Beginners and Beyond

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2018 Race 51: SA Youth 5K Series Race 3 (Read 3 times)

scottydawg


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

    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%2051%20SA%20Youth%205K%20Series%20Race%203?sort=2

     

    BEFORE MY START

    My 51st race of 2018 was on July 8: Race #3 of the SA Youth 5K Summer Series.  Nonprofit Run SA Youth seeks to encourage active lifestyles for youths in historically underserved areas of San Antonio.  Location was McAllister Park in San Antonio, which is about a 7-minute drive from where I live.  I slept in a bit, which was probably a mistake, since there was race-day packet pickup only. I arrived an hour before the 8 a.m. start time and parking was pretty much almost full and there was already a line of people waiting to get bib and timing chip. Line did go pretty fast though, so got my stuff in good order and then got a few pre-start photos.

     

    Welcome to the SA Youth Summer Series

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    Various participants, volunteers, etc.

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    These are volunteers who are "Running Buddies."  They are each assigned to run with a youth in the program and then the volunteer accompanies that youth during the 5K. 

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    My friend Richard is a running buddy.  The little girl he runs with is very speedy.  She does a 5K in about 28 minutes.   She leaves me in the dust, lol, every time.

     

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    In the start area....

     

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    ON THE COURSE

    Start time of 8 a.m., but a bit of a delay, so more around 8:10 a.m.  Loop course on paved off-road trails through the park. Nicely designed course and lots of shade trees over the trails, which was nice because it was VERY humid, with storms expected for today.  Thankfully, we did not get any storms during the race, but there had been storms the night before.  The trails were slick in some spots but at least none of them were covered with water. After the race the day before this one, an off-road and somewhat rolling 5K course, I could feel that in my legs for this one and felt kind of sluggish.  At least this course was very flat, so that helped.  Even so, ended up doing this one in 36:10, about 2 minutes slower than it usually takes me to do a 5K.  I thought maybe the sluggishness might be a side-effect of the heart medicine I recently started, but my friend Bernadette said it took her 31 minutes to finish, so she was feeling the same ‘sluggishness’ too, as were several other people I talked to.  So I guess it was this darn humidity, kind of felt like we were running in a sauna at times.   And probably because the last 1/2 mile I did make two stops to give treats to a couple of dogs who were being walked by their humans.

     

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    After that last photo, ran nonstop - well, except for the two short stops  to treat the dogs, lol - to the finish.

     

     

    AFTER MY FINISH

    Iced-down towels handed out at the finish – nice!  I grabbed one of those and plopped it on my head – ahhhhh – got a bottle of water and went and found some shade to sit in.  Just chilled out for a bit, letting the iced towel thaw and drip cold water all over me – felt great – while sipping my water.  Felt much refreshed after that and went to get some after photos of the ‘happy finishers’, volunteers, supporters, etc.

     

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    This guy also did the race on Saturday morning that I did

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    Running Buddies post-race

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    Encountered my friend, Lewis.  He did not do the race, he was in the park doing his long run, something like 12 miles...in this humidity...good grief.  Lewis is quite an accomplished runner.

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    Thank you for a very nice event.

     

     

     

    EPILOGUE

    Nicely done event overall.  A few computer glitches had some people listed twice on the sheets of pre-registered runners, so that took a bit of time to sort out and the start time was slightly delayed, but not really a big deal for me.  Weather was just as humid at 8 a.m. as it was at the delayed start time.  Very nice course – I prefer loop courses over out-and-back courses and point-to-point courses; loop courses are my favorite – nice tech tees for the summer series, and lots of friendly participants and supporters.  No awards yet, as people accumulate points over the series for each of the races they do and then all awards are presented after the last race of the series.  This is a pretty nice event that supports our San Antonio youth and a good cause.  Would definitely recommend this one to others and would do it again.

     

    Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants:  Our race director and MC, Erik, and his wife Kristine; all the volunteers and sponsors; iaapweb for doing the timing, results, course setup, etc.;   and anyone else I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you for all you did so we participants could have this event.  And, btw, good luck to Erik, who will be leaving shortly to attend Air Force Basic Training at Lackland, as he has joined the Air Force Reserve, and then off to his technical training school after that.  Wish you all the best, Erik!

    "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt