INTRO

I am Scott aka Scottydog, runner since 1983, cancer survivor, retired Air Force, employee of University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), friend of dogs, fun-runner, and all-around 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.  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, hence my nickname “Scottydog.” Here is yet another of my Race Reports With Photos, and my thanks to all the people I interacted with for their graciousness and good humor in letting me take photos of them.

SHORT VERSION REPORT

This was my 25th race of 2014.  The Lone Star Texas Half-Marathon and 5K was held in  Luckenbach Texas.  I've lived in San Antonio now for nearly 20 years and had never been to Luckenback until today.  I didn't realize how close it was to San Antonio, only about a little over an hour's drive. This event had quite a nice turn out!  In looking at the results there were 323 finishers just for the 5K alone.  I don't know how many folks did the half, but there must have been about 500 or so folks out there.  The course was somewhat hilly for we 5K folks - so I can only imagine what kind of hills the half-marathoners had to deal with - and I ended up with a chip time finish of 35:04, which I did not think too bad at all between the hills and my photo stops along the way.

LONG VERSION REPORT WITH PHOTOS

The road to get to Luckenbach - called Sisterdale Road - is QUITE interesting, a 2-lane road  winding and curving around, and going up and down hills...in the dark I kinda felt I was traveling on a Twilight Zone episode road, lol, wondering where I would end up.  Luckily, I finally came upon several cars traveling ahead of me and figured they must be going to the race too because only we crazy runners and cyclists would be out on a road like this at 6 in the morning, lol.  So I followed everyone else and some cars caught up to me and followed my vehicle - we had quite a convoy going there for a while - and we all finally turned into the parking lot for the race...welcome to Luckenbach!

Before The Start

After successfully negotiating the Twilight Zone road, I got parked and walked the 500 yards or so and entered the gate into Luchenback.  On the way in, I saw this bus.  Not being a country music fan, I don't know who Dale Watson is, but I'm assuming a singer, since Luchenback has lots of music and concerts.

Luckenbach  is a small town...

and very friendly

I think this is the town Mayor...

These great folks provided security for the event - and maybe for Luckenback too.  The guys reminded me of 'old-time' Texas Rangers.

Lots of music in the town..these guys were setting up to play

Lots of 'old-time' buildings in this friendly town

You could get a pre-start massage to help you stretch out

Some of the staff giving the massage services

Me near one of the IRun Texas banners.  After the races started, we began by running down that road behind me.

Me with Mitch, our race MC, co-owner of IRun Texas stores, and all-around great guy

The start/finish line before we all got going

Some of the participants, supporters, volunteers, pre-start

On The Course

The course was done on 'country roads'.    Mitch has a knack of finding some hilly courses, lol, for his 'country roads' races - like his "Too Hot To Handle" event in July.  Don't get me wrong, they are nice courses...just challenging in places.   The 5K route had a couple of fair-sized hills we 5Kers went up-and-down on our out-and-back course, so I can only imagine what the half-marathon folks experienced with 13.1 miles of these country roads. And especially, as the sun came up, it got warmer and warmer pretty quickly.    Both races started together.  I lined up pretty much all the way at the back, since I am pretty slow, and also because I did not want to interfere with any of the half-marathon folks who had a much longer way to go than I did.

And.....we're off!

At this point, I'd made the 5K turn-around and was heading back toward the finish and got some photos of folks going back with me and others still either heading for the 5K turn-around point or continuing on along the half-marathon course.

On the way back, me and a few others encountered this idiot driver, who was trying to drive on the grass to get past the runners and walkers.  A few folks had stopped to walk and moved over on the grass to let the people still running go by.  Luckily this idiot did not run into them.  I don't know if he was associated with the race or not - maybe checking on people - but if so he should know better.

Really?  The guy is actually driving behind someone pushing a kid in a stroller?

Up the hill we'd come down to get to the turn-around point

About a half-mile, maybe a bit less,  to go now to the finish

After The Race

Post race goodies included Lone Star Beer, the major sponsor, hence the name of the race.  Good stuff. I'm enjoying a beer with the bunny.   She did not wear this outfit to do the 5K, it would have been way too warm.

There were also grilled sausages prepared for us by these great folks

And you could buy a photo of you sitting on this big 4-legged guy.  I didn't have any cash on hand to do it, so I settled for just getting a photo of him and his handler.

Happy Finishers et al.....

These guys were half-marathon finishers.  All the half folks got finisher medals.  The guy who came in first finished at 1:19.  On - from what some of the half marathoners told me - a very hilly course.

When I saw these guys, I thought of my friend 'outoftheblue" on the forum here.  No, she is not a chicken...she raises chickens.  These guys also made me kinda hungry cuz I thought of KFC and Chk-Fil-A. 

As I was walking back to my car, I encountered this guy.  He is the son of one of my best buds, George.  I miss running with George, who has a bum knee now and had to hang up his running shoes, we did a lot of the same races in the past.  Nice to see the family tradition is being carried on.

Finally....a close-up of the very nice tech tee race shirt participants got.   How did Mitch know orange is my favorite color? 

EPILOG

Think that was enough photos for one race?    This was the first year this event has been held - I think it was the first - and it was one really nice event, well organized by the IRun Texas folks, nice course  - in spite of the hills - great post-race goodies, nice race shirt, very unique venue.  Maybe Mitch can invite Waylon and Willie next year.   Thanks so much to all the  IRun Texas staff, volunteers, law enforcement officers, security staff, food folks, Lone Star beer folks, etc., all for being out there for us and making this happen.  I will definitely do this one again.

Looks like quite a crowd for a country road race- nice!  Glad there weren't more issues with that car. 

Great report, as always, and nice job on the hills!

Congrats on another great one Scotty.

Well, I  would have just run  the race in Luckenbach because of this song .  My curiosity would have got the best of me.  I really like the photos.  For some reason, they captured the imagery of Texas for someone who has never been there.  Btw, I just fell in love with one of your photographed runners, can you guess which one?

Congratulations on your 25th race this year!

25 races already?  Wow Scotty.  Bozy, I was wondering if I was the only person who immediately thought of that song! lol

Scotty, if you ever decide to hang up your running shoes, I think you have a career as a race photographer!

That looks like a fun race.  Well, except for the hills.  And the idiot driver.  I did a 5K a couple of years ago, where an old guy in a minivan somehow managed to miss the barricades and drive onto the course, directly THROUGH the finish line.  Like, under the banner.  And kept going.  He had to be directed onto a side street to get him off the course.

Nice race report.  I don't think I would have liked it where the course narrowed down so much, especially with that many runners, but it is better than risking somebody getting hurt.  Before yesterday's race, one of the locals complained vehemently that they were going to close the road for a couple of hours, even though they were warned well ahead of time that the road would be closed so he could leave before or after the race.  He had no idea how dangerous it can be to run on a hilly road with traffic zooming around blind corners.  Try that with 500 people, and you're looking at a disaster in the making.  But it looks like yours was a nice race all in all, and as somebody else said, how can you not go to Luchenback Texas to check it out.  Like standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona -- if you're in the neighborhood, you have to do it.

This one looked like the perfect 25th race for the year.  Congratulations!   Loved all the pictures, the chickens, the cows (bulls), Easter bunnies, and the cowboys and girls.  Looked like a great race, and wow, very nice tech tees also.

Wonderful pictures, Scotty! It was great meeting you Saturday at my very 1st 5K (we were parked next to you!) Looking forward to seeing you at the next one!

ahhhhh,  glad you got to be a part of a Scotty run!   Hope you keep coming to our Beginners and Beyond forum too!