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 44th race of 2014 - start and finish at Orange Leaf (yogurt) at Creekside Shopping Center in New Braunfels TX
• Put on by AthleteGuild, a very good local area racing company and sponsored, of course, by Orange Leaf
• Start time of 6:30 a.m. for the half, 7 a.m. for the 5K.  Nice to have an early start, weather was great for Texas summer here, 65 degrees, dew-point only in the 60s, nice little breeze blowing.  Sweet.
• Half Marathon and a 5K.  519 total finishers, 285 for the half, and 234 for the 5K
• I ended up 2nd in my age group (60-64) with a chip time of 33:33.

BEFORE THE START

Since it was an early start, on Friday after work I drove to New Braunfels (about a 30-minute drive from San Antonio usually, but with after work traffic took more like 45 minutes) and got my packet.  When I got there, the line was pretty long and just 2 packet pickup volunteers trying to get everyone their stuff.  Well, Scott Wood of AthleteGuild is a good friend and I do a lot of his company's races, so am familiar with the drill, so I went ahead and offered my services and helped with packet pickup until the line got down.  Then I got my own stuff, drove home, and had an early night.  Up at 5 a.m. and drove to New Braunfels again.  Hardly any traffic this time so get there pretty quick.  Still dark when I got there, so turned on my flash and wandered around taking a few pre-start photos and camera flash-blinding a few folks.

When I was taking this photo, the guy made me think of that song..."I wear my sunglasses at night..." 

These two runners and I both did the Popsicle 4th of July 5K a couple of weeks ago.  Today he and doggie did the half-marathon

Two of my inspirational "Senior Citizens" running buds, Dave and Joanne, who are in their 70s.  They just keep going and going and going.  Don't let Dave's age fool you, though...he is speedy!  He finished first in his age group with a time of 27:10

The folks doing the half lined up for their 6:30 a.m. start, the National Anthem was sung, and they were off.   So the rest of these pre-start  participants were all doing the 5K; and it was getting lighter now to see a bit better for the photos.

My speedy buds Gene - who is NOT in my age group, thank goodness! - and his wife, Loyce

Other sponsors included GNC and Camp Gladiator

ON THE COURSE

Nice to start the 1/2 folks first because they were long-gone by the time we 5K folks started 30 minutes later, so neither race participants were jostling each other.   OK, it's a SHOPPING center...so not exactly a scenic course.   But it is a nice and very FLAT course, making it a good PR course for those folks who want to go for a PR.  The 1/2M winner guy finished in 1:08, by the way.  Dang!   The course for both the 5K and the half  was an out-and-back.   We started in the parking lot behind Orange Leaf, made a turn onto one of the shopping center entrance drives, went to the top of that, turned left and then went down onto a 'country road" where the turn-around point was, and then came back the way we had gone out.   It really was FLAT and the country road we were on to the turn-around point had a whole lot of nothing surrounding it.  As the song goes "I can see for miles and miles and miles..." and we really could!

I was feeling pretty good and got to the turn-around point quicker than I thought I would.  Now on the 'country road' heading back for the shopping center area and the finish.  This road was open to traffic, but traffic was pretty light and what traffic there was, the drivers were pretty good about it all, very safety-conscious of the participants from what I saw, as the local residents know this race is held here each year.   It was pretty funny sometimes, though.  At one point I had stopped to take a photo and I didn't realize a car had stopped right behind me.  Another runner called "Scotty, car behind you!"   I looked behind me and sure enough, there it was, with the lady driver patiently waiting.  Duhhh on me......     I moved farther over and called to the lady, who had her windows down,  "Sorry!" but she was laughing and called to me, "It's okay, I'm a runner too, I know the drill.  Good luck!'"  Nice!

I'm on the right side of the road...runners coming toward me are heading to the turn-around point

I can see for miles and miles....

I'm on the left now, looking behind me, the way I just came, runners coming toward me from the turn-around point

After that I humped it on back to the finish nonstop.  I passed one guy - who subsequently found his mojo and blew by me near the finish - and  I began chasing a young lady in front of me as we headed toward the finish.   Could not quite catch her though, she finished very handily before me at 30-something, with me coming in 3 minutes behind her.  33:33 chip time finish for me, good enough for 2nd in my age group.  Of course, there WERE only 4 guys IN my age group, lol.  Still, I ran strong and punched it up at the finish, passing about 4 other folks on the way there, so felt pretty good about this one.

AFTER THE FINISH

Ahhh, nothing like a cold post-race beer at 7:45 a.m, lol.

I got a photo of this lovely little lady finishing with her older 'sisters." . She stopped just short of the finish line and one of the volunteers called to her..."Run here, this is the finish line!" and off she went.  She got lots of cheers from everyone.

My friend, Joanne coming in...

Besides, beer and water and yogurt, of course, there were also 4 kinds of breakfast tacos; a couple of them being enjoyed here by Dave and Joanne.

Top 3 overall males and females in each event got these "Orange Leafed Chocolate Oranges"

"Happy Finishers", etc.   The folks who did the half all got finisher medals.

Two young lady racers with their Dad.  They did quite well and were in my proximity for most of the race.

Our MC, who did a really great job

My old eyes thought her shirt read PARTY...yeah, my kinda lady!

Oh...PARRY...  duhhhh me, again, lol...

OK, from her expression I think I blinded her with the sun when I turned them around a bit... I have SUCH great photography skills, lol..

Two running friends I will soon dearly miss...they are both Army and relocating to Michigan... Uh oh...REAL winter for them in the future!

Shining bright like the constellation are these "3 Sisters"... 

Ooo la la...that's a heap of beautiful smiles!

The young lady in the middle is the one I couldn't quite close the gap with near the finish.  She handily beat me in by 3 minutes or so.

These two guys give a good view of the nice tech tee race shirt participants got.

Some tall guys in these photos...probably 2 of their running steps are about 10 of mine...

Some of the 5K age group award recipients, including yours truly

 EPILOG

A very fun event, one that continues to be on my race calendar each year.  Lots of nice folks show up for this one, lots of nice post-race goodies, very nice race shirts, door prizes (none of which I won), nice flat course, and early start time, which is really nice in Texas summer, wish all the RDs would do their Texas summer races like that!   Much thanks to all the volunteers, sponsors, police officers, etc., who were out there for us making it all happen.

You're on a roll, Scotty! Congrats.

What's with the Miller 64?

Great RR, Scotty and congrats on another race!  By golly they should start all races this early in Texas in the summer.  Was nice seeing the pre-sun pictures because i knew that meant cooler temps!

What do you do to make everyone smile?

I just show up....and when I appear people begin to laugh... .