Our lovely-lady RD announcing the award winners

My pal Bill with his first-place melon..

Loyce got the melon in her age group

3rd place for me...2nd place for my pal, Gene.  So another medal for me to donate to the cancer kids at San Antonio Children's Hospital, which is what I do with any medal I get whenever my slow legs manage to inadvertently get a medal.

Oh yeah, and one more little thing.....right before the Awards Ceremony, Brittney graciously allowed me to do my "Ice Bucket for ALS" in honor of my friend, Bill Hamley in Connecticut, who has been fighting ALS now for around 10 years.  Some of you 'old-timers' on this forum may remember Bill from the Runners World forums way back when.   Bill is a great guy and I had the pleasure of meeting him in person when we both did Joan Benoit Samuelson's "Beach To Beacon 10K"  a couple of times.   So this one is for Bill.  Kind of hard to hear cuz my microphone skills are not great, so turn your volume up.  Basically, I just gave some info on how I met Bill, and then got soaked in his honor.

http://s166.photobucket.com/user/scottydog69/media/2014%20Race%20Reports%20and%20Photos/Melon%202014%205K/icechallenge_zps8457a58f.mp4.html?filters[user]=39544917&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0

EPILOG

Really nice event!  Good venue, well-thought out course (kudos to Brittney!), nice post-race goodies, nice race shirts, and lots of friendly folks and volunteers.  This is the first time I've done this particular event, but it certainly won't be the last.   Mucho thanks AthleteGuild, all the great volunteers out there for us, and to all the sponsors who helped make this race happen.  This is the first time I've done this particular event, but it certainly won't be the last!

That looks like a tough course on a hot day!  Lots of smiles, though.

OMG, a voice for Scotty.  I always imagined your voice to be much gruffer (is that a word?)  Looks like a nice day all around.

Well, it was....and then I got my vasectomy....

You have some nice smooth pipes Scotty, and got dumped on by your would-be honey for a great cause!

No Beer ???

Not for this one; because the event was on a public high  school grounds, and no alcohol allowed on campus by law.

Congrats Scotty! Great video.

Great job Scotty!

I bet that ice water felt good after that :-)