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

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%20No%205%20Martin%20Luther%20King%205K?sort=2

Before My Start

My 5th race of 2018 was the Martin Luther King 5K held on January 14 at, appropriately, Martin Luther King Park in San Antonio.  This race benefits the Young Men's Leadership Academy (YMLA).  Just as a side note, San Antonio has one of the largest - maybe the largest - Martin Luther King Day marches in the country.  I usually try to do this event every year.  I grew up in the DC area and recall the "I Have A Dream" speech there.  My parents were great admires of Dr. King and they instilled in me growing up to treat everyone fairly and equally.  As my Mom told me several times "Don't look at WHAT a person is, look at WHO a person is."  This advice served me well during my Air Force career as I had several overseas assignments in many countries and made some lifelong friends by getting to know the local cultures and people.

This event had a pretty nice turnout for a Sunday morning and Mother Nature was good to us with abundant sunshine and a  temperature of near 40 degrees at the 9 a.m. start time, with no wind, nice.  I arrived on site with about an hour to go to start time and wandered around chatting with many friends and taking pre-start photos.

I have arrived....

This club kindly gave us use of their facility for the event. Nice to have INDOOR restrooms on a chilly day.

Me with friend Don - he was 3rd in my age group - beat me in by a good 10 minutes. Now, if there had been 5-year age groups instead of 10-year age groups, he would not have been in my age group at all... "I coulda been a contender!"  lol, and I am sure the older folks know what movie that line is from.

Various participants, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, etc.

Our MC

Some pre-and-post race entertainment

Answering that age-old question on those old Wendy's commercials.  Here's the beef!

One of my favorite people - Ms. Lana.  She is the Race Director for local upcoming Street2Feet 5K event in February.  Great event!  If you are local or in San Antonio on Feb 17, sign up, you will not regret it.

Dog friendly course - and the doggies did get treats from me.

Thank you iaapweb for the course setup, timing, results, etc.

Getting ready to go...looking behind me at the start line

I am still smiling.....let's see if that's true after the race, lol.

On The Course

Out and back course on paved trails in the park.  Pretty flat course too, so good PR course for those who want to shoot for that.  The trail is pretty nice, going through wooded areas and crossing over a bridge - which SHAKES a bit when a lot of people are crossing it; me and bridges do not get along too well, lol, so I slowed down a bit going over this one twice, once on the way out and once on the way back.  If you keep going on the trail it connects with another local park - Wheatley Heights - so you can get in a really long run in this area if so desired.   I ended up 4th in my age group (60 - 69) with a chip time of 33:25.

Now, you will notice a lot of people are all wrapped up.  You "real winter" people in North Texas, West Texas, Panhandle and in cold weather states are probably laughing your heads off, us being wrapped up when it's 39 degrees...but that is cold for we South Texans.  Y

This was the very first race for this little guy behind me, running with his Dad. He did very well too.

We had a nice view of these things, lol.

I am heading back to the finish now, after making the turn-round point.

This guy in the orange hat is wearing the race shirt

After My Finish

First, got a photo with this lovely young lady.  We ran about the last half mile together and finished pretty much finished together, encouraging each other along the way.  We took off when we got to the finish line straight-a-way,  with her getting done a few seconds ahead of me. Very enjoyable finish.

After that...Wandered around taking photos, sipping water, and chatting with friends. Post race goodies were pretty simple - which makes sense, this is a run that supports a school and the budgets these days for schools are pretty darn tight, as I well know, since I work for a public university - bottled water and energy drinks, some energy bars and various other stuff provided by some of the sponsors and vendors, and so forth.  Pretty nice quality race shirts.  I do so many races and have so many shirts - and have a couple of old ones from this event - so I ordered a youth medium and donated mine back to the race director to give to one of the students.   Medals were given for top 3 in each age group and overall.

iaap training runners...deciding how they are going to line up for the photo, lol.

There we go...

With Irene, another one of my favorite people.  Over the years, we have done a lot of the same events. She is much speedier than me.  I don't mind, the view from behind her is great - and great motivation to keep moving forward.  Chase, Scottydog, chase! 

my longest running friend in number of years... Bernadette (far right) did this race too...

AWOOOOOOOOO!  I am one happy howling dog, surrounded by pretty ladies. 

I think WC Fields was right at times, lol, about working with pets...  I finally got him to sorta look at the camera..

With my friend and BEEF Man, Tony...

The gentleman on the right is the Principal/Director of the Young Men's Leadership Academy. Super great guy, a "class" act (get it? ).  Well, I think so...I'm not sure what his students think.

This was our volunteer cheering everyone on at the half-way turnround point.  Thank you!

Lady on the right is one of the YMLA staff/teachers, have known her a few years now.  Another "class act" YMLA person, one of the nicest people I have ever met.

That kid in the flag shorts was first overall.

With friend Ed, who was 2nd in my age group.  I could not get a break today, lol, all the speedy people in my age group showed up.

1st and 2nd place finishers in my age group.  Don't let age fool you...there are some SPEEDY old farts out there amongst us senior citizens, lol.

A few of the medal winners

Epilogue

Done this event several times in the past and will continue to do so.  Very nicely organized 5K, nice medals, really good course, lots of friendly people, all out there for a good cause. Would certainly recommend this one to others.  Mucho thanks to all the people who got this one organized for we participants; all the volunteers, law enforcement out there for us, the YMLA staff, all the vendors, sponsors, etc.   Thank you all so very much!