Barking Mad To Run
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.”
And a big thanks to runningahead.com for allowing me a “home” for my many many MANY race reports and photos. Great site, free training log; calendars; running routes; maps; conversation forums for runners; and much more
I don’t have great camera skills and take photos with a camera that is like me - old fashioned, lol - so sorry if a photo appears a bit blurry, etc. However, they are free to save, share, etc.
Here is yet another of my photo reports. Full report below.
Link to photos only:
http://s166.photobucket.com/user/scottydog69/slideshow/2018%20Race%20Reports/2018%20Race%20Number%2022%20Mutt%20Strutt%205K?sort=2
BEFORE MY START
My 22nd race of 2018 was Mutt Strutt 5K in support of Wilson County Animal Shelter. Held on March 31 in Floresville at Helton San Antonio River Nature Park, a really nice park with both paved and a few off-road trails. This is a fairly small event – for now anyway – with about 60 to 70 participants for the event this year. Also dog friendly, given the cause, so several participants were accompanied by their dogs. 8 a.m. start time. I arrived with about 45 minutes to go, got my race packet and then got some pre-start photos….and handed out some dog treats.
With some fellow Team RWB (Red White Blue) members
Start line waiting for all of us. If some of the park trails had not been flooded we would have gone straight down that other road for the regular course.
Our Athlete Guild Timer and Results guy
With my pal, Bernadette. Known her for over 20 years.
Two Old Dogs..me and friend Albert
He's cracking me up, lol...
Mr. Easter Rabbit was there.....surprised the dogs didn't all chase him.
Various participants, volunteers, etc.
This lady on the right, God Bless her, is a brain cancer survivor! I keep extra "I Beat Cancer" shirts in my car and I definitely gave her one.
ON THE COURSE
With recent big rain we had a couple of days earlier in the week some of the park trails were still a little bit flooded so in the interest of runner safety, the nice course we did last year was closed off and we ended up doing 4 laps on the 2 main dirt-and-gravel roads of the park. It was distant enough that I did not feel like a white lab rat running in circles but even so, by that last lap, lol, I was ready to be done. Anyway, the race folks did what they had to do, I get that, participant safety has to come first, and they certainly can’t control Mother Nature. Hope we get better weather next year because the original route is a really nice one – so next year, behave yourself Mother Nature!! 😉 And we all did what we had to do, which was run or walk the 4 laps. It was a kind of out-and-back thing too so the nice thing was the participants saw each other several times going-and-coming, and so lots of encouragement to each other as we went along, and so forth. All good. I ended up with 34:45 finish time, 4th in my age group of 60 – 69; jeez the first 3 guys in my age group all finished in 20-something! Some speedy old farts in my age group, lol. After I finished I went back out on the course a couple of times and ran in with a couple of friends who were still out there doing it.
After 4 laps, I bet these volunteers, - green shirt guy and the young ladies - were sick of seeing us all, lol
Finish line volunteers....and I am done!
Went back out on the course to bring in some friends...saw this lady finishing
My friend Mary coming in
Albert looks a bit tired as he comes in....but, bless him, at 525 years old in dog years, he's still out there doing it!
Ran in with my friend Jill
AFTER MY FINISH
Got some of the post-race goodies – primarily various fruits, water, some other small stuff, etc – and got some water and did a bit of a cool-down walkabout and then got some post-race photos.
Team RWB guy who finished way ahead of me. Athlete Guild guy in the vehicle; he drove along the course at various times making sure everyone was ok. Thanks!
Another cancer survivor. Gave him a shirt too.
Look at the camera, doggies!
There we go...
Medal winner!
My friend Lynette - who walks about as fast as I run, lol - got a medal too
Bernadette, as usual, placed. She must have about two garage-fulls of medals by now, lol.
The oldest dog there got a medal too.
These two are my medals, lol. With friends Bernadette and Mary
An organization Lynette is with made a donation to the Wilson County Animal Shelter
With my lovely friend
EPILOGUE
Sorry to have missed the original course, but even to, this was, as usual, a very well-organized event in a nice location. Organizers and volunteers were all great. Nice goody bag with a good quality cotton-tee and even a bandana for the doggies – or for humans too if they want to wear a bandana – and some other nice stuff. Don’t know why more participants don’t show up for this one, it really is done well. Hopefully, it won’t grow TOO big though, lol – cuz then the park officials would probably make the race location move, right? Which would be a shame, this really is a nice park to run in. Definitely will do this one again and would recommend it to others.
Mucho thanks to all the people that made this one happen for we participants, including Wilson County Shelter staff, volunteers, Athlete Guild for timing, results, all the sponsors, and anyone else I may not have mentioned here. Without all of you, no race for we participants, so thank you very much!
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
It looks like a nice flat course, unlike your race yesterday. Was the dirt road muddy and slippery?
No, it was fine. There were a couple of muddy spots along the way, but the road was wide enough for us to go around those.