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 2^nd race of 2016. After doing the New Year’s Midnight 5K at Fort Sam Houston, I got a few hours of sleep at home and then went to do this one which, thankfully, has a 10 a.m. start, so I did get to sleep in a bit. The Cobweb Chaser 5K is the start-of-the-year signature run of the San Antonio Road Runners (SARR), the largest running club in San Antonio, of which I am a member. Usually held in McAllister Park but this year moved to Helotes, Texas, since McAllister Park trails are undergoing some renovation in places.   The temperature had not much improved since the midnight run – still 45 degrees with a ‘feels like’ of 40 and a pretty good wind blowing. But, again, the predicted rain did not show up at all for the race, so that was nice. This is quite a popular local New Year’s Day event so lots and lots of participants; mucho more than the midnight run.   I ended up finishing this one actually faster than my midnight 5K, doing this one in 32:20, go figure. Still ‘slow’ though, as I was 8^th in my age group (60-64); there are really some speedy old guys in my age group locally, lol. So I guess my strategy has to be…outlive the competition.  

BEFORE THE START

Had already picked up my race packet the day before so that saved a lot of time. Some nice swag too. Nice tech tee shirt, some energy bars, San Antonio Roadrunners 2016 calendar, a really nice ‘tech cap” – choice of blue or red – and more. Got to the race location with about 40 minutes to go to start time. Got my timing chip and the wandered around taking photos. Soler Sports – an excellent specialty running-and-more sports store with 4 San Antonio locations – was the race host, kindly allowing us access to the Helotes store, grounds, etc.   A few pre-start photos.....

Me and friend - and one of my 'running crushes -  Sally

A boatload of sausages being prepared for post-race.....

...by these good folks.  Thanks guys!

Our Music Man

My fellow RWB team member, George, did this one too, after we had both done the Fort Sam Houston Midnite 5K

Photo of a selfie photo

And the group....

Our MC Extraordinaire, Bob

This Team RWB member carried the flag for the whole course and presented the colors for the National Anthem

Two volunteers who handed out the timing chips while standing in that chilly wind.   Thanks ladies!

My canine pals Chance (left) and Sadie.  Whenever they see me the come right up cuz they know I have treats for them, lol.  Oops, I cut of the head of their human, Whitney.  They both did the race too.  I know...because I finished right behind them...speedy darn dogs.. 

There's Whitney!

ON THE COURSE

The course was paved roads. Helotes – which is a city adjacent to the San Antonio city limits – is not known for being flat, lol. There are some flat parts, but if you run for any distance in this town, you are going to hit some hills.  We started out flat for the first half of the course and after that it was a slight downhill past the finish line area, then an uphill; another downhill as we made a way to a turn-round point; then back up the downhill we’d just done; then a turn back onto the ‘finish road”, downhill for a bit, then uphill right before we turned into the finish line area. Thankfully, our Race Director was kind to us and did not use a course that put us on some of the GIANT hills that are in this city, so all these climbs were fairly short…but even so, you could still feel them a bit in the legs – and in my case, in the back a bit, especially the downhill portions. Even so, a nicely laid, well-thought out course, and one thing that I liked is that we did a couple of turn-around out-and-backs, so we slower folks could see the faster folks coming toward us – the leaders, our faster friends, etc., - and lots of folks were shouting out encouragement as runners and walkers passed each other, which was nice. As I was making my way to the last turn-around before heading to the finish, I got to see some of the front-runners already heading toward the finish, and that was pretty cool; nice photo-op! Dang, those guys and gals are speedy! I kept thinking jokingly to myself, dang by the time I finish the first runner in will already have had time to shower and change clothes.

First turn-around...a bit over a half mile into the course...I am on the left side of the road, heading to the halfway point

A little past the halfway mark now and heading toward the last turn-around.  My Team RWB member is heading toward the finish.  I am still going in the other direction.

Ahead of me....

Behind me.....that up incline at the back of the photo is what we climbed right before the finish

Made the last turn-around and am on the right side of the road heading toward the finish

Behind me...

AFTER THE FINISH

NICE post-race party, full of goodies that included sausage wraps, sodas, water, various brands of beer (oh yeah!), and the infamous black-eyed peas, which seems to be a thing around here for New Year’s Day. I passed on those as my opinion of black-eyed peas is BLECH! The beer and sausages were darn good though! There was also a raffle for prizes (I won Nada) and little number spin-wheel game you could play for stuff, and lots more. After I got my goodies, then it was time to wander around and get some photos of the “Happy Finishers”, volunteers, etc.

Hooray for beer...

It always cracks me up that my beautiful and tall lovely friend here is named Lisa SHORT.  And speedy too, she got 3rd in her age group.

My friends Kristine and Eric with their little one.  They put on a really good and challenging event each year, the Dragon's Den races.

Deja Vu!  These folks did the Fort Sam Midnite 5K too.

Race Director Tony on the left.   Good job, Tony, nicely done event!

This is how we old men make ourselves look good....get into a photo with lovely ladies.  Official photographer Tom took this photo for me while I held his camera and tripod....feeling like Moses.... "Let my people go!"  

Official photographer Tom, and Sally.  Tom runs all over the course with that camera, taking photos..and is still faster than me, lol, even carrying his camera and tripod.  He does a great job.  Check out his official race photos of this event on the San Antonio Roadrunners website.

Close-up!

My lovely friend, Charysse (right) and her lovely friend making Speedy John (2nd in his age group) look good

Close-up!  Yeah, John, I'd be smiling too, surrounded by two lovely ladies.

My speedy friend Bob (right) who, of course, just happens to be in my age group...oh, the competition, the competition!  A slow old dog can't get a break. 

EPILOGUE

Well done Tony Garcia. This was Tony’s first time as Race Director for this event and – to put it in ‘sorta’ Texan – Bubba dun real good! Nice goodie-bag swag, well-organized event, nicely laid out course, lots of post-race goodies and activities. Sweet! I think Tony is now ‘stuck’ as RD for the future events of this one as he did so well. Mucho thanks to all the folks that made this one happen for the participants – volunteers, sponsors, San Antonio Roadrunners club officers and members involved with the organization, etc. Thanks to the patience of the Helotes residents for allowing us to invade their streets for a couple of hours – especially the folks driving, as the course was an open course and all the drivers I saw on the course were very courteous and conscientious about being safe with we participants. Mucho thanks to owner Roger Soler of Soler Sports and all the Soler Sports staff for allowing us to invade the store in droves – nice to be able to pop in the store for a few minutes out of that wind before and after the race to get warmed up a bit. Definitely would recommend this one to my fellow runners – and I think I actually prefer this location to the McAllister Park location – even with the hills, lol.

Some of the race swag - the race shirt, front and back, and the cap