Beginners and Beyond

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Report and Photos - Eat My Dust 5K/10K (Read 19 times)

scottydawg


Barking Mad To Run

    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.

    Held on Jan 3, 2016, this was my 3rd race of 2016 after doing two 5Ks on New Year’s Day. The Eat My Dust 5K race location was Eisenhower Park in San Antonio. There was also a 10K. Temperature was around 44 degrees, no wind (thank you Mother Nature!) and some sunshine, which was nice after 3 days of drizzling rain. There were 97 total finishers, with the majority of participants doing the 5K.

     

    BEFORE THE START

    Arrived at the park with about 35 minutes to go to the 8:30 a.m. start time, got my race packet and took a few pre-start photos.

     

    Our event MC

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    Race Day Registration/Packet Pick-Up Ladies

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    Athlete Guild Folks...they did the course setup, timing, results, etc.

     

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    Our food guy who cooked up all those sausages for the post-race sausage wraps

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    Some of the participants and supporters

     

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    Anthony Tsai's face has been masked for his identity protection....oh wait...I think I just blew that....damn!  

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    Getting lined up

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    ON THE COURSE

    The course began on one of the park’s paved trails and then went to the off-road trails. Eisenhower Park is known for its hilly terrain and this course was no exception. Very hilly in places, with lots of rocky terrain, and sometimes steep trail. The terrain was such that this event for me – and probably some others too- was a pretty nice “hike” with a bit of running thrown in when the terrain allowed it. Also, after all the rain/drizzle in the last 3 days, some very slick spots and rocks along the way, making for some careful going. . I definitely got in my hill work for the week. This was one of my slowest 5Ks ever, with me finishing in 49:18, but still good enough for me to get 1st in my age group, as I was the only one IN the 60+ men’s age group for the 5K, lol. The guy who won the 5K did this course in 22:15 and my friend, Rafael Iniquez finished 2nd in 27:46. How they went that fast on this course, I can’t imagine….they must have some mountain-goat in their blood. After I finished, I noticed that Fire/Rescue was onsite, so I think someone did fall on the course. I never found out exactly what did happen, but I hope it was not too serious, e.g., life threatening, etc. Best wishes for that person or persons.

     

    Toward the beginning of the off-road part

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    Up, up, up....

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    We're rockin' now....

     

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    Ahhh...can run again...

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    ...well, for a short bit anyway...

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    OK....this part takes us heading toward the finish....

     

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    ...but we still had to do a bit more climbing....

     

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    Some terrain!

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    Nice panoramic view at the top....

     

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    ...and  down we go towards the finish.....looking ahead of me...

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    Looking behind where I just came from...

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    A bit farther on, looking behind me again...we still had a bit of a climb before we got to the flat park taking us to the finish

     

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    And from there I said, heck with it, I am getting this puppy done before a starving coyote finds out there is a fat guy on the trail...and I ran nonstop to the finish......

     

    Yay! Done and still in one piece!

     

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    One of my fellow Team RWB (ReD White & Blue; veterans organization) members finishing the 10K

     

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    AFTER THE FINISH

    Post-race goodies included sausage wraps, sodas, and water. As I munched on a sausage wrap and drank some water, I wandered around getting some photos of the “Happy Finishers” – definitely happy…or at least relieved…after finishing the 5K/10K course from hell. OK, it probably was not that bad – I am sure experienced trail runners can tell of a course probably much more difficult than this one - but it was a tough course for an amateur trail runner like me. And a few people missed the course trail markers and actually went farther than the 5K and 10K distance. A couple folks doing the 10K told me they actually had gone 6.7 miles or so, after taking a wrong turn. Dang…tough terrain to do EXTRA miles on!

     

    Post-race folks...

     

     

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    This lady was the first woman 10K finisher

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    Some of the medal winners

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    Me and Race Director - and one of my running crushes - Sherri

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    EPILOGUE

    I am not much of a ‘technical trail” runner any longer these days; my trail running is usually done on pretty well-groomed trails with a minimum of ‘challenges’…mainly because I am a klutz, lol. Several years ago in my pre-arthritis days I did do quite a few different trails and I have run before the course for today’s 5K, but it was quite a while back, so I will probably just stick to the paved trails in this park for future events. All in all, a pretty good event, made that way mostly by my fellow runners that I was in company with at any given time on the trail, with everyone supporting each other with joking comments, encouragement, a lending hand when needed, and also helping each other keep on the right path – which I especially appreciated as I am ‘directionally’ challenged, lol. I would certainly recommend this event for my fellow runners who are interested in off-road trail running and are looking for a nice challenge, and it does give a beginner a nice ‘taste” of trail running.

     

    Mucho thanks to Race Director Sherri Purnell of Athlete Guild and her volunteers who actually went out on the course the day before in the drizzling rain – making for an even tougher course for them; at least we participants had dry weather for the day – to lay out the course for us and put up the markers. Thanks to all the other volunteers and to Athletes Guild (timing, course results, etc) and all the sponsors and other folks who made this one happen for we participants.

     

    The race shirt participants got…nice tech tee

     

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    Hope you enjoyed the report!  See you at the races!

     

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    "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt

    LRB


      That was a wonderful shot from the top but that course looks brootal. I would need an ATV too complete it. lol

      music_girl117


        At least it was scenic along with the difficult terrain. Smile  Thanks for sharing.

        PRs:

        5k - 22:53  (May 2015)

        10k - 50:00 (unofficial; part of 20k race, March 2015); 50:33 (official; July 2016)

        HM - 1:48:40  (Apr. 2015)

        Half Crazy K 2.0


          That climb looks brutal. Loose rocks on hills suck. Nice RR. You're on pace for 366 events this year.

          GinnyinPA


            You are off to a great start for 2016.  Nice work doing four races in less than a week. Running a trail race is something completely different, and though harder, it does make a nice change, I'm sure.  Looks fun.