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/2018%20Race%20Reports/2018%20Race%20Number%2057%20SMAsh%20Dash%205K?sort=2

BEFORE MY START

My 57^th race of 2018 was the SMAsh Dash 5K held on August 11 at Fair Oaks Ranch Country Club in Fair Oaks Ranch TX.  This race supported finding a cure for SMA - Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disease affecting the part of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement.  You can read about this here: https://www.mda.org/disease/spinal-muscular-atrophy  It is an awful disease.   The family that started this race began it a few years back in honor of their daughter who has this disease.  She is one very motivating little lady.   I live about 30 minutes from Fair Oaks Ranch, but left early due to a bunch of ongoing road construction on the highway that goes up to Fair Oaks…the Texas ‘summer flower’, the orange traffic cone, has been in full bloom on this highway for quite a while.  7:30 a.m. start time, I arrived at 6:30 a.m., with plenty of time to wander around and get some pre-start photos.

Our timing and results folks.

The lady on the left was our Race Director

With the Race Director

The young lady on the left (pink shirt) is the daughter of our Race Director and the reason this event was started...she has SMA and gave a nice little speech at the awards ceremony about SMA.     I only see her when I do his event, but she is always smiling, helping her folks put on the event, and has a kind word for everyone.  She is one  class act little lady.

Various participants, volunteers, etc.

Two Angels were there shining their light...  (Ok, I forgot I had my flash on, lol)

Guy in the center is wearing the race shirt

Another little SMA lady, if I remember correctly, with her quite large team of supporters.  This is what it is really all about...helping find a cure for these kids.

Almost time to start...the official photographer - not me, lol - took a big group photo of all the participants and I manged to get a few of them in with my smaller camera

About a minute now to go to the start

ON THE COURSE

National Anthem was sung beautifully by a retired Air Force vet and then we were off.  Fair Oaks Ranch is one of the nicest neighborhoods in the San Antonio surrounding area, with wide streets that include pedestrian and bike lanes, beautiful homes, lots of shade trees, and so forth.  It is also a pretty hilly area, so we had a lot of ups-and-downs.  The hills were not really steep, just long more than anything else , stretching out a ways on the way up.   The out-and-back course was nicely thought out, with participants getting a short break from the hillier parts as we went onto a flat road to go to the turn-round, and then came back up that road before getting onto the ‘main drag” – and the hills again – as we did the last mile and a tad more to the finish.  Nicely surfaced and smoothly paved asphalt though – I did not see one single pothole, break in any of the roads, etc.  These Fair Oaks people really take care of their roads – at least on the course we were on they did - and we participants sure appreciated it, lol.  I felt pretty good the whole way, managed to do run nonstop back to the finish for the last 1.3 miles and ended up being done in 33:44, 4^th in my age group – which was the largest age group, 60 – 99.  The guy who finished ahead of me for 3^rd was a very speedy 74-year old guy…more power to him!

This was the street we ran down to a run-round point before heading back to the finish.  This street was our 'flat hill-break" street, lol.

I had my thumb out but they did not stop to pick me up, lol.

After that last photo, nonstop to the finish

AFTER MY FINISH

After I finished, I got a few photos of some of the people coming n after me who I’d been on the course with, and a couple of the volunteers.  After that, ate some of the offered fruit and got myself rehydrated – and did enjoy also a free snow-cone that a food truck was handing out to participants – and wandered around during all this taking photos.  The country club also kindly opened its doors to us after the race, so we got to sit inside and enjoy post-race breakfast tacos, coffee, orange juice, water, etc., and the awards ceremony was held there too.   Kudos to the country club – and especially to the country club employees that had to do clean up after we were gone; I bet 250 sweaty participants sitting at the tables really put an odor in that place, lol.   😉

The road we were on right before turning into the country club to finish

Happy finishers, etc..

Standing next to that shave ice truck was quite cooling, you could feel a bit of the 'cool' coming out of the inside of it.  This guy felt so cool he even got in a short nap...  

Kiddie did not want to look at the camera....inally got them both looking at the camera. I kinda felt like W.C. Fields felt, lol.

The gentleman in the Quantico shirt was the 3rd placer in our 60 - 99 age group.

Inside the country club for breakfast tacos and awards ceremony

Just before heading home.... Bernadette with April Ancira, a local celebrity and co-owner of one of the biggest car dealerships in the country.  The Ancira family is also very generous in donations and support to local nonprofits, schools, universities, etc. April is actually an alum of the university I work for.  She is a very speedy runner too.

My friends, age group medal winners

EPILOGUE

This is a smaller event, about 250 or so, if I remember correctly, but it sure has grown from when it first started – I think 3 years ago,but may be mistaken – when there were about 100 or so of us.  A nice run or walk, depending on your preference, for a very good cause, with lots and lots of friendly participants that made this feel like one big ‘feel good’ neighborhood/family outing.  A really quality event for a great cause.  Always enjoy doing this one, definitely will do it again, and certainly would recommend it to others.

Mucho thanks to all the people that made this one a go for we participants:  all the volunteers, sponsors, vendors, country club staff, Fair Oaks residents for letting us invade their space for a while, Race Day Event services for the timing, and results and anyone else I may not have mentioned here.  Without all of you, no race for we participants.  Thank you!