INTRO

I am Scott aka Scottydog aka Scotty Dogg, 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.

This was my 65th race of 2015 and my first 5K of 3 5Ks I was doing on December 12, 2015. Held at Heroes Stadium, an 11,000-seat open air football type stadium of the North East Independent School District. This was the inaugural 5K and 10K to support Children’s Rehabilitation Institute Teleton (CRIT) USA, which serves children with neurological and musculoskeletal disorders.   Personally, I was a “March of Dimes” baby, born with a birth defect, so I have a ‘soft spot’ for children-with-disabilities causes, and try to do these types of races whenever I can. For an inaugural event, quite a nice turn-out for this one, and there was also a kid’s 1K.   Timing and course setup was done by iRun Texas, a very good local running specialty store, with super-great staff. The weather was unseasonably warm – even for South Texas in December – with a temp of about 69 degrees at the 8:30 a.m. start time. Rain was threatening, but never did happen, just kind of ‘spit’ on us a bit off-and-on. I did the 5K and ended up with a 32:34 chip time, good enough for 2^nd in my age group. Guess there were not a lot of people in my age group, if my slow-self received a medal.

BEFORE THE START

Heroes Stadium is only about 4 miles from where I live, so I got to sleep in a bit longer than I normally do before going to a race. Arrived with about 45 minutes to start time and wandered around getting some photos.

I saw this on a gate and thought it was funny....I read it and thought "Well, duhhhh...." 

Some of the participants, volunteers, etc.

Me and friend Joe.  His Wonder Dog, Yeti, was not here for this one.

Me and Mitch from iRun Texas.  First one is a 'selfie' taken by Mitch with my camera; he has better selfie skills than I do, lol.

Some other great people from iRun

My friend MC Mark Purnell  (left) and friend.  Mark is the announcer for a lot of events I do during the year.

Prize-winning Judson High School Band, who performed the National Anthem for us

Yay, Team RWB (Red White & Blue) - a veteran's organization of which I am also a member.

ON THE COURSE

We did about a ¾ lap on the track, then went out of the stadium onto the paved surrounding roads. The course also included a lap through Morgan’s Wonderland Park – a park open to all comers, but designed in mind for children with special needs, and quite famous world-wide, the first park of this type ever built. People from all over the world visit this park and Italy recently followed their example and built a special needs park in their country. After Morgan’s Wonderland, it was back onto the roads, then back onto the stadium to finish on the track.

Passing Toyota Field where the San Antonio Scorpions soccer team plays

Heading toward Morgan's Wonderland park

In Morgan's Wonderland...I've made a loop around the lake and am looking at the other side where I just came from

Into the main part of the park

Onto the streets again...

AFTER THE FINISH

Wandered around after the finish getting some photos, but had to go pretty quick to get home, shower, into my next set of running gear and get to my 2^nd 5K location for the day. Mitch of iRun Texas was kind enough to give me my medal ahead of the ceremony start time so I could get moving. Thanks, Mitch!

Me and friend, Bernadette, who did the same three 5Ks today as I did.  Number 1 for the day finished!

EPILOGUE

This was the inaugural 5K for the event and it was a lot of fun and I hope it grows in the future, as it certainly is for a good cause. The route was well planned out. Most races done at this location don’t include the park or the stadiums, it’s just run around the adjacent park roads (YAWWWWN…boring), so starting and finishing in Heroes Stadium and doing a lap through Morgan’s Wonderland is a nice touch for this event. Definitely would do this one again. Mucho thanks to iRun Texas, the volunteers, sponsors, law enforcement out there for us…all the people that made this one happen for we participants.

That's a nice turn out for a first year event. No post run beer for a Scott T dog?