INTRO

I am Scott aka Scottydog aka Scotty Dogg, 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.

This was my 52nd race of 2015, held on October 25, 2015.  This would have been my 53rd race of the year, but my event on Oct 24 got canceled due to all the rain that got dumped on San Antonio, causing lots of road flooding thanks to Hurricane Patricia.   Last year there were almost 1,000 runners and walkers for this event.  I don't think there were that many this year, the threat of similar weather like yesterday probably held some people back from registering and attending. Well, they missed out.  For this event, we had spotty rain in the morning, which cleared out, and then it was a bit windy with a temp at start time of 62 degrees - which is chilly for we South Texans, lol.   But much better weather than Saturday, making for a pretty pleasant 5K, aside from a bit of head winds we had to deal with.  For this event, a local area nonprofit is the beneficiary of the proceeds.  This year, it was A Neighborhood Place, a west side community center that provides services for the young and old, including computer literacy education, tax preparation, and more. iRun Texas aka iRun, a really good local running store with great folks working there did the timing and course set-up.

BEFORE THE START

9 a.m. start, which was nice, let me sleep in a bit after watching football into the night on Saturday.  Side note:  probably a good thing I don't gamble, lol, most of my teams lost.

I don't know what is up with my cats, lol, for some reason they love sinks.     On Saturday before I left the house for my race, my cat Sinatra was comfortably place in the sink...

Before I left for my event on Sunday....this time it was Midnite in the sink...

OK, I'm dressed out and ready to go....

I arrived at the race site with about 45 minutes to go to the 9 a.m. start time and took some pre-start photos.

A few of my running pals I saw when I first got there....these folks are all very speedy....much faster than me....except for Chris today (Cape May sweatshirt) who is dealing with a broken foot and has a boot on the foot; so I probably could have beaten her in today. 

The lonely start line before all the activity begins...

Mitch Allen, owner of iRun and one of his lovely co-workers/employees.  I interrupted their busy preparations to get a photo.  Notice the jackets.  As said...when the weather gets into the 50s, that's chilly for we South Texans.

Participants, volunteers, etc.  Folks with the blue shirts and yellow lettering with the 5K on it are wearing the race shirts participants got. I've got plenty of shirts, with as many races as I do, so I ordered a 'small' shirt, and asked the registration volunteers to donate it to a child who they felt might like it, like maybe a child of one of the volunteers, or one associated with the nonprofit beneficiary, etc.

A nice covered pavilion, just in case it did start raining on us...

Getting ready to go, with "Old Glory" ahead of us on the start line

In front of me

Behind where I was

These ladies are ready to go

ON THE COURSE

The course was a nice mix of loop/out-and-back on the paved roads of St. Mary's University, giving a nice 'tour" of the university grounds.  Very flat with a couple of  uphill-on-the-way-out and downhill-on-the-way-back inclines - including one we had to climb to get back to the finish -  yes Race Director Mitch Allen, owner of iRun,  does have a warped sense of humor - and one large speed-bump along the way which, as we crossed, I jokingly said to the guy next to me at the time "Who put this hill on the course?"  Other than that, very flat; a pretty good course to shoot for a 5K PR if so inclined;  I wasn't.   I did my usual 8-minute run/2 minute walk thing and took photos during my walk breaks.  After my last walk break, I ran nonstop for the last 1.2 miles, finishing in a total time of 32:50, which was good enough for 2nd in my age group.

On the way out!

I'm past the turn-around point now and heading back toward the finish

AFTER THE FINISH

Took a couple of photos near the finish line....

The lady on the left and I pretty much ran the last 1/2 mile together and finished pretty close to each other

....then it was off to check out the post-race goodies....

Oh yeah...post race beer...

Served up by this nice gentleman

..and breakfast tacos.....very popular....

..no worries, they still have more....

Yeah, beer and tacos...

....and then got photos of some of the volunteers, supporters, "Happy Finishers' et al......

Very nice chat with this gentleman....very fun to talk with..even if he is a Dallas Cowboys fan...   ...see, I grew up in Washington, DC area so have been a Redskins fan all my life... ..that's been a big rivalry for years, the Cowboys and Redskins, so we did a lot of joking back and forth.... super nice guy...I'd buy him a beer.    Oh, and as I was doing this report, I was watching the Redskins game and they came from behind to win, yay!  Now if the Cowboys will just lose their game, I'll have a perfect Sunday.   ...except for my idiot Houston Texans who just can't seem to get their act together this year.

Me and my speedy attractive friend, Bernadette, who got first place in her age group

Aren't we both pretty? 

The university president did the 5K in his Flash suit

... and announced the award winners too..along with Mitch...

Me and a fellow Team RWB member

Three smiling medal recipients.  Whenever I get a medal, I add it to my 'collection" and then when I have enough, take them down to San Antonio Children's Hospital to give to the cancer kids there.  Of course, at my slow pace, it takes quite a while to get a collection, lol.

EPILOG

This is a very nice event at a very nice location and now that I've got my 'two-in-a-row" streak going, I guess I'm going to have to keep on doing this one each year to keep it going.  It is nice that it is done on a Sunday morning because there is not a lot of local competition from other races being done; and a nice touch to this race for those so inclined to attend church is that prior to the race there is a Mass held at 7:30 a.m. for participants, etc.  Really nice post-race goodies - local grocer H-E-B really went all-out on providing some nutrition bars, pretzels, and other stuff and there was a lot left over post-race, so participants were encouraged to take some food with them - especially nice for the university students, cuz everyone who has ever worked in university academia  knows students are always hungry  and love free stuff... .  Mucho thanks to all the sponsors - some displayed here on the back of this guy's race shirt -

and mucho thanks to the vendors/food-and-drink providers;  law enforcement and medical personnel that were out there for our safety; all the volunteers and other folks who worked the race for us, and to iRun for doing their usual great job of course set-up, etc. All the folks that made this one happen for we participants.   Definitely would recommend this one to the runners and walkers that I know.

   Oh, and as I was doing this report, I was watching the Redskins game and they came from behind to win, yay!  Now if the Cowboys will just lose their game, I'll have a perfect Sunday.   ...except for my idiot Houston Texans who just can't seem to get their act together this year.

Houston got that ass spanked today! Miami is not that good FFS.