INTRO  REPORT AND PHOTOS: GET YOUR REAR IN GEAR 5k

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%2015%20Get%20Your%20Rear%20in%20Gear%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.

BEFORE MY START

My 15th race of 2017 was the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K on March 5, held at Morgan’s Wonderland in San Antonio.  The race supports the Colon Cancer Coalition, which raises funds to promote awareness and fight colon cancer.   Get Your Rear in Gear 5K is held on various dates in many cities across the US. The park is about 4 miles from where I live so I picked up my race packet the day before the race and got to sleep in a little bit on Sunday morning.  Very nice quality race shirt for this one, and all colon cancer survivors also got a Survivor bib in addition to the regular race bib.  If you wanted to run in memory or support of someone, you could get a bit for that too, and put your person’s name on the bib.    8 a.m. race start time, arrived at the park with a little under an hour to start time, got some pre-start photos.

Welcome to Morgan's Wonderland, a park designed for people with special needs

Happy to be here

Athlete Guild Folks...I just saw them at my race yesterday morning!

Our Music Man and his wife....inside a 'colon'.....I think that's what it was supposed to represent..

Various participants, volunteers, supporters, et al

Love this kid, lol...."Wait  minute...gotta fix my headband..."

"OK, now I'm ready..."

"Darn it...still not right..."

MC Steve Spriester, of local ABC affiliate, KSAT News TV station

Steve and his wife...two of the nicest people ever...

Any colon cancer survivors present were asked to come up on stage...

T-Bone, mascot of San Antonio Rampage hockey team

ON THE COURSE

Weather:  Pretty humid, nearly 62 degrees, but after raining mostly all day and a lot of the night on Saturday, it was dry for this Sunday morning race, although parts of the roads we were on were pretty slick in places.    We did a loop around the park’s man-made lake and then went out of the park, running past Toyota Stadium (professional soccer) and Heroes Stadium (school district-owned stadium that hosts a lot of local activities), and then back the way we had come, with a finishing loop going around the lake.  Very flat course, which was much appreciated after the very hilly 5K I had done the day before.  I was feeling pretty good and ended up with a chip time of 33:03, good enough for 3^rd in my 60 – 69 age group.

This speedy guy was the 5K winner

Some of the walkers doing the finishing loop back around the lake

AFTER MY FINISH

Walked around drinking some water, ate some of the goodies offered – bananas, some type of drink similar to Gatorade, some type of chips with some salsa sauce, and more – and then did my post-race photo thing with the ‘happy finishers’, volunteers, supporters, etc.

Lady on the right was first female

Making myself look good with two beautiful ladies..

As usual, my friend Bernadette placed

Before I left, bid farewell to Old Glory flying proud....and good time to leave too, wind was picking up, as you can see, and all that sweating I had done was making me a bit chilly.

EPILOGUE

This is a pretty regular event each year in San Antonio and I try to do this one as much as I can, my calendar permitting, as this cause is personal for me.  It is always a very nicely done event, well organized, nice race shirts, lots of post-race goodies (no beer though, darn the luck), and various awards such as largest team, best team name – “Semi Colon Group” won that award this year – biggest local fundraiser, and so forth.  The last few years I have done this, the race location has been different each time; I find that kind of refreshing, always nice to not run the same course year after year after year, like some races do.   Definitely would recommend this one to my fellow runners.

MUCHO THANKS to all the people that made this one happen for the participants:  the Colon Cancer Coalition, their local area staff/employees, all the volunteers, law enforcement that was out there for us, the ‘official’ photographers, Morgan’s Wonderland for use of the park, and, of course, all the sponsors/vendors that donate not only their monetary support to help this one go, but also their time for we participants.

Hope you enjoyed the report and photos!