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
Here is yet another of my photo reports. Full report below.
Link to photos only: http://s166.photobucket.com/user/scottydog69/slideshow/2017%20Race%20Reports/2017%20Race%20No%2016%20Harp%20and%20Shamrock%205K
A couple of the photos came out a bit blurry, sorry about that, I am definitely no professional photographer, lol, but at least the photos are free.
Day before, after packet pickup...my wife modeling the race shirt....
BEFORE MY START
My 16th race of 2017 was the Harp and Shamrock 5K on March 11th. Previously known as Donovan’s Run, this is the original St. Patrick’s Day 5K of San Antonio, going back 30-something years. About 300 registered for this event, not sure how many showed up, as the weather was threatening rain – we’ve been getting quite a bit of rain over the last few weeks – but it mainly only drizzled on us a bit before and after the start; and during the race, no rain at all. I arrived at the race location with what I thought was about an hour to go, but there was a slight delay in the start time as this race had been moved from one local park to another due to flooding at the original location, so the race director wanted to wait a bit to give time for all the registrants to find and get to the new race locale. All good, just gave me a bit more time to take a few pre-start photos.
Park lake with ducks/geese
I guess that one goose is pretty protective...I got closer to get this shot and he gave me a chase, lol. I guess he thought I was threatening to his friend
My pals Yeti The Wonder Dog and Joe
My pal Emma (dog on the left) and her pup...I haven't a clue who all those humans are..
Our super good guy Race Director
And another super good guy, our MC
Getting ready to do the timing
Various other participants, volunteers, supporters, et al
That's a hunka hunka lotta green!
I wonder what that guy on the left is looking at, lol
My friend Paul here was the lead bike for the speedy front guys
like this guy...my speedy friend Gary who was first overall
Getting ready to start
I like the guys on the left and the right of this photo..."Kilroy was here"... lol...
ON THE COURSE
Weather: With the drizzle, and thunderstorms threatening - never developed, thank goodness – pretty humid; around 65 degrees at the 8:45 a.m start time; very, very cloudy, gray/black clouds, and no wind. Venue was South Side Lions Park East, a very pretty park in San Antonio with paved trails and man-made lake. Our original race location had been Lady Bird Johnson Park, but the race was moved due to flooding in LBJ park. As said, the start was delayed a bit – probably a good thing, because more people did show up – and then we were off and running. We went on one trail, with the lake to our left, then crossed one of the park roads and got onto another trail, on which we did an out-and-back and then, once back to the lake trail, headed back to the finish, again with the lake on our left. Very nicely thought out course. I like this venue much better than the Lady Bird Johnson 5K route – which is actually kind of boring – and hope in the future for this event, the RD will just keep this park as the race venue. I ended up with a chip time of 32:49, finishing 5th in my age group (60 – 64); the top 3 finishers in my age group all had times in the 20s…some speedy old guys in my age group, lol.
Turn around point volunteers
Like the little dog with the green hat, lol.
Here comes Elvis....Elvis..."You Better Run"...
These ladies were handing out these beads at the finish...they gave me some...so I lifted my shirt for them...that's the tradition, right? I think I made them go blind...
AFTER MY FINISH
Guinness at the finish, oh yeah! Plus Kiolbassa sausages, some energy and fruit bars, and various other things. This also was a dog-friendly event, so I had brought along a jar of doggie biscuits so the dogs could have post-race treats too.
Our Guinness servers....thanks guys!
Drinking my brew and munching my sausage, I wandered around getting some after-my-finish photos.
Near the end of the course, ran for a bit with this lovely lady
Ready for our closeup now...
This doggie will just not look at the camera....
There we go...... WC fields may have been right, lol
These guys were serving up some kind of pasta dish. Thanks!
Had fun taking photos with this group.....lots of laughs, looks in every direction, lol.....fun stuff...
EPILOGUE
This is always a very nicely well done and popular event. Very nicely designed tech tee race shirt, a nice beer glass to the first 300 registrants (I was one of them), nice course, lots of post-race goodies, lots of smiles, lots of camaraderie, smiles, and fun. This one is always enjoyable and a keeper on the race calendar.
MUCHO thanks to all the folks that made this one happen for us: Harp and Shamrock Society, all the sponsors, volunteers, Run Wild Sports local running store for the use of their venue for packet pickup, law enforcement officers/park police out there for us, Guinness folks for the tasty beer, and Kiolbassa for my personally favorite sausages, iaapweb folks for the course set up, timing, results, and all the others who helped get this one done.
Hope you enjoyed the report and photos!
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
Was there music after the race? I saw the piper. Glad you got some Guiness - that's worth racing for.