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%2010%20Street2Feet%205K

BEFORE MY START

My 10^th race of 2019 was the Street2Feet 5K held on Feb 16 in San Antonio.  This was the 10^th anniversary of this event, so appropriate it was my 10^th one of the year since I have done this race each year since it first started.  Street2Feet is a 5K training program designed to promote strength and success among individuals experiencing homelessness, empowering them to be successful and  confident in challenges they take on.  We were supposed to get some sunshine and pretty good weather, but weather guys kinda blew that one, as the morning brought overcast skies and temps in the low 50s, which is not bad, except there was also a pretty stiff wind blowing making it feel colder.  Start time of about 8:15 a.m.  I arrived with about 345 minutes to go, found parking pretty close by – which is not easy to do in downtown San Antonio when there are events gong on – and then, since I had picked up my packet the day before, wandered around and got some pre-start photos.   This event included a vendor fair, a kid’s run, and even Coyote, the mascot of the NBA San Antonio Spurs, showed up for this one.

Welcome to the event

Race Director Lana

Lana with Music Man Paul

Spurs Coyote on site

Coyote with my friend Lewis, who is pretty darn speedy himself

Thank you bike pacers

Various

Dog friendly event.  My speedy friend Luna with her human Bill

The lady, 3rd person from the right, my friend Ceci, is the one that does all that hard work to make sure everyone has the race shirts.  She is quite the designer.

My friend Max always runs his events carrying the flag - and still manages to usually place in his age group.

In the start crowd

1 minute to start

Selfie in the start crowd, with my old-time camera.  Unlike a phone, I can't see my image when I do a selfie.  After all my years with this camera I am finally getting the knack, lol.   Man, I really have to trim those hairy arms..      ...that hair does keep my arms warmer in cold weather though.. 

ON THE COURSE

Due to some ongoing construction in the area of the usual route for this one, the route changed this year.  A nicely thought-out course that started on the corner of Houston and Flores and then took us through part of downtown San Antonio, into the historic King William District – lots of 19^th century old-time mansions and homes in here – and then onto part of the San Antonio Riverwalk before we came back up onto street level and headed for the finish.  I ended up with a chip time of 33:33 and did not expect to win anything, as my age group was 60 – 69 and there are some really speedy in-shape old guys in m group – the first 3 all finished in the 20s time-frame.  I enjoyed the course and took several photos along the way.

Heading down Flores Street toward King William area

In the King William District

Tall white building is the historic Pioneer Flour Mill business.  Pioneer is still in business and on Sunday mornings their restaurant serves a brunch that is very popular, the place is always packed.

Historic Steves Mansion, in which you can take a tour.

Greeted by music as we went onto the Riverwalk portion of the course

Heading up the Riverwalk toward St. Mary's Street.  We had a nice view of the river, like this one.

After that, nonstop running back to the finish line.  Then got a couple of photos of  some people coming in after me.

AFTER MY FINISH

I had ditched some base layer shirts to do the race and got those back on right after I finished since the wind really started to pick up after the finish.  Feeling much more comfortable, wandered around and got a bunch of various photos of finishers, supports, vendors, volunteers, etc.

Nice view of my friend Jennifer shirt shopping

Some of the Team iaap folks that did the course set up, race timing, results, etc.

My speedy friend, Don, still going strong at 70+

Friends from Team RWB (Red White & Blue) veterans group

More happy finishers, etc.

Speed walkers.  Really fast walkers too.

Bernadette, as usual, placed

EPILOGUE

As said, nicely thought out course for this change of course.  Pretty flat and then scenic once you get into King William District and on the Riverwalk. Missed passing by The Alamo this year – the way the original course goes – but that may sadly now be a thing of the past as there is some remodeling of the area going on and some local controversy about how Alamo Plaza will end up being. Until that resolves, may have to continue doing other courses than the original one, which makes me feel for my friend and the Race Director, Lana; this has got to be tough for her and her volunteers to figure this out each year from now on.  Nice quality cotton tee race shirt – and a big thanks to the iaap race management and the Street2Feet folks who know I prefer tech tees over cotton. so they made a special tech tee race shirt just for me, wow. Thank you so much, Lana and Street2Feet folks and iaap!  Definitely going to get my “motto’ put onto that and will be doing some runs and races in it.

Mucho thanks to all the people who made this event happen for we participants:  Haven for Hope – an organization that is a huge part of helping the homeless, those with various addictions, etc – the Street2Feet organization and all the volunteers and inspiring runners and walkers they had out there, the police officer out there keeping us safe on the streets, the bike pacers leading the way, and all the other sponsors, vendors, volunteers, organizations and anyone else I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all!