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%2012%20Life%20is%20Good%205K?sort=2

BEFORE MY START

My 12^th race of 2019 was Life is Good 5K held on March 2 at the campus of The River City Church in Selma, Texas.  This event supports the Pregnancy Care Center, a confidential counseling and assistance facility for young girls and women with unexpected pregnancies (it is not an abortion facility).  Race start time of 8:15 for the 5K and 10K and there was also a kid’s run.  I arrived with about an hour to go and then realized I had left by bib back home – duhhh, senior moment – so had to go see the timers to get my bib changed in the system, which they did pretty quickly.  Then I wandered around chatting with people and getting a few pre-start photos.

Before I left the house, a few of my cats gathered to wish me well.  yeah, right, lol...I think they were looking for a handout. This is actually an older photo of them....my biggest fans, lol.

Welcome to the event. Available pre-race coffee, drinks, various foods. We did not pay...this cafe is normally for various events the church puts on.

Some of the race day volunteers

Timing and results done by these folks

This lovely young lady was the singer of the National Anthem.  Beautiful voice. She has sung as several races I've done.

Race Director Charysse with friend and volunteer

This was the 'drag' guy, following  the last people on the course on his bike - and also making sure everyone was okay out there.

Friend Lena with friend and race MC Bob

JR ROTC Color Guard. Thanks, ladies.

Various

The lovely ladies kindly let me have a photo with them

National Anthem sung before we get ready to go

ON THE COURSE

This was my first time doing this particular event. Mother Nature kind of behaved herself for this one.  It was overcast and pretty foggy in starts and there was a light wind in places making it feel colder, but the temp was pretty good at around 52 degrees.  We did get a bit of very light drizzle for a few minutes but then that stopped and it never rained on us again until the race was over. We started on the campus of the River City Church and then – for those familiar with San Antonio area – did a stretch on Lookout Road, heading in the direction of the local thoroughbred race part, Retama Park.  We did not go all the way down to the horse racing area – bummer…I had a carrot in my pocket too, for any horse I might have met  .  We made a turn onto a road which I think was also part of River City Church property, but may be mistaken in that – and down that road, winding past some of the grassy hills of the back of the open-air amphitheater area. We then did an out-and-back to the halfway point on yet another road and then back the way we had come from the start.  I ended up doing 31 and change and thought, course has got to be a tad short, then, cuz I have not done a 31-minute 5K in a long time, lol. My garmin showed 2.93, and me averaging a 10:40 per mile pace. Some friends had 2.96 and 2.98, and others had similar. Just need to move the halfway turn-round point down a bit more for next year.  Someone also told me this route was not the one used last year, so that might have made a difference too.  So it was a tad short, but still a pretty nice course and I was happy with my results, no heartburn about it being short, since for me it’s all about the fun anyway, no matter what the distance is.  I ended up 3^rd in my age group of 60 – 69.

Course volunteer

Very foggy around us

This is the little road we ran down to get to the turn-round point

I think this guy was doing the 10K

Some of the walkers coming toward me as i was heading back to the finish

I am done, ahhh.....other finishers coming in

Floater!

My friend here did better than he looks in this photo, lol.

AFTER MY FINISH

Some nice post-race goodies, served up by these lovely ladies, included sausage wraps, a couple types of cookies – which were really good; cookies is my favorite dessert! – dunkin donuts and donut holes (mmmm, donut holes, another thing I love!), bottled water, Gatorade, and various fruits, health bars and do so forth.  With mouth full of sausage wrap I wandered around getting some after photos.

Finisher medal participants got

Some of the post-race goodies

Bernadette, 1st in her age group

And this brought back memories.  Back in the day, this was a concert and entertainment venue with this big amphitheater her.  Several years ago, Gail and I went to an Aerosmith concert at this amphitheater.  I am not sure what the church uses it for now.

EPILOGUE

Very nicely done.  This is a fairly small-in-numbers race compared to others, but it keeps growing every year, with 200 or so participating this year. Nice quality race tees and finisher medals to all finishers – I gave mine to a kid in a stroller all their family members would have a medal; and, after all, the kid did the course too, even if he was pushed, lol. Nicely thought out course – and a really flat one too, so if any of you local area speedy runners are reading this, good course to shoot for a PR.  Also, very nice INDOOR restroom facilities – the freakin’ restrooms were HUGE – so no waiting, ladies, like in port-a-potty lines and some other races.     I would certainly do this one again and would recommend it to others.

Mucho thanks to all the people who made this one happen for us, our Race Director Charysse and all her volunteers; all the sponsors and vendors supporting this one; River City Church folks for kindly letting us use their properties;  and anyone else I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all so much for what you do so we participants could have this event.