Photos are here:        https://photos.app.goo.gl/Kwhjpmqt3SLf7jpFA

Before The Start:   My 6^th race of 2026 was the Scallywompus San Marcos 5K, held on Sunday, February 8^th at the Tanger Outlet Mall in San Marcos.  There was also a half marathon; a 10K; a competitive 5K walk, and a kid’s run.  This was my 2^nd race of the weekend after completing the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Stampede 5K on February 7^th. When I arrived at the race area, the half-marathon was just starting.  I saw my friend Jorgina going by and gave her a shout-out, but don’t think she heard me.  I found some pretty good parking close to the start/finish area, got my race packet and then wandered here-and-there in the race area, chatting with friends, volunteers, other participants, vendors and sponsors, etc., and getting a few pre-start photos.  This is also a dog-friendly event so I was, as usual, popular with the dogs after giving them treats. The Competitive Walk 5K  and the 10K participants started together at 8:15. We 5K participants were scheduled to start at 8:35 a.m. but had a slight delay. It was still pretty close, though, we started only about 5 minutes later.

On The Course:  As usual, I did my 8-min-run/2-minute walk thing and took some on-course photos during my walk break. After crossing the start mat, we then made a left turn and went down a mall outlet road, passing by several store-fronts. This was the flattest part of the 5K course, lol.  This took us to Center Point Road, and the hills began almost immediately.  Center Point Road is just about all hills. Out of curiosity, I looked up the elevation of this road when I got home and ai gave me this information:  “The elevation on Center Point Road in San Marcos near the Tanger Outlet Malls is approximately  570 to 580 feet above seal level”.  Oh yeah, it was hilly. We crested the first long hill, had a bit of flat for about the length of a long driveway, lol; went down a fairly long hill, and then climbed a really long hill to get to the turn-round. Then, of course, we went back to the finish line in reverse.  After getting to the 2-mile marker – which was on an uphill for us – I told myself, okay, time to get this done, and ran this last part of the course almost non-stop, ignoring my Garmin beeping for walk break,  with just a couple of really quick photo stops. I saw my friend Mary Kaplan ahead of me. We do a lot of the same events and sometimes I finish ahead of her, but not today, lol, she was moving pretty good. After finally making it down the last hill, we did not go back to the finish line we came out. Instead, we made a turn that took us down a service road behind the stores.  At the end of this road, we then made a right turn onto a short service road and at the end of this made a left turn, and then a quick right turn to cross the timing matt and finish.  I ended up with a chip time of 42:43, which was good enough for 2^nd in my 70-74 males age group, as there were only 3 in my age group. There were 315 finishers for the 5K. My friend, Mary, finished 17 seconds ahead of me, so I almost caught up to her, lol. Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t, though; she and I are both retired military veterans and she outranks me.

After the finish:  I got my finisher medal and some water and Gatorade and then wandered around, chatting with other participants, and also sponsors, volunteers, and supporters, and getting some “after” photos.  I also treated some more dogs with the remaining treats I had.  Some of the  dogs who have humans that do lots of races are starting to recognize me now and when I show up at an event, and they see me, some of them often start heading for me, knowing I have treats.  The dogs of my friends Carolyn and Bill are especially good at this.  If Bill and Carolyn are not paying attention,  suddenly their “leash arm” will start straightening out as the dogs begin to head for me. The awards ceremony started with the men first, with the “most senior” men placers betting their awards first, so I got mine pretty quickly. After that, I enjoyed chatting with lots of people there, including swapping experiences with several fellow veterans, and getting some more after-photos. 

Epilogue:  The motto of Scallywompus is “Come For The Race. Stay for the party.”  They are not kidding, either.  There were all kinds of food and drinks, including water, Gatorade, beer, and several mixed drink combinations.  There were also all kinds of goodies at the vendor/sponsor booth too, from various types of snack items like chips, pretzels, etc., fresh fruits from the booth of my friend, Gilbert, and much more.

The award is a really nice Scallyompus drinking glass. I got a photo with mine and then donated it to someone.  I’ve gotten several of these glasses at past Scallywompus events and am running out of cupboard space to put them. The race shirt is very nice quality. Since I do so many races in a year – AI did over 80 in 2025 – I’m running out of shirt drawer space too, so these days, I usually get kid-size shirts and then donate them to the disabled kids at Morgan’s Wonderland or to kids currently fighting cancer, since I was a disabled kid for a while, and am also a cancer survivor. 

Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants:  all the many volunteers it takes to make these races happen; our MC, Anthony Zamora for doing his usual great job for us – the post-race “dance contest” he got going was fun and hilarious; iaap race management for the timing and results; the law enforcement officers there for our safety;  Pushbutton Photography for being the “official” photographers of the event; the patience of all the Tanger Outlet Mall customers and store employees as we invaded their space for a few hours; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all! If you see me at an event, give me a shout-out  and we’ll get a photo together.  Whatever your exercises passions are, may you always stay safe doing it and be successful in reaching your goals.