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Report and Photos: Texas Tough 5K, 10K and 10 Miler (Read 9 times)

scottydawg


Barking Mad To Run

    INTRO   Texas Tough 5K, 10K and 10 Miler

     

    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%2042%20Texas%20Tough%205K%2010K%2010M

     

    A couple of the photos may not have come out so well;  sorry about that – I am certainly no professional photographer with skills; but at least all the photos are free to save.

     

    BEFORE MY START

     

    My 42nd race of 2017 was the Texas Tough 5K on June 24th.  The main events were the Texas Tough 10-Miler and the 10K.  Put on by We Run, with course setup and timing by local race management company iaapweb.   Start and finish point was Scenic Loop Café, which is situated right below one of San Antonio’s hilliest areas.  I arrived about an hour before my start time for the 5K and got some pre-start photos.

     

    Welcome to Scenic Loop Café.  You really have to know where this place is because there is no signage for this place, as far as I could see.  It really is a nice place to eat, with good food, bar, friendly staff, etc, and very popular in the local area.

     

     

    First person I saw was this volunteer young lady who was trying to get everyone parked correctly.  This is a very popular local event so she had quite a job of it with lots of participants showing up.

     

    Our MC, Mark

     

    With Daisy, one of my favorite people..

     

    With my pal, Bernadette, my longest running friend, we've been doing lots of the same events for over 20 years. Always excited to see her, lol.

     

     

     

    And more…..

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    ON THE COURSE

     

    The 10-mile folks started about an hour before everyone else.  The 10K folks went about 15 minutes before the 5K folks and we 5K folks started at 8:30 a.m.  Regardless of the start time, for everyone it was VERY humid, and the temp was already near 78 degrees.  Thankfully, there was rain predicted for the afternoon, so we had lots of cloud-cover, which was a blessing.  All the courses had some hills – and the 10-milers probably got most of them – so with the heat San Antonio area has been having lately – it was 101 degrees actual temp the day before the race – this course would have been even more brutal with the sun beating down on the runners and walkers.   My personal opinion was the hills for the 5K were not that bad and compared to the other distances being done today, we did not have that many hills along the way. I counted one long uphill shortly after we started, then a shorter uphill, then another short but fairly steep uphill, than 2 downhills after that.  And then right before the end when we headed back to the café, a ‘sneaky’ little uphill out-and-back, what was up with that?  Oh, those tricky race directors, lol, they really did want to give us a ‘full monte’ of hills.  So not too bad.   Thankfully, I do a weekly hill training session – with much bigger and longer hills than those on this route – so I handled these hills in pretty good order.  I ended up with a finish time of 33:17.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    What the heck?  They sneaked in a little out-and-back climb right before we headed to the finish....this was not on the course map...oh, that tricky Race Director, lol.

     

     

    This guy was our turn-around 'cone' for that last little hill

     

     


      AFTER MY FINISH

     

    Got water, did a bit of a cool-down walk, and then wandered around taking photos for a bit.  Then went inside the café, where participants got to enjoy a nice little meal of quiche, fruit, chicken nuggets (personally, I think they were Prairie Oysters Wink), and a choice of various drinks.  It was nice to get out of the heat for a while too, and sit in the air-conditioned eating area, enjoying the meal, and iced down cold drinks.  Then back outside to get a few more photos before I left.

     

    I chased these two ladies in.  I almost caught up to them but right near the end, they really found their mojo and took off.  I did manage to keep them in sight and they led me right into the finish.  Thanks, ladies!

     

     

     

     

     

    10K guy.  His 10K time was about my 5K time, lol.

     

    First woman 10K finisher on the right

     

    No age group awards for this one, but everyone got a finisher medal

     

     

     

     

     

    Two very speedy 10K people

     

    Me with friend Erik...abs...and no abs, lol...you can guess which is which..

     

     

    Full-length...

     

    Inside the cafe....

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Back outside...

     

    Friend Dan finishing the 10 miler

     

    10 miler and 5K finishers

     

     

    With friend Bill

     

     

    My beautiful friend Gabby...with some guy...  

     

     

     

    yay!

     

    MC Mark with friend Trinnie, who did a 9 PM 5K on Friday night and then came out Sat morning to do this one.

     

     

     

     

    EPILOGUE

     

    This was the first time I have done that event.  I found it very enjoyable – but, then I only did the 5K…the people who did the longer distances might disagree with me, lol – and lots of good camaraderie among the participants.  The course was pretty well thought-out – at least the 5K that I did was; I don’t know about the other courses – and post-race goodies were excellent.

     

    MUCHO thanks to all the people who did all the hard work to make this one happen for we participants: We Run, iaapweb  all the volunteers, sponsors,  Scenic Loop Café staff, etc.   Without all of you willing to be out there, there would be no races for we participants.  So thank you very much for your time!

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