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.

SHORT VERSION REPORT

This was my 2nd 5K of the day and my 7th race of 2014.  Held in San Antonio at Reagan High School in support of the Reagan Band. Weather was very decent.  Quite sunny when I arrived at 3 PM and 63 degrees.  By race time it was pretty much overcast, and the temp had dropped a bit to about 61 degrees, with a very slight wind, but still very nice.  I figured after doing a 5K in the morning I would take it easy for this one but, surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good and I ended up with a finish time of 33:04 chip and 33:30 gun time.

LONG VERSION REPORT WITH PHOTOS

Pre-Start

My lovely wife accompanied me on this one to cheer me and other folks on.

You can tell who has the looks in my family.  She also has the brains too, lol.

Me and my good friend and 'running crush", Bernadette...and yes, Gail knows her too.   Bernadette is very speedy and usually places or wins in her age group, and today was no exception...1st in her age group.

Race Director Michelle - in the middle - with friends and fellow volunteers.  Michelle is one of the nicest ladies you'd ever want to meet.   And she has Great Legs too!

PowerBar Guy

I got a photo with him, holding up my Power Gel, as PowerBar is my personal favorite energy product

These ladies were preparing chili as one of the post-race goodies offerings

Some members of the Reagan Band were out in front of the school welcoming everyone in

This wagon with "Nacho" was actually tethered to a guy during the race who ran the whole way pulling the wagon and Nacho

More participants, volunteers, supporters, etc., pre-race

Race Day Registration ladies with a whole lot of the nice tech-tee shirts all participants and volunteers got

Some of the volunteers at one of the water stops

Kids starting their 1K Kids Run

Waiting now near the start line area

On The Course

And we're off.  We actually started at 4:30 pm. instead of 4 pm.  The course was on school roads going around the school and on part of the school campus.   Very wide areas so everyone had room to go at their own pace which was very nice.

The guy pulling the Nacho Wagon passed me and he beat me quite handily.  He was quite speedy, even pulling a wagon!

This young man - the one in the back left, with his Dad, and I ran just about all of the course in proximity of each other.  He would pass me during my photo breaks, I would catch up to him, joking "I finally caught up to you again" and he'd take off again in front of me again and the 'chase' was on again.   Very nice kid and his Dad, whom I chatted with too, is also a very nice guy. I had a lot of fun with them on the course.

At this point we doing a little loop-around in one of the school patio areas, where the half-way mark was.

Here comes my little buddy again...back on the left

the turn-round point behind me

Band members were at several points along the course playing music for us

Now heading for the finish...about a little less than 1/2 mile to go now

And here comes my buddy again, with his Dad

After The Finish

After we finished, I got a photo of him and his Dad, and then his Dad allowed me to have a photo with him.

Nacho Wagon Guy.  His wagon-pulling helped raise additional money for the band.

More "Happy Finishers" et al.....

The guy on the left here is Mitch - very nice guy - owner if IRun, a really good local running store.  IRun did their usual great job of course set up, timing, etc. and was one of the race sponsors.

EPILOG

This was the 5th annual Reagan High School Band 5K but the first time I've done it.   Being done on a high school campus, I thought we would end up running a lot of loops to get a 5K in, but the course surprised me and was very nicely laid out, a couple of 'out-and-back' areas, but very little repeat areas.  From what I heard in chatting with participants who have done the past races, THIS year's course is the course to keep for this event.   Also, some very nice post-race goodies, such as an oxygen bar, chili, and strawberry banana smoothies.  I'm not big on smoothies but these were REALLY good and I had two.  There was also a food truck where, if you bought a food plate (very reasonably priced and had pizza and other goodies on it), 10% of the purchase price was donated back to the band.  Several post race door prizes - none of which I won, darn the luck - and music played by the band.  Gail said the band group in the awards ceremony area also played while we participants were out running, so the folks waiting for us to finish got to enjoy some music, and Gail said the band was quite good.   A very nice event,  well organized and handled by IRun, all the school volunteers and organizers, etc.  An event  for runners and walkers definitely to do if you have not done so before, and one to keep on your race calender for the future.

FYI:  Link to report and photos for my first 5K of the day, Love Your Heart 5K:  http://www.runningahead.com/groups/BF_and_Beyond/forum/Post/3d64285a4d77482e9c849f190553a2d5#focus

Congratulations on the 2nd race of the day (and just as fast as the first or better.)  Wow@ that little kid.  I'm always surprised at how fast some of those little ones can run.  Glad you had a good time, and those tee-shirts are really nice.  Very cool too that the band was present and entertained everyone.  Hope they raised a good bit of money.

Great pictures as always and the post-race feed looks delicious.

Scotty you are an awesome person, awesome runner and one lucky man!!

Nice job, Scotty!