Beginners and Beyond

1

Purple Strides 5K Austin (Read 8 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

     

    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%2043%20Purple%20Strides%205K%20Austin

     

    A couple of the photos may not have come out so well;  sorry about that.   Plus, at times post-race I forgot to wipe my sweaty lens - duhhhh -  so there might be a smudge or two on some of them.     All in all, I think they came out fairly well.  I am certainly no professional photographer with skills; but at least all the photos are free to save.

     

    BEFORE MY START

     

    My 43rd race of 2017 was the Purple Strides 5K in Austin which supports funding of pancreatic cancer research.  This event I dedicated to Darla Liggett – wife of my friend and fellow runner Bob Ligget – who is in her own battle with pancreatic cancer.     Being a survivor myself, sometimes I think it’s harder mentally on the partner, he/she having to watch what his/her loved one is going through and not being able to do a damn thing about it, other than just being there. May God bless them both and give them strength.

     

    This event was held on Sunday, June 25, at Camp Mabry, a Texas Guard military base.  After doing the Texas Tough 5K in San Antonio On Saturday, I drove up to Austin and stayed overnight in Camp Mabry billeting, which was very convenient, as I got to sleep in a bit, since the start/finish and 5K activities area was about 500 yards from the door of my room. Plus, after the event I got to shower and change clothes, so I did not have to drive back to San Antonio in wet gear.

     

    With my other 5K and the drive to Austin, long day, so I had my dinner, went back to the room and then slept pretty well.  Got my packet first thing Sunday morning when race day registration opened.  Headed back to my room to store my stuff and almost got myself a new car Wink – when I found a set of keys dropped on the sidewalk.  Naw, better turn them in, be kind of hard for me to drive 2 cars back to San Antonio.  Tongue   One of the installation police officers was there, so I gave the keys to him.  He set off the car alarm to see if someone would come.  Nope.   So the keys were turned into our race MC, who announced he had them. I guess the person finally came forward because the officer told me later he had seen someone opening the vehicle with the keys.  After the key turn-in, back to the room to store my goodie bag stuff, chilled for a while and got hydrated, then back to the activities area with about 40 minutes to go to the 8:30 start time and wandered around taking some pre-start photos.

     

    Gear laid out the night before.  Purple is the color for pancreatic cancer.  The light makes my shirt look like it's blue, but it was a kind of darker purple.   And nice purple 'shark' socks to take a bite out of pancreatic cancer - a gift from my granddaughters, as they know I love wearing fun-and-crazy socks when I run.

     

    Did this one for Darlene...

     

     

     

    Race Day registration/pickup volunteers

     

     

    Our MC

     

     

    Goodies to enjoy before and after the race, and some of the volunteers in this area

     

     

     

     

    Leann Wallace (sp?) from Spectrum News was at this event

     

     

     

     

     

    Various participants, supporters, etc.  The "End Pancreatic Cancer" shirts are the race shirts participants got.  I admire the folks who wore them for this event, as they are partly cotton, which can get sometimes pretty sweat-soaked and then 'heavy" on a warm day.  I sweat so much - you know, being a fat guy, I have to sweat so I won't explode, as comic Louie Anderson said - wearing a cotton shirt would probably make me pass out on a run, lol.

     

     

    With this pancreatic cancer survivor who told us a bit about her story and then ran the race, which is pretty flippin' amazing considering what she probably had to go through just to get to this point.

     

     

     

     

    Ooops, i'm doing the 5K...my wife wasn't there to give me directions...  

     

     

     

    Love the little boy's expressions, lol.

     

     

     

     

    And here we go....

     

     

     

    ON THE COURSE

     

    Temp was about 72 degrees, but not as humid as it had been on Saturday. Lots of cloud cover as rain was predicted for the area.  We got a bit of bright sunshine while on the course – and lucky me, it came out right when I was on the hill part of the course, lol – but mostly cloud cover. The 5K was done on the paved roads of the installation.  For those who chose to do so, there was also a 1-mile walk which went 1 loop around the base track, which was 1 mile around, nice.  We 5K folks started in front of the base parade field – also where the track is – ran past a Military Museum and the building I was staying in, wound around a road that took us to the other side of the track and the parade field; down another road that took us in front of the Post Exchange (PX) – and here we did a downhill, turned at the bottom, then did an uphill to the turn-round point, back down the hill, and back the way we came – with the PX downhill now being an uphill on the way back – and then pretty flat all the way back the way we had come out.  I ended up with a gun time of 33:06, chip time of 32:59.  I guess I was feeling pretty good.  No age group awards – which was okay by me, save the medal money for money put toward the cause – but there were awards for the top 3 boy and girl finishers (12 and under), and the top 3 male and female finishers.  Those folks – even the kids, lol – were all lots faster than me.  Comparing my time to their finishing times, they could have all showered and changed clothes before I even got back to the finish, lol.

     

    First walk break....

     

     

     

    Looking back the way I'd just come

     

     

     

     

    Looking ahead again.  1-mile point was just ahead after we made a left turn and went past that building

     

    Turn-around point .  Thank you, volunteers

     

     

    Yay me, lol.   Hill I just climbed behind me.

     

     

    Back down the hill

     

    Looking back where I'd just been

     

     

     

     

    Going ahead again..

     

    Up the hill that was a downhill on the way out.  That building to the left is the Post Exchange

     

     

     

    People behind me starting up the hill

     

    After that, it was nonstop running back to the finish.  Ended up with 32:59, which I thought was pretty good with a couple of unplanned photo stops at the top of that first hill.

     

     


      AFTER MY FINISH

     

    Got water, did a bit of a cool-down walk, and then wandered around taking photos for a bit.

     

    Got a finishing photo of this young lady - also from San Antonio, we have seen each other at various local races there - and then one with her and one of her by herself.

     

    Two happy finishers from San Antonio

     

    One of just her, without the dog

     

    And more.....

     

     

     

     

     

    I ran part of the course with the gentleman on the right

     

     

     

    More folks from San Antonio, nice...

     

    This gentleman with his granddaughter - I think it's his granddaughter, if I remember correctly - is also a pancreatic cancer survivor.  God bless him.

     

     

     

     

    Our MC with the other MC...I think maybe she was the Race Director/Organizer, but I may be wrong; either way....two very nice people.

     

     

    I wonder if that little girl is related to the 'expressive" little boy in my photo before.  Love her expression, lol.  Like "OK, some old dude here is gonna take my picture...I am so thrilled... not!"

     

     

    Thank you volunteers!  And thanks for letting me be in a photo with you.

     

     

     

     

    Several of these volunteers were our course marshals.  Thank you!

     

     

    Photo with the banner before I left....and got photo-bombed by a little runner, lol.

     

     

     

    On the way back to my room to shower and change for the trip home, I got a couple photos of some things we passed along the 5K route...

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    EPILOGUE

     

    As I don’t do many races in Austin, I am not as well known here – probably not known here at all, lol – as I am in the San Antonio running community.  I got a photo of our MC and told him about my race reports and he kindly made periodic announcements to the folks that I would be posting photos and they could find them on my blog, nice.  I enjoy doing these reports and photos and it’s always nice that people can save and share their photos if they want to.

     

    This was the first time I have done this event.  It is a very enjoyable event for a serious cause, and also a touching one too. Everyone very friendly, good course, and also got to hear some very inspiring and emotional stories from several people, both survivors and supporters, that really touch your heart.  MC did an excellent job and all the volunteers were great.  There was also a ton of food post-race – no beer though, darn the luck  Wink – energy and nutrition bars, bananas, bagels, etc. and the water near the food was iced down, which was very refreshing after a run on a warm day. There was also water being handed out at the finish line – very nice – but it was warm – especially for the back of the pack people finishing – so that’s the only thing I would suggest to the organizer to change – have some iced-down water bottles at the finish too.  Other than that small thing, great event, well organized, nice quality race shirts, merchandise you could purchase in support of the case, lots of stuff for the pancreatic cancer survivors there – they got their own special goodie bag, which is a nice touch – and so forth.  This is an event I definitely would do again and would recommend.

     

    MUCHO thanks to all the people who did all the hard work to make this one happen for we participants and were out there for us: MC, all the sponsors, organizers, law enforcement, volunteers, Camp Mabry personnel for allowing us to use this venue, etc.  Without all of you willing to be out there, there would be no races for we participants.  So thank you very much for donating your time to us!

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