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%2073%20Paint%20The%20Parkway%20Pink%205K?sort=2

BEFORE MY START

My 73^rd race of 2018 was the Paint the Parkway Pink 5K on October 20, held at North Central Baptist Hospital in the Stone Oak area of San Antonio, Texas.  This event raised money to help find a cure for breast cancer.  Race start time of 9 a.m., so I was able to sleep in a bit, as my drive from home to this area is pretty short.  There was also a kid’s run and a toddler’s event too.  Around 500 or so registered for this event.  Probably would have been more – this is really a good event – but there were 4 other local area races on the same day, so lots of choices for runners and walkers on this race day.   Participants were encouraged to wear pink, but since I own no pink race gear except for a pink headband, I wore that and the pink race bib, and some purple stuff – about as close to pink as I have, lol.  Arrived on site with about an hour to go to the start time and got a few photos. The Atrium of the hospital was open and where the vendors and sponsors were and very nice indoor restrooms instead of porta potties, nice, and also the hospital coffee shop was open for those who wanted to  use that pre-start.  There were also various goodies available from the vendors and sponsors too.

Welcome to the event

iaap crew getting ready for the start

The empty start/finish area before all the activity begins

Various participants, volunteers, etc

At the Atrium area. This was also where the run/walk for the kiddies was

Mmmm...coookies for before and after

With two of the organizers

Participants got these pink tech-tee race shirts, and volunteers did too.  Breast cancer survivors had "SURVIVOR" printed on their shirts.

Dog friendly event...I ran out of treats pretty quick.

Our Race Director giving us info

At the start area

ON THE COURSE

After raining pretty much all week – San Antonio area for some reason has been getting lots and lots of rain since August – Mother Nature was kind to us and did not rain on this event although there were some ‘threatening clouds” above, but we also even got a bit of sunshine along the way too.  Temp was about 66 degrees with low dew-point, nice, and a very slight wind, so actually felt pretty good out there.  The Stone Oak area is known for its hilly terrain, - I think the only flat parts of Stone Oak, lol, are the streets right where you come off a local highway to get into the area and that’s only for a short bit – so we all pretty much knew there were going to be some hills along the way.  We started across the street from the hospital’s atrium building, went out a gate and weaved through a nearby neighborhood – streets were pretty flat for this part – and then across a main street into another neighborhood and this is where the hills began….downhill first…then a slight uphill…then a bit more uphill…then a turn onto a large uphill which you could see the top of, but when you got to the top, you found there was a bit more to do.  After cresting that, another bit of flat, but not for long.  Right turn and downhill to the turn-round point, and then back up this short but very steep hill as participants began making their way back to the finish. And, of course, that first downhill we did was now an uphill on the way back, right before we finally got into the ‘weaving streets” more flatter neighborhood that took us back to the finish line.   I ended up 2^nd in my 60 – 69 males age group  - there were only 3 of us in our age group – with a finish time of 35 minutes and change.  I thought that was pretty good, especially considering I am getting scheduled to get a pacemaker pretty soon due to my low heart-rate.  I think I may need it, lol…that first ½ mile it took me a while to pick up my pace.  All good, though, with everything I have going on, I was happy with my time.

The last bit of the the flat neighborhood before we cross the street and get into the hills

Downhill

Several local high school cheerleaders along the way cheering everyone on

Start the uphilll

I know what's around that corner..... a big, 2-part hill, which I ran all the way up.

Made the turn-round point, now heading back.  People on the left coming down the hill to the turn-round.  On the right we are heading back up the hill on our way to the finish.

Behind me...the turn-round point

Ahead of me...one part of the hill we came down to get to the turn-round.  Now going up it.

The next part.....short but steep

After that, saved the rest of my breath to run nonstop to the finish.

AFTER MY FINISH

Got some water and a banana, found a nice spot to sit and ate and rehydrated a bit.  Had a dry shirt to put on underneath my running shirt, so got that on and then wandered around getting some post-race photos.

With my friend here who was first in his age group

Various others....

Gotta cover Daddy's face with the balloons....lol

Pink hat for 1st place age group winners

Reusable liquid "keep it cool" container for 2nd place....don't know what 3rd place got

EPILOGUE

Well, I did not have anything pink before, but I do now…very nice tech-tee race shirt, really good quality, that I will get my ‘personal motivation logo” put on and this will become one of my race shirts.   Guess I’m going to have go get some long pink socks to match it, lol – my wife and some running friends sometimes think it’s funny that I color coordinate my running gear, lol.  I just like to have fun with it.  This is a really nicely organized event for a great cause.  Iaap did their usual great job of course set-up, timing, results, etc. Vendors and sponsors had lots of pre-race and post-race goodies and freebie give-away stuff.   Very nice race venue with opening ceremonies and award ceremony inside the hospital’s atrium building.  All finishers got a finisher medal.  Age group winners got a pink hat – I think that was for the 1^st place folks – and 2^nd place folks like me got a ‘Paint the Parkway Pink” pink re-usable environment-friendly pink water container:

Have done this event in the past – although this is the first time for me on the newly designed course, which has more hills than I remember, lol, but all good – would do it again in the future, and would definitely recommend this one to others.

Mucho thanks to all involved with this event that made this one happen for we participants.  Thank you, volunteers, sponsors, vendors, hospital administration and staff, law enforcement officers out there for us – I had some joking banter with a few of them along the course, and the officers were all great – and anyone else involved that I may not have mentioned here.  Thank y’all so very much!

That was a hilly race. Fun but not a PR event.

Good luck with your pacemaker. When will that happen?