Beginners and Beyond

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2018 Race 35 - Girls On the Run 5K (Read 6 times)

scottydawg


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: Apologies, a couple of the photos would not load to my photobucket album for some reason, but I will make sure to post them on FB so my friends there who are in the photos can save their photos.

    http://s166.photobucket.com/user/scottydog69/slideshow/2018%20Race%20Reports/2018%20Race%20Number%2035%20Girls%20On%20The%20Run%205K?sort=2

     

    Before My Start

    My 35th race of 2018 was Girls On The Run 5K held on May 6 at local San Antonio park Comanche Park.  Start time of 9:30, which I appreciated after my evening run of 7 pm on Saturday, so I got to sleep in a bit for Sunday morning. Bexar County Girls On The Run (https://www.gotrsanantonio.org) is a program designed to build girls' self-worth and help them feel greater confidence in who they are. There are programs in several cities across the US.  The program culminates with the 5K.  It is a very popular local race and this year’s event had a little over 900 people registered, including the girls in the program, their running buddies and their team coaches, family members, friends, etc. I got on site with about an hour to go to start time, got my timing chip, and then wandered around getting some photos.

     

    Various participants, volunteers, supporters, etc.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    With my friend, Joe, and his dog, Yeti The Wonder Dog.  The things this dog can do are amazing. He and Joe did a half last weekend. Yeti always knows, lol, that I have treats for him.

     

    Our Music Man - who was the Music Man for the 5-miler I did on Saturday night.  Busy guy!

     

    Our MC, Lana

     

    Thank you, race day volunteers!

     

    With friend, Mitch, owner of local store and race management compay iRun Texas

     

     

     

    Lana not only stands out in a crowd, she stands out above a crowd!  Giving us directions at the start/finish area

     

    My speedy friend, Tanya, here, was first overall woman, masters division

     

     

    They shall not pass!  At least not until the gun goes off, lol.  Thanks volunteers.

     

    Ahead of me and behind me in the start area.  900+ participants for this one

     

     

    This guy sang the National Anthem just beautifully

     

    And then we were off and going!

     

     

     

     

    On The Course

    Comanche Park is part of San Antonio’s ‘greenway system’ of parks, so this park connects to another, which connects to another, and so forth, so you can go a long way here from the trailhead if you wanted to.  Thankfully, after 2 races done for me for the weekend already, I was glad we were only doing 5K distance, lol.  This was an out-and-back course, mostly flat, with just a couple of inclines on the way out-and-back, nothing you could really call a hill.  Nicely shaded course too for most of the way.  With this many participants, the trail was a bit crowded at times but where I was at any given time everyone seemed to be pretty polite about it all, making way for faster participants and  for those still heading to the turn-round point, moving over for participants that were already heading back to the finish. I hope it was that way everywhere on the course.  People I saw seemed to be, for the most part, enjoying themselves.  And we sure had a beautiful day for it too, some sunshine, a very light wind, and low humidity, temp around 68 or so at the start.  After 2 races I just kinda took it easy going out, going slower than I normally run.  After the turn-round the course crowd tens to ‘thin’ a bit and I actually had a burst of energy for the back half of the course, doing negative splits, finishing with a 34:28 chip time.  I was very surprised to find I had finished first in my age group (60 – 69), so I think just about everyone in my age group must have slept in that day, lol.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Made the turn-round point, am heading back to the finish area

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    After My Finish

    At the finish line, everyone got an iced down towel, nice.  Put that on the back of my neck, got both water and Gatorade, did a short cool-down walk and then sat in car for a few minutes with the a/c on, cooling way down…ahhhhhh, nice!  After that, felt very refreshed and was off to get some after-photos.  Some nice post-race goodies including water, gatorade, and several different types of burritos. There wer also some food trucks onsite.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I did 3 races for the weekend.  My friend, Bernadette, did FOUR, and she placed in all of them.

     

     

    Epilogue

     

    Mucho thanks to all the people who got this one organized for we participants, including local race management iaap who did the timing and results, all the sponsors, all the volunteers, park police that were out there for us, our music guy – who was the same guy that was the music man for my Saturday night race – Lana Hernandez for doing MC duties, and a HUGE thank you to friend Sally Seeker who is Race Director for this one, having to take care of all the logistics and make sure everything is right.  Kudos also anyone else I may not have mentioned here.  Thank all of you so much for doing what you do so we participants can do what we love to do.

    "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt