Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/GWtBfHFcHigZutZQA
Before the Start: My 60th race of 2025 was Head For The Cure 5K, held on September 27th at Providence Catholic High School on St. Mary’s Street in San Antonio, Texas. Per the race website this event “raise funds, awareness, and hope for the San Antonio brain tumor community.” This used to be one of my ‘streak races”. I did every one of them from the very first one that started it all, until 2021, when I was undergoing prostate cancer treatment and so missed doing it that year, breaking my streak. This was the 12th annual event of this 5K. It was nice to be doing it again; this is a very well-organized race for a good cause. Of course, me being me – directionally challenged, lol – I ended up missing a turn on the way to the race site and ended up getting a bit lost. Thankfully, I started out very early before the start time, so had plenty of time. Fortunately, I encountered a San Antonio police officer, who helped me out by ‘escorting me” to the race site, with me following her there. When I told my wife about this later, she said “Only you could have encountered a woman police officer and get an escort.” Lol; yes, she may be right; I sure have had a series of running adventures during my 41 years of being a runner. After arriving at the race location and getting parked, I then wandered here-and-there, chatting with other participants, supporters, volunteers and running friends of mine that were there. As this is a dog-friendly event, handing out treats to the doggies there; yes, I do carry dog treats with me when I run, hence my nickname and race name of Scotty Dogg, which was bestowed upon me by a friend many years ago when I stopped during a race to treat some dogs. I’d met some of these dogs at other events and they recognized me, lol, and a few of them came toward me to get some treats; yes, I am the Good Humor Man for dogs, lol. I enjoyed chatting with all these folks, both participants, and supporters and getting a few pre-start photos. Before the start, a group of young people nicely sang The National Anthem, and then we all lined up to get going. Since my running paces are “slow-and-slower”, lol, I made sure to line up more toward the back of the pack, which was quite large. Between runners and walkers, I think there were over 1,000 participant.
On the course: We started on the school grounds, went down a driveway and made a left turn onto St. Mary’s Street, heading in the general direction of the part of St. Mary’s Street that would have taken us toward the 281 highway, if we’d gone that far. However, we made a left turn before that, onto Camden Street, if I remember correctly. We went all the way down this street, then made a left turn onto N. Saint Mary’s again, and this brought us back in front of the school. At this point, there was a turn-round, which we made, and then we proceeded back to the finish using the same route used to get to the turn-round. I got a few more photos on the way back, but pretty much ran mostly non-stop to the finish. There were several police officers doing traffic control for us at all the intersections we crossed, and I made a point of thanking them all. I also jokingly asked one of them “Where’s that bike police officer that’s supposed to be following me, in case I need a ride?” I saw one lady – not a participant – who was pushing a stroller with her son in it, and he had service dog with him, so I did a quick stop to give her some treats for the service dog. That was just before Mile 2 and after that, I went non-stop to the finish. Surprisingly, I ended up with a chip time of 38:52, which I was very happy with, averaging 13:32 per mile, and my last mile was a negative split. My garmin noted the course distance was 3.0, so it may have been just a tad short, but it’s all good.
After My Finish: Did a cool-down walk and went to my vehicle and got some iced-down Gatorade and water I had brought with me and drank those while I sat there with the a/c on full blast to help me cool off after being in that high humidity. After that, I then returned to the race site area to chat with other finishers, participants, volunteers, supporters, etc. and get a few after-photos. I think ALL the dogs there now recognized me, from the previous handout of treats, since whenever I came near one, it would stand up or come toward me…”the Treat Guy, the Treat Guy.” lol. Yes, I did hand out more treats and also got several after photos of other participants, supporters, volunteers there for us, etc. The dancers there also put on a very nice show for us; very talented. I am so jealous….since I dance more like “Elaine” from the Seinfeld TV show, lol.
Epilogue: This is a really very well-done and well-managed event. I can’t remember the name of the company that did the course setup, timing, and results, but they did a great job. BTW, you can find all the results for this one listed on the RunSignUp website, which is convenient. They had a lot going on at this event, too. There was a food truck on-site; a big “soap bubble area” the kids there enjoyed playing in; a really nice Tacos drive through place right next to the school area; and plenty of vendors/sponsors that had some freebies items, and one who was selling reasonably priced tickets to support the cause and you could win a new Garmin watch; All finishers also got a really nice and quite large finisher medals; and the race shirt is very nice quality; even the race bibs are nicely designed. I would definitely recommend this one to others and will do it again. Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for us: all the many volunteers; all the vendors/sponsors who help make this one happen each year; our timing and results guy, and our MC who stood by the finish line cheering in every runner and walker as they came into the finish; all the police officers out there for our safety; and I think there was an EMT on bike, cruising the course, just in case medical aid was needed; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here; Thank you all! OK, time for me to relax and nap, lol. My race #61 is the day after this one, on Sunday. Report and photos to follow on that one too. Whatever your exercise passion is, may you always safely enjoy it and have much success. Maybe I will see you at a future event sometime; give me a shout-out and we’ll get a photo together if you’d like that; if not, we can just chat. Cheers to all.
Scottydog Reports 