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%2027%20OLLU%20Confetti%205K?sort=2

Before My Start

My 27th race of 2018 was Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) Confetti 5K, held on April 14th in support of scholarships for students. Race start time of 9 a.m.  Weather was a bit nippy when I first got onsite at 7:50, as the wind was blowing pretty good, so glad I had worn a top layer over the singlet I planned to run in. Nice and sunny morning, which was nice, but that wind never let up, even on the course.  Luckily pre-start we had several of the university buldings blocking some of the wind from the staging areas, so not too bad.  I got race stuff and then wandered around taking some pre-start photos.  This was the 2nd year for this event and I guess word had gotten out from last year how good this race is - I did the inaugural one last year - because this year there were a lot more participants.  Nice.

The buildings at OLLU remind me of 'Old World" buildings in Europe, etc.

Various participants, volunteers, supporters, etc.

With friend Roy.  Happy birthday today Roy!

Friend Max, with Roy, carries the US Flag at all the races he does.  Quite speedily too, something like a dang 7-something minute mile, good grief.

Silly Wabbit..    OK, I don't know why this rabbit was here.  I thought maybe the Easter Bunny was taking small vacay after Easter;  someone told me it might be the OLLU mascot; but i think their team name is The Saints, so why a rabbit?  Now, if it were CRUSADER RABBIT - you folks who are old like me will get that reference, lol - that might make sense.   Anyway, he was a very nice rabbit and let me have a photo of him.

One of our MCs.

With one of my favorite running ladies, Jill

It's hard to keep the attention of a dog, lol

There we go...looking at the camera.  He is outfitted in a Texas Cavaliers uniform.

Found these folks, so I knew what my first post-race stop would be.

With outstanding San Antonio citizen, County Court Commissioner Judge Nelson Wolff, who is also a board member at the university where I work - University of Texas at San Antonio.  Judge Wolff is also one of our previous city mayors.

On The Course

Start and finish was in front of a few of the university buildings on NW 24th Street in San Antonio. I thought the actual start time was 9 a.m., so we all lined up in the start crowd before that  - and then waited for a bit..and waited..and could tell some people around me were getting a bit antsy to go - me too, after a while, lol.  Last year, the inaugural race went off without a hitch, very smoothly..  Don't know what the slight delay was this year - but I'm sure our Race Director, Liz, a wonderful person who organizes this race on quite well, was quite aware and will get whatever the problem was fixed for next year's event.  Our start and finish were actually on one of the university drives that was parallel to 24th Street. We made a turn toward the back of the campus and then wound around some of the university streets, eventually ending up making a loop around the man-made lake near the campus - I think its name is Elmendorf Lake, but I may be mistaken. The lop around the lake took us along a concrete off-road trail and over a couple of bridges - really some nice scenery here with the lake views - and then back out the road we'd come in to get to the lake and back to the finish the way we had first started out. Very well thought-out course with enough room for everyone to maneuver - I didn't see anyone where I was at any given time getting squeezed over of falling down, etc.  Everyone where I was seemed pretty accommodating about helping each other out, moving over for faster runners, etc,  This is such a nice course I actually went over a bit on a couple of my walk breaks to take extra photos, but I guess that was okay since I was feeling pretty good; even with the extra photo stops I managed to finish in 33:04 chip time.   10-year age groups so no award for me as the first 5 guys in my 60 - 69 age group all finished in the 20s.....sure got some speedy old guys in my age group, lol. Everyone did get a finisher medal.  There were several strollers in this event too and the kids in the strollers got finisher medals too, which I thought was a nice touch, made the lil kiddies very happy.

In the start crowd

STILL in the start crowd...

With Daisy and Jill, two of my favorite running ladies

Checking out the wind....blowing pretty darn good

Confetti being shot from the cannon...NOW we should be going pretty soon

Our first view of the lake was around the corner from the start

And we are off!   First walk break at the bridge that started us doing the lake loop

Next walk break, heading to, and then on, the other side of the lake

LOTS of sunshine now.

Where I'd just come from...that other side

Back on the side I am on, which is where I'm at... 

After that, nonstop running back to the finish.

After My Finish

Done!  Nice finisher medal.

With Race Director Liz, one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.

Drank some water, did a bit of a cool-down walk and then my post-race photos.

Found the beer and sausage, oh yeah..

Thanks, food and drink folks!

Epilogue

Dang, there is a lot going on at this event.  Music playing, beer, sausage-on-a-stick, nice awards for the age group winners, Fiesta medals for all entrants - yep this it the time of year of Fiesta San Antonio, one big 10-day party in San Antonio with all kinds of events, parades, races, etc, culminating with the biggest night-time parade in the nation Fiesta Flambeau Parade - and lot of other stuff.   Vendors-and-sponsors had lots of freebie give-aways and people were just wandering around getting their goodie bags full of stuff, loll  All good!  Really nicely designed tech tee race shirts too.  This is only the 2nd year for this event but even so I tell you what - I have done both of them, last year and this year, and it is such a fun race it's already on my Top 5 personal list of local 5Ks to do.  This one is definitely a keeper on my race calendar.

MUCHO THANKS to all the people that made this one happen for us: University faculty, staff and students, volunteers, sponsors, vendors, law enforcement out there for us, iaap (iaapweb.com) for doing the course setup, timing, results,, and anyone else I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all so much for doing what you do to give we participants a great event to do.