INTRO

I am Scott aka Scottydog aka Scotty Dogg, runner since 1983, cancer survivor – caught very early, so I actually had a fairly easy time of it - , retired Air Force, employee of University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), friend of dogs, fun-runner, and all-around punster and 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.  My only goals for a race these days are finish everything I start, have fun along the way, and finish standing up with no ambulance waiting for me. 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 – unless it’s a mean dog; then the biscuit goes in one direction and I go in another. Hence my nickname “Scottydog.” Here is yet another of my Race Reports with Photos. I am not exactly a good photographer but hey, at least all the photos are free so my ‘subjects’ can save and share their photos if they so desire. Mucho thanks to all the people I interacted with at this event for their graciousness, patience, and good humor in letting me take photos of them.

Held on January 31, 2016, this was my 7^th race of 2016. The Dystonia 5K was done for a member of our running community who has dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that causes painful involuntary muscle contractions and spasms. It causes abnormal postures and movements in the head, neck and shoulders. Race location: 9 a.m. start time at O.P. Schnable Park, done on trails that are part of the San Antonio greenway trails system. Weather was already over 60 degrees but low humidity and dew-point, sweet. Nice turn-out for this event, about 200 people. There was a 5K and a 10K. I did the 10K and ended up with a finish time of 32:20, putting me 2^nd in my age group of 60 – 69.

BEFORE THE START

Arrived at the park with a little less than an hour to go to start time and immediately began to get some pre-start photos.

Me with Race Director Virginia, one of my favorite people.

Some of the iaapweb.com folks who did the course setup, timing, race results, etc.

The lovely Minny (the lady, not the dog, althoug the dog is mini ) and Mario

The lovely Lana

ANGEL Jose with his shining heavenly lights;  okay, I accidentally hit my flash button and it lit him up, lol.

OK, that's better

Some of the participants, sponsors, supporters, etc.  The people wearing the blue "Run for Dystonia' tech tees are wearing the race shirts participants got in the goody bags.

In the start area

This guy was the one who got first in my age group for the 5K

ON THE COURSE

I’ve run several times at this park, so knew what to expect: an uphill for about the 1^st quarter mile, then a downhill incline, then a large downhill, then a mostly flat course with a few inclines – nothing you could really call a major hill, in my opinion – to the turn-around point; and then back the way we came. Of course, going back, we had to climb UP that big downhill we initially came out on. Once we turned left, however, to head for the finish line, it was all downhill from that point. O.P. Schnabel is a very nice park, with scenic trails – both paved and off-road – with some of them going alongside a creek. The park also has a large event pavilion and some smaller pavilions inside the park, baseball and soccer fields, picnic and grilling areas, and one of the local YMCAs is located in the park – which is convenient for me, as I am a member of the Y and can use the shower and locker facilities, etc.

Creek to the left of us going out, on our right coming back

I made the turn-around and am heading back now the way we had come out

Goofin...got a photo of me on the trail and with the creek and woods to my back..except the creekbed was dry at this point of the trail, lol

This is the big hill we went down on the way out, and climbed on the way to the finish.  I stopped and got a photo looking back.  As you can see this is a 2-part hill...we came up first part of the hill - you can see a bit of it on the left behind that last lady - and then turned right come up this part..

And then we had to do this up incline to a turn at a picnic pavilion, where it was downhill to the finish from there. It was about 1/4 of a mile up this incline to the downhill turn.

AFTER THE FINISH

Post-race goodies included breakfast tacos – choice of potato & egg or bean & cheese- various fruits, pastries, cupcakes….and beer! Love Carrera Races, they always have great stuff post-race.

This was some good stuff...

Happy finishers, supporters, volunteers, sponsors, etc

The lady on the right was the first overall female for the 5K

I finished WAY behind all these speedy folks here, lol.

My speedy friend, Bernadette, got 2nd in her age group

Very bright sunlight today - gotta love San Antonio winters, lol - so a few people here took a short nap... 

Team Tyler and Perry provided those breakfast tacos for us...thanks so much!  "Coach Dog" to the right is making sure they all behave. 

This dog is so cool and so funny.  He loves bananas.  So while I took the photo, a friend of mine held up a banana near my camera, with the dog looking right at it, lol.   Yes, he did get the banana piece after we finished, and he gobbled it right down.

This doggie helped pull his lady up that finishing hill...and then took a well-deserved rest.

Some of the folks who got medals

10K winner in 37-something, averaging 6-something per mile, good grief!  His 10K time is close to my 5K time, lol.

And in closing...I did a Selfie with my camera with Bernadette.  As I have an 'ancient" camera, we kind of had to guess where to point the lens, lol, since we could not see ourselves, like on a phone camera, and then hope for the best.  I think this came out pretty good.

EPILOGUE

I do several Carrera Races events over the year and they never disappoint. Nice organization, nice course locations, nice post-race goodies, nice goody bags, and usually a very nice quality tech-tee race shirt. Definitely check out their race calendar on their Carrera Races website. Also check out the iaapweb.com race calendar too. They did the timing and results for this event – and they work closely with Carrera Races on its events – and iaapweb also has some pretty darn good events over the year too.

Mucho thanks to all the volunteers, sponsors, etc, who were all out there we participants today; all those folks that make this one happen for we entrants. All of you did great for us!

I did the 10K and ended up with a finish time of 32:20, putting me 2^nd in my age group of 60 – 69.

5k or 10k?  Either way, nice job.