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.

Below is yet another of my lengthy photo reports.

Link to photos only:

https://s166.photobucket.com/user/scottydog69/slideshow/2019%2520Race%2520Reports/2019%2520Race%2520Number%252031%2520Race%2520For%2520The%2520Children%25205K?sort=2

Full report below.    

BEFORE MY START

 My 31^st race of 2019 was Run For the Children 5K on May 19.  This event supported Child Advocates of San Antonio (CASA), which recruits, trains, and supervises court-appointed volunteer Advocates who provide constancy for abused and neglected children and youth while advocating for services and placement in safe and permanent homes. Start and finish near Crockett Park, located on Main Street, a few miles away from the heart of downtown San Antonio and in proximity to San Antonio College.   Race start time of 8 a.m.  No rain threatening like the 5K I did on Saturday, but overcast, warm – in the 70s – and very humid/sticky, with about 90-something percent humidity and high dew-point.  This was an inaugural event with about 100 or so participants. About an hour before the start time I got a few pre-start photos.

Me and Bernadette on the way to the start area

Bernadette and our friend - whose name just went right out of my old man brain...

In the start area

Welcome

One of our organizers and MCs

The cause we are here for

Various

Two of the oldest guys here..

 ON THE COURSE

 We started by going past Crockett Park, doing a small loop and then going down Main Street in the direction of the San Antonio Zoo/Brackenridge Park.  Made a turn off Main Street, crossed over San Pedro and then onto the campus of San Antonio College. Here we did a loop through and around the campus, then back across San Pedro and returned to the finish the way we had come out. Nicely thought-out course  - although it was a tad short at 2.9 miles instead of 3.1, but with the humidity the way it was I don’t think any of the participants cared , it was VERY warm out there.  I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the short course.

A little before the 1-mile marker

Onto the campus of San Antonio College (SAC)

A bit past the halfway mark

AFTER MY FINISH

Sweating up a storm after this one.  First thing, water and a banana and just sat a while re-hydrating and relaxing.  Then got a beer – yep, they had beer post-run, as well as some various fruits, crackers, and other snacks, courtesy of the race organizers and a pay-as-you-go food truck on site – and then wandered around getting some post-finish photos.

Happy finishers on a humid day...and some supporters, volunteers, etc.

Beer and friends makes for a pretty nice finish.

Super nice guy here, one of the race organizers and did the packet pickups during the week

Another of the organizers.  This guy also sang the National Anthem before the start of the race

Friend John was 1st overall in the 50+ category

EPILOGUE

For an inaugural race, this was fairly well organized with just a couple of glitches - hey, inaugural races are sometimes a learning process and I am sure they will learn - including that they grouped everyone into one big group for the awards, rather than separating the men from the women, which I thought was funny -  but overall pretty nicely done, with nice quality race tees, finisher medals for everyone, pretty nice course, and they raised a pretty fair amount for the cause. I would do this one again and would recommend it to others who would like to do a pleasant 5K on a peaceful Sunday morning.  The only suggestion I would make is, if possible, move the race date from this weekend in May that coincided with Armed Forces Day because the Armed Forces Day weekend is the weekend of the  Beach to Bay Marathon Relay in Corpus Christi, which is a HUGE annual event, so lots and lots of our local runners went down to participate in that and were down there from Friday to Sunday and some even longer.  So the CASA 5K avoiding that weekend might result in getting more participants for the event on a different Sunday weekend morning. Anyway, I think this one will get better as it goes on and hopefully will grow too for this good cause.

Mucho thanks to all the people that made this one happen for we participants:  the CASA organizers and all their volunteers; law enforcement people that were out there for us; all the vendors and sponsors; San Antonio College for giving us access to its campus and parking garage;  and The Flying Horse Races, a local area company that did the course setup, results, etc. Also, thank you very much to any other supporters I did not mention here.   Thanks for what you do so we participants could have this event.