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/2019%20Race%20Reports/2019%20Race%20Number%205%20Super%20Run%205K%20and%2010K?sort=2

BEFORE MY START

My 5^th race of 2019 was the Super Run 5K on January 26, held at Wheatley Heights park in San Antonio. There was also a 10K.  This event is held over the year at various dates in multiple cities and supports a variety of charities, including CureSearch for Children’s Cancer and the Superfly Children’s Foundation.  For the San Antonio event, this was a pretty laid-back untimed fun-run.  Instead of race shirts, participants got super-hero capes to wear. I gave mine to a kid when I went to packet pickup.  There was a pretty nice turn-out too, with a couple hundred people, maybe even a bit more than that.   Mother Nature was cooperative too with a bit of sunshine, but mostly cloud-cover, a temp near 50 degrees at the 9 a.m. start time, and very little wind.  I arrived with just under an hour until start time and wandered around chatting with friends and getting some pre-start photos.

Welcome to the event

With my friend Sandra.  We both had on Superman/Superwoman socks that had little capes on the back that flew out and up as we ran or walked

Friends Sandra and Fernando

Our Music Man

Two of the race organizers for this local one

Various participants, volunteers, etc.

Doggie was like  'get my best side."

This lady is currently undergoing cancer treatment and came out to walk the event.  God bless her.

My amazing friend Ivette, who does a lot of ultra-distance runs and marathons

Start crowd ahead of me and behind me

ON THE COURSE

Out-and-back course on the off-road Wheatley Heights paved trails, part of the park greenway system of San Antonio.  This is a really nice park with trails that connect to other park trails and you can go a pretty good distance, if so desired, for a bike ride, walk, or run on these greenway system trails. Course was mainly pretty flat with just a couple of pretty mild inclines along the route.  With this many people, the trails were a bit crowded at the initial start, but the pack soon started stringing out a bit.  I don’t know about anyone else on the course not around me, but where I was at any given time, I never saw anyone get impeded, bumped, etc. I was feeling pretty good and went pretty strong and managed to finish at 31 minutes and change.  As this was an untimed fun run there were no age group awards, but everyone did get finisher medals.  I have plenty of medals – 91 races done in 2018 – so I gave mine to some kid in a stroller; the kid did the course too, right?

AFTER MY FINISH

Got some water, did a little cool-down walk, went back to my car – very convenient parking at Wheatley Heights as there is a big stadium here too, so large parking lot that was right near the start/finish area – got on a dry shirt and then got some after-photos of the ‘happy finishers, supporters, volunteers, etc.

EPILOGUE

This is the first time I’ve done this event.  Someone told me last year it was a timed event, but this year not, which was okay with me; at my pace, not like I am going to win an award anyway, lol. This fun-run actually was fun – felt like a big ‘social run’ for we runners – with lots of people in various costumes, capes, gear, etc., and lots of smiling faces, and I encountered here several of my running community friends.  There was also a DJ entertaining us with various music genres, and a background photo screen which several people stood in front of to get some photos.  All-in-all, a pretty nice event, one which I would do again, and would recommend to others.

Mucho thanks to all the folks who made this one happen for we participants; all the organizers, volunteers, sponsors, law enforcement, et al who were out there for us. I believe there was an official photographer there too, taking photos, but not quite sure; might have been someone on her own. Anyway, thank you all for what you do so we participants could have this event.