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.

SHORT VERSION REPORT

My 13th race of 2014.  Diploma Dash is held annually by the University of Texas at San Antonio to raise money for scholarship funds an supports the UTSA Alumni Association.  The Diploma Dash is the 5K City Championship Race for San Antonio and the largest chip-timed 5K in the city.  This was the 30th anniversary of the race.  Quite a nice turnout, maybe close to 2,000 people, maybe a little over that, especially considering there were 3 other 5Ks in the local area that morning.   You would think that all the local Race Directors would coordinate with each other about race dates so they didn't conflict and each race would then get more participants but, oh well, it is what it is.  Weather was very cooperative, sunny - but did turn overcast a bit into the race, and we got drizzled on a tad - and around 57 degrees or so.  I got a bit carried away on this one and took LOTS of photos,  which slowed my time down a bit and I ended up with a chip time of 34:58.

LONG VERSION WITH PHOTOS

Before The Start

Arrived on the UTSA campus with about 45 minutes to go and began taking photos as I headed to the start area.  The race shirts we got are the blue UTSA Diploma Dash shirts some of the folks in these photos are wearing.

The Welcome Center and Baurlee Garage Building, where the start/finish area was.

Main Building which has administrative offices, student classrooms, etc

Me and Rowdy RoadRunner, the school Mascot

The Happy Couple...my friends Bill and Chris, who will be married in June

Our EMT guys who biked the course during the race, making sure everyone was okay

The pre-start and post-finish area, with lots of activity...food booths, information tents, etc.   And lots of dogs..leashed dogs were welcome to run this event.

Buddy, the mascot of local store H-E-B, a fortune 500 company  headquartered in San Antonio and a huge supporter of UTSA.  H-E-B recently gave a $5M gift to UTSA.

The shirt the guy with the hat is wearing says "I'm A Beak Freak" since our mascot is a Roadrunner bird.

The building behind these ladies is the College of Business building, where I started working at UTSA 17 years ago.

Getting ready to go...I am waaaay in the back from the start banner

On The Course

The course was a loop around the campus.   Since I run on the campus a couple days a week I was familiar with the course, which included a small incline/hill almost right after the start, another hill, short but steep, just before the 2-mile mark, and then we had to do the BIG hill with about a 1/2 mile to the finish.

This is just a little past the 1/2 mile mark.  And at various points along the way, there were small signs to read.

I thought this was kind of funny..you can see the McDonald's arch in the distance, over the heads of all the runners.

This was about the halfway point

DJ playing music for us along the way

One of our great UTSA Police Dept officers keeping us safe along the campus roads

Another participant I know took my camera and ran ahead of me and then got this photo of me running - well what I call running, lol.  I am certainly not a 'form pretty' runner, but I get where I want to go.   Nice of him since I almost never get  running photos of me along the course since I'm usually taking the pictures.  This is with just under a mile to go.

About a half mile to go and we hit the Big Hill that goes up to one of the campus parking lots.  We went up the hill, did a little turn-around and then it was down the hill, a right turn, and off to the finish line.

We saw this sign as we went up the hill

This lady was at the top of the hill playing music for us, and gave me the Roadrunner Sign

After The Race

Apologies for the tv 'dream sequence' look in some of the photos, I was sweating quite a bit and misting up my camera lens.

First stop...the Beer Volunteers!

Thanks for the beer!  Silver Eagle is one of the largest Budweiser distributors in South Texas and also a huge supporter of UTSA.

As for goodies and activities post-race

Rock climbing wall...

Whataburger, another UTSA supporter and a  local company which is huge in Texas was giving out these really quite taste sausage-and-cheese and bacon-and-cheese taquitos

These ladies were serving hot dogs

And these ladies were handing out small cartons of cherry tomatoes

This lovely lady was our MC and kindly allowed me a photo with her

Happy Finishers, Supporters, etc...

The guy on the right ran the whole course in those minimal sandals and placed in his age group.

This is one of my canine pals, Abby, who I see at a lot of local events I do.

this is the guy who kindly took the photo of me running on the course

Me and Thor...our breathing sounds exactly alike when we run...   I think Thor has the advantage in the looks department, though..

Thor and his Human

Sparky the Fire Dog

Sparky and his Human

Two dogs....we should have a fire-hydrant between us.. 

EPILOG

A very nice event, good cause, good weather, good folks all around, great sponsors, lots of post-race goodies.  Definitely one to do if you're ever in San Antonio when it's happening!

After this I went home and rested up a bit as I did another 5K the same day at 5 PM:  The Neon Sun 5K (report and photos for that one here: https://www.runningahead.com/groups/BF_and_Beyond/forum/Post/f27e8fe6d76e4cb7bc5f52815d6ca979#focus )

Yay!  A running picture of Scottydog!  Nice to run with a home course advantage, yes?  The signs were a nice touch, too.  They do those for our local HM, and I look forward to seeing them every mile.

Thor is the cutest!

I absolutely love the picture of you flexing your arms in the middle.  It's like, people running, people running...SCOTTY!!...people running...  It made me giggle.  Great race report as always!

Lots of pics for sure, nice job Scotty.

Cherry tomatoes as post-race food, brilliant.  Those sure beat the standard hot dogs and pizza.

Great job, Scotty!  Looks like everyone had fun!  Love the action picture of you during the race  - when you see that young man again, please thank him for me!  Thanks for sharing!