Scottydog Reports

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/X5R3ERAAgnUvfr9Q8

Before The Start –   My 25^th 5K of 2023 was the Gabriella Cupkcake 5K held on May 13, 2023 at Bluebonnet Palace in Selma, Texas, a small community within the Greater San Antonio area. This event is named for a little girl named Gabriella who sadly died at 6 years old, if I remember correctly, of a rare form of brain cancer.  Hosted by Gabriella’s Smile Foundation and supported by Community First Health Plans, this event raises funds to help provide financial assistance/free support for pediatric cancer families and for pediatric brain cancer research. There was some question as to whether this event would even go on, as Texas, including the San Antonio area, was getting some crazy, stormy weather, with lightning, thunder, and predictions of up to 5  to 7 inches of rain and potential flooding. However, God and Mother Nature was kind to us for this event. We did get some really crazy weather the night before and in the morning, but by the time I left to go to the race site for the scheduled 8:30 a.m. start, it was still overcast and threatening, but actually pretty nice, with very little ongoing rain.  This is a very popular local event, and even with the weather threat, it was a nice turn-out with 300+ finishers.  When I got to the Bluebonnet Palace, there was quote a crowd of people there already, most of them inside the dance hall, which made it pretty crowded in there, along with all the volunteers, sponsor tables, race day registration group, etc.  I shuffled along, both inside and outside and got a few pre-start photos before we got the lightning “all clear” and proceeded to the start/finish line.

On The Course –  We started on the road in front of Bluebonnet Palace, went to the intersection near the front entrance of Bluebonnet Palace and then made a right turn.  Proceeding down this road, we made a right turn and did a loop through an industrial park with lots of business buildings, warehouses, and so forth. The streets were pretty wet in places, but Mother Nature was kind and it never did rain on us the whole way. I think Gabriella in Heaven must have asked God for a favor for her race and God told Mother Nature to behave herself for this one, so we could help children  in need.  I did my usual 8-minute run/2 minute walk intervals and took some photos during my walk breaks. I’d done this course for some other events held her, so knew what to expect.  For the most part it was flat, but we did have a couple of pretty fair-sized up-inclines on the way; not steep, but long. After doing a loop through the industrial park, we then came back to road that had taken us to the industrial park and went back to the finish the way we had first come out.  Surprisingly, I was feeling pretty good and managed to run almost the last whole mile non-stop to the finish. I ended up with a chip time of 41 minutes even and was very happy with that.  I have been slowly – slow being the key word, lol – but surely getting stronger every week, as I recover from 15 months of prostate cancer treatment – finished my last treatment in December 2022.  I don’t know if I will ever get back to my pre-cancer times, which were a lot faster, but that’s okay. I’m just happy to be able to do any running and races at all.

After My Finish –    It did start spitting a bit of rain on us after we finished, but not too bad at all. Bluebonnet Palace, aside from its indoor area, also has a really nice outside pavilion area that has a lot of covered areas, so we had a lot of options for places to be to keep out of the wet.  I had brought a dry shirt to put on under my running shirt, so got that on to help keep dry and then enjoyed some post-race goodies – and, of course they had cupcakes, but I think, lol, I am one of the very few people in the world that actually does not like cupcakes – some of my friends were appalled to find that out,, lol; how can you not like cupcakes? Now if  if had been brownies  😉  – so I stuck to other goodies, of which there were plenty.  Age group awards went to overall finishers in each age group, which is fine with me; means more funding for the cause. Shoot, this year is my 40^th anniversary of being a runner, so I have plenty of medals, lol.  Nice quality race shirt too; I asked the Race Director to donate mine to one of the cancer kids they support.

 Epilogue: I’ve done this one a few times, and it was nice to be back for this one. It really is a well-organized event for a really good cause, with very unique finishers medals and lots of post-race activity going on. Bluebonnet Palace  is also a very nice race venue with lots of room for everyone, indoor restroom facilities and a place full of some really interesting to see, hanging from the walls, the doors, and even the ceilings, lol. It really is a very fun place to be and to see. The course was very nicely thought-out by iRun Texas, a  local race management/running shoes and other runner/walker accessories stores, and they put on some pretty darn good race of their own too.  Mucho thanks to them and to all the people involved that made this event happen for us, including iRun; the foundation; all the event sponsors; the police officers and medical staff out there for our safety; all the many needed volunteers to make this one happen for we participants; Bluebonnet Palace, of course; and any others involved that I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all so much!   Next up for me is the Legionary 5K Bier Run on May 20^th in New Braunfels,  put on by the American Legion to help fellow veterans.  Nice one to do on Armed Forces Day.

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/tWzxGH2SwxJ3J46XA

Before The Start –  My 24^th race of 2023 wat the Spring Thing 5K held on May 6 at the San Antonio State Mental Hospital in San Antonio. This event supports mental health and, if I remember correctly, helps raise funds for patient activities that are not paid for by the state. The event was held on the hospital grounds and had a nice turnout, with 117 finishers, especially considering the free District 4 5K, put on by the District 4 staff, usually has a huge turnout as it is a free event. I’ve done a few of those in the past and  those get crazy-crowded.   Top-notch race management company iaap did the course setup, timing, and results for this one. Race start time of 8 a.m. I got there with about an hour to go, got my race packet, and got a few pre-start photos.

On The Course – Held entirely on the hospital grounds, this course was out-and-back a mix of flat paved roads and a few hills and inclines along the way.  The weather was pretty darn humid – about 90-something percent, with dark clouds hovering overhead as we started.  I thought it might rain on us a bit, but that never did happen, and the sun even came out for a while; could have done without that, lol,  it was warm enough already, with a temperature of 81 degrees…at 8 a.m in the morning, good grief. Gotta love San Antonio weather, lol.  I started out with my friend Sally, with us doing 8-min run/2-minute walk. On my first walk break, Sally and I walked together a bit, and I stopped to get a few photos while she continued on, and I never did catch her for the rest of the course, lol. We got a very nice tour of the hospital grounds, and on our way back to the finish, a nice panoramic view of the hospital building. We also passed by where the new hospital building is being constructed.  After the turn-round point, I had Sally in sight again, just ahead of me, but then stopped to get another photo, and that was that, she finished ahead of me quite handily. She has overcome some issues and is doing really well with her running these days and I am very happy for her.  She was first in her age group.  I ended up finishing with a chip time of 43:21, 3^rd in my males 60-69 age group.  My speedy friend Luke was first in the age group with 26 minutes and change.  I met my two primary race goals, finish standing up and no ambulance waiting specifically for me at the finish, lol – and was quite satisfied, especially as I am still dealing with some side effects from my 15 months of prostate cancer treatment, which I finished in December 2022; so to be able to do any running at all is a blessing.

After My Finish – First thing, a short cool-down walk and then get some water into me.  After that enjoyed some of the post-race treats – breakfast tacos, bananas, donut holes, and more; there was quite a nice little spread for this one – and also wandered here and there getting some post-run photos of happy finishers, volunteers, and supporters. There was also a raffle, and I actually got one of the prizes, a spa outing, which I gave to my wife when I got home.

 Epilogue:  This is a really nicely done event with a good course that gives lots of nice views of the hospital campus.  Indoor restroom is nice too.  The race shirt is very nice quality and the post-race goodies were also good. As noted, there was a post-race raffle with several prizes.  Awards went given only to the top overall in each age group, with which I have no heartburn, just means more support for the patients, and the awards were quite unique items that were made by some of the hospital patients, very cool. I’ve done this one a couple of times in the past and it is always enjoyable.  The hospital staff there, the volunteers, etc., all do a great job in accommodating the participants. I will definitely do this one again in the future and certainly would recommend it to others.  Hope it grows a bit more; it certainly is for a very worthwhile cause, especially as my experience is there are not too many 5Ks overall that support mental health causes, but that support surely is needed. Mucho thanks to all the people involved that made this event happen for we participants; all the event sponsors – Methodist Hospital System, University Health, and H-E-B, were the primary ones – all the volunteers and hospital staff members that were there for us; iaap, of course; our bike lead volunteers, and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all so much!  See you next time I do this one!

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/bJdyWj5DpodV4Xcm8

Before The Start – My 23^rd race of 2023, and my 3^rd  5K of the May 29 – May 30 weekend was the Siesta 5K put on by local running organization Sccallywompus.  Held on May 30^th, this was the 4^th race in the Hill Country Series of 4 races, for which you could register individually or register for all 4 at once and get a nice registration discount. If you completed all 4 races, you got an extra medal after you finished the last event.  This race was held at Missions County Park and included a half-marathon, a 10K and a 5K.  Scallywompus events are very popular, especially as they are not kidding with their race motto: “Come for the Race. Stay for the party.”  Scallywompus throws some awesome after-parties.  I arrived early on race day, got my packet for the 5K I would be doing, and then wandered around getting some pre-start photos.  The Mission County Park grounds and pavilion were already getting crowded, as participants, volunteers, and supports continually began showing up.  How popular are Scallywompus events?  There were 214 participants in the half; 245 in the 10K; 388 in the 5K and 8 in the Competitive Walker category, totaling 855 participants. I’d say Scallywompus events are very popular. Mother Nature was kind to us, also, with really good weather, sunshine, hardly any wind, a temp in the upper 50s, low 60s, and the humidity was not really too bad.

On The Course:  Staggered starts for all the events, with the half marathoners going first at 7:31 a.m.; the 10K at 8:15; and the 5K at 8:35 a.m. All the courses were done on the paved trails of the Riverwalk, so it did get a bit crowded at times, but I think everyone expected that, with this many participants, and from where I was at any given moment, we all pretty much accommodated each other as much as possible, trying to move out of the way of faster participants and also lots of encouraging each other on.  You just have to keep your sense of humor and not get frustrated by it all.  I did my usual 8-min-run/2 min walk thing, and stepped to the side during my walk breaks when I was getting some on-course photos. At my two running paces – slow and slower – I figured I’d probably be out here for at least an hour, with the crowd the way it was. For the 5K course, we started from the Mission Park pavilion. When I saw that we were turning left to go down the hill in front of the pavilion, well, right then, because I’ve done events here before, I knew we’d be taking the hilly route.  We went down a hill to start, then it was flat for about 100 good deep-breaths, lol, which you needed because then we hit our first uphill.  We then proceeded down a hill, and under a bridge, and then onto a small bridge that went across the water.  The half and 10K folks crossed this bridge.  For the 5K folks the bridge was our turn-around point, so we stayed on the side of the river that the park was on.  Of course, since we’d come downhill to the bridge, now we had to climb up this hill on our way back and it sure was no baby hill, lol.  The nice thing, though, is we got some good scenic views of the river. I do hills once a week, so really had no problems with the hills; just kept plugging along and doing my thing.  As noted earlier I expected to finish close to an hour, but surprised myself and ran the whole last mile just about non-stop. There were only 4 in my 65-69 males age group, so I was pleasantly surprised when I finished 2^nd in my age group, with a chip time of 43:48, so almost an hour, as expected, but better than I thought I would do. The age group awards were these really nicely designed small drinking glasses.  When I got my ‘award’ home, my wife loved that thing, so I graciously ‘allowed’ her to have it.  Smart, right?  It’s all good though; I prefer cups anyway; a klutz like me should probably not be holding a glass, lol; we lose more dishes and glasses that way. 

After My Finish:  First thing, get some hydration in me, and also enjoyed a post-race Kiolbassa sausage. Then wandered around taking some ‘after photos’, chatting with friends and enjoying some of the other post-race treats, and freebie give-aways from the various sponsors and vendors, and there were a whole lot of them. As noted earlier, Scallywompus events are very popular, even for the vendors; a bigger audience for them to show their wares too.

 Epilogue: I really enjoy the Scallywompus events.  I also like “Mr. Scallywompus”, my friend Bart, who is a class-act guy with a great sense of humor.  Also, he and I were both treated for our cancers during the same time frame, so we chatted a lot with each other through that, and I can’t begin to tell you how much that helped me get through, and I hope I helped him do the same. I think we became closer through that experience, and I will always count him as a friend; and now we still continue to support each other because, even though the worst part is done, now we will be dealing with the treatment side-effects for a while – and everyone who was a cancer patient, and is a cancer patient, can certainly relate to that.  We will get through this – and it is gradually getting better for both of us, I think-  and we will prevail.  I don’t plan on letting it stop me from being as active as possible and I keep on scheduling myself to do races, and have 7 in May for which I’ve already registered. Hope to see any of you at a few of them! I also want to throw some kudos out to all the people involved that made this one happen for we participants; Scallywompus folks; all the many volunteers, vendors, and sponsors; iaap folks for course setup, timing, results; our music and sound person; police officers and EMTs out there for our safety; the Junior ROTC guys – I think it was the Young Marines – that did the presentation of the colors ; the grill-masters that cooked those great sausages for us; and all that great fruit from my friend Gilbert; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all! 

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/VsewYAKtMpv79tzz5

Before The Start  – My 22^nd race of the year was the Still I Run 5K held on the evening of April 29^th at McAllister Park.  This event supports and raises funds for mental health awareness, with a concentration on mental health for veterans, who sometimes may be in a dark place after their military duties, experiencing PTSD, possible suicidal thoughts, etc. Most the participants, including me – retired Air Force – had some type of military connection. This was my 2^nd 5K of the day after doing a 5K earlier in the morning. Start time was roughly around  5:45 or so, done on the paved park roads and paved off-road trails. This was the inaugural event for this 5K, founded by my friend Jada.  Done on the same day as the vey popular night-time Flambeau parade for Fiesta San Antonio,, which started in the evening a bit after this one, this ended up being a smaller event with 56 total finishers; however, it was also a pretty personal event too, with lots of friends who knew each other being there, so it came across as a very nice runner/walker get together for a serious cause.  I got my race packet and then got a few pre-start photos. 

On The Course: National Anthem was sung beautifully by my friend Meghan and then we started probably a little before 6 pm. For our weather, we had what weather people call ‘abundant sunshine’ and a temp of 88 degrees.  My kind of weather, lol.  I much prefer running in warmth than in the cold. The humidity was actually not too bad and McAllister Park trails have lots of shady spots along the way. I did my usual run 8 minutes/walk 2 minutes and took photos during my walk breaks.  Several times, since I am slower than a snail racing a turtle, I had the trails all to myself.  It was all good, though; My neighborhood is right behind the park and I often run here on my own, so it felt very natural for me; also, since I had pushed myself a bit at my morning 5K, for this one I just kicked back and went easy. I even stopped to play wih a dog for a bit and give it a treat; chatted with a deer for a couple of minutes; -she told me that Bambi movie was WAY off the mark for what deer actually do, lol; my first thought was ‘how did a deer get into the movie theater?  😉 – and I encountered a walking couple who were in the park for the first time and felt like they were lost, so gave them some directions   I ended up 4^th out of 5 in my 60-69 males age group, with a chip time of 42:24, averaging 13:35 per mile, but I sure did have a lot of fun, and I had a negative split from Mile 2 to Mile 3.

 After My Finish: Got some water and did a short cool-down walk.  Then I wandered around chatting with participants, supporters, vendors, etc.  Enjoyed a post-race beer and some post-race goodies. There were some awards for the top finishers and overall age group winners, and then some other give-aways too.

 Epilogue:   This is a very nice-and-friendly 5K that feels more like a get-together of running friends to just come out and enjoy themselves with each other – although the message and cause of this event is a serious one and should be heeded. Please, please, please, if you have veteran family members, friends, are a veteran and are in a bad place mentally, physically, whatever, please be aware there is help out there.  If you know of someone in a bad place, then please tell someone about it, so someone can step up and try and help them before it is too late. There are all kinds of resources, but they won’t help if nobody knows what’s going on. Did you know:  Among all U.S. adults—including Veterans—the average number of suicides per day rose from 81.0 per day in 2001 to 121.0 in 2020; and it is still pretty bad; not good. Please help any way you can via a donation to organizations that try to prevent this; to reaching out to those you personally know; and/or anything else you can think of to help.  I would definitely do this one again – but perhaps move it away from Fiesta time. Participants got a very nice finisher medal and a really good quality race shirt. Much thanks to Jada for starting this one; to iaap who did the race timing and results; to friend Gilbert for having his very tasty fruits out there for us; and all involved sponsors, volunteers, and anyone else helping to get this one going,  

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/ASpNxR88wgUxN5ey7

Before The Start  – My 21^st race of 2023 was the Run To Remember 5K held on April 29^th at Comanche Park in San Antonio, Texas.  There was also a 10K. This event raised funds for research to find a cure for Alzheimer’s.  This event was founded by two brothers, Matthew, and Miguel to raise money for a cause that has personally affected their family.  Known as Beards (Matthew) vs Beans (Miguel), these two have a contest to see who can raise the most funds for the cause. The winner then gets to give a challenge to the other brother that must be met.  This is a very popular annual event in the local running community and usually gets a really nice turn-out.  As this event is usually done around Fiesta San Antonio time-frame, it is sometimes a challenge, as lots of people are attending Fiesta events during this time.  Even so, the brothers always manage to get a pretty nice turn-out, and this one was no exception with the results showing 157 finishers for the 5K and 39 finishers for the 10K.  In spite of some crazy weather the night before – rain, hail, wind, lightning, etc. – race day was pretty nice with sunshine, virtually no wind at all and a temp in the mid 50s.

On The Course : The 10K started 15 minutes before the 5K, with we 5Kers starting off at 7:45 a.m. The course was on paved asphalt and then asphalt and concrete trails in the park. Both courses were out-and-back. The trails in Comanche park are very nice ones, with lots of woodsy areas and trees – even a tree that fell down on the course from the storm the night before, so we had to negotiate that, which all of us did safely. We also crossed over a couple of bridges,  and one could see how much the water had risen from the night’s storm, and how fast it was moving.  I seem to have a problem with bridges in my running life – I’ve run off of 5 of them in my 40 years of running, lol; thankfully all pretty low bridges, so no high falls, just simple ‘splash-downs’ into a creek, pond, lake, etc – but I managed to cross these two on the course with no problems; I’m sure the race organizers were grateful for that, lol, no rescuing required. I did my usual 8-min-run/2-min-walk thing – can’t run a whole course nonstop anymore because of my spinal arthritis – and took some on-course photos during my walk breaks.  I was feeling pretty good overall and even managed to run nonstop for most of the last mile.  I surprised my self by doing a negative split for Mile 3, and ended up with a chip time of 40:43, averaging 13:07 per mile and Mile 3 was 12:38, the fastest I’ve moved in a while, since finishing my cancer treatments in December 2022.  I was one happy old dog, lol. I even managed to place 3^rd in my age group.  I finished 1 minute and 10 seconds behind my friend Ted, who was second in our age group; shouldn’t have stopped for that last photo, lol.  It’s all good; I really enjoyed myself. Instead of a medal, we got these memorial coins from Dragon’s Den aka e-Dragon Productions – another really good local race company – that has a number on the back of it that can be used for a registration discount for their events, nice.

 After My Finish: Got some water and did a short cool-down walk.  Then I wandered around chatting with participants, supporters, vendors, etc.  Enjoyed a post-race beer and a sausage wrap. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I soon ran out of dog treats, which I carry when I run. The dogs, however, did not know I had run out, so I got lots of looks from them for more treats, lol.

 Epilogue:   I have done Miguel and Matt’s events almost from the very time it started up. This one is personal to me too, as my wife’s uncle passed away from this disease. He was a great guy who was an orthopedic surgeon and also taught at the medical school of Texas Tech.  I really liked him a lot, as well as his wife – my wife’s aunt – Noreen, a very classy lady. Bud is surely missed by the family.  Miguel and Matt have a great sense of humor too, and carry that into their events. Today’s event’s also included the 0.5 Beer contest, in which participants carried a full stein of beer and whomever succeeded in the least spilling was the winner, lol.  My friend Woody came in second – and then promptly drank the beer, lol.  The second part of their fundraising efforts is a race called The Longest Day 5K, which comes up in June, and that one will decide which brother gets to give the other a challenge. I am already registered for that one too, so see you there if you come out!

Kudos and thanks to all the people involved that made this one happen for we participants: the two brothers of course; Alamo Beer for being the pre-race-day  packet pickup venue ;iaap for the course setup, timing, and results; Dragon’s Den folks for the age group coin awards and for helping out; all the involved sponsors and vendors; our ‘sausage wrap” workers who had to be there really early and had some really tasty Kiolbassa sausage for us post-race; our ‘fruity guy’ Gilbert with all that great fresh fruits he brings to these events; Anthony, our MC, who did his usual great job at it; he MCs several events over the year and, in my opinion, has become the premier guy to get as MC if you have a San Antonio event going on;  and all others involved that I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all, so much!   Hope to see any or all of you at one of my upcoming events!

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/jHNnUK8CqpiFVPNW6

 Before The Start:   My 20^th race of 2023 was the Confetti 5K on April 22, held at Our Lady Of The Lake University (OLLU) in San Antonio, Texas. This event raises scholarship funds for OLLU students.  This is one of my ‘streak’ races, as I have done every one of them since it first started, which was in 2017, if I remember correctly.  The course starts and finishes on the OLLU campus.  It has a 9 a.m. start, so got to sleep in a tad, and then arrived at OLLU just before 8 a.m.    I got my race packet, and then wandered about getting some pre-start photos.  There were a lot of people at this popular event that had 561 finishers. Along with the participants there, the area was packed with the vendors, sponsor areas, medical tents, volunteers for race day packet pickup and registration, as well as friends and family members who had come to cheer their participants on. Quite a busy little place, this 5K before the start.

On The Course:   We started right on time , with a cannon shooting confetti into the air in front of the start/finish line and we ran or walked below the falling confetti as we got going. We rounded the building near the start, making a left turn, and then stayed on campus for about just under  a half-mile, with a little out-and-back along the way.  After going out one of the campus gates we then proceeded on a sidewalk which I think is adjacent to Commerce street on our left.  We then made a right turn onto a paved trail that took us to  the man-made lake near the University. We went over a bridge to the other side of the lake and proceeded to do a loop around the lake, with some really nice views of the lake. We had a total of 3 bridge crossings on the lake for this event.  I managed not to fall off any of them into the water; me and bridges have a past history in my running life, lol. After crossing the 3^rd bridge on the lake, we then proceeded around a paved trail on the opposite side of the lake we had been on when we started around the lake.  This trail took us back to the campus where we then proceeded back the way we had come out, with the exception of not doing the small out-and-back part on the way to the finish.  I was feeling fairly well and managed to nonstop run just about all of the last mile, so yay, progress! I ended up with a chip time of 41:06, averaging 13:14 per mile and had negative splits too, with the last mile my fastest, yay!  Loved this, as it really does make me feel I am doing pretty well post-cancer treatment (had 15 months of treatment for prostate cancer, finishing in December 2022) and am slowly – VERY slowly, lol – getting back to my old self. Not bad for an old guy with a pacemaker and some side-effect issues from the cancer.

After My Finish:  First thing…get some hydration in me and get a banana, my usual first post-race eatery-thing after I finish a race.  After that, wandered around in the finish area, getting some post-race photos of finishers, vendors, sponsors, etc.  After that, went wandering around looking at all the event booths, tents, and whatever else was going on.  I tend to do a lot of races over the year, as well as posting my reports on my blog, and always wear one of my cancer shirts when I do a race, so as I roamed about, I heard lots of “Scottydog!” call-outs, resulting in several post-race chats and lots of photos taken. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I soon ran out of the dog treats I carry with me when I do a run or a race, and made some more 4-legged friends for life, lol.  The weather really behaved for us too; sunny day, clear skies, with a bit of cloud cover, not too humid, and temps in the upper 50s, low 60s.

Epilogue:  One of my very favorite events.  My friend Liz, the race director, really puts on a good show for this one and arranged for one heck of a really nice after party with all kinds of various goodies from the vendors/sponsors, including Kiolbassa sausage, cold beer, a food truck on site, bottled water, of course, and much more. Very nice quality race shirt and finisher medal for all finishers.  Really nice course.  OLLU also opened its doors to us, so we had actual restrooms too, instead of porta-potties, nice. This one will always be a keeper for me; if anyone else has a race scheduled on the same day, well, sorry, I will be at the OLLU 5K. I very well know that race calendars can get a bit crazy, as the races compete for entrants, and sometimes it happens that two really good events end up on the same day.  I think all the race directors of our local races should have a big annual conference during a time when there are not that many races ongoing – like during the Christmas week for example – and divvy up everything between them, lol, so no double races on race days, lol. Doubt that will happen, though, but we runners can dream, right?    Kudos and thanks to all the people involved that made this one happen for we participants; iaap for the course setup, timing, and results; Race Director Liz and her crew for packet pickup, race day registration, being out on the course at water stops and other places to cheer us on, and much more that they did; all the police officers out there for our safety; all the staff of OLLU for their patience and courtesy in letting us invade their space for several hours; our MC, Anthony Zamora, who did his usual fantastic job; in my opinion he has now elevated himself to being the #1 local area MC for our local races that he does MC duties for;  he is also a pretty talented runner in his own right. Thanks also, of course, to all the sponsors/vendors for this event which could not have happened without their support; our volunteers that cooked up al that Kiolbassa sausage for us; and the post-race beer was pretty good too; and any others involved that I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all, so much! 

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/3DubGRT8QwdbJgH2A

Before The Start:  My 19^th race of 2023 was the SATX Fiesta Fitfest 5K, held on Saturday, April 15^th.  Starting and finishing at the campus of The University of Texas at San Antonio, this event was a prequel opening event for the upcoming Fiesta San Antonio, which runs from April 20^th – April 30^th, 2023. Start and finish was at the university’s East Parking lot, a huge area that is across the street from the headquarters of Fortune 500 company, Valero Energy.  Besides the 5K, there was also a 10K, a  kid’s run, and many other things going on. Race start time of 8 a.m. for the 10K and 8:15 a.m. for the 5K.  Presented by another Fortune 500  local company H-E-B, this was the 2^nd year this event has been held and the turnout was huge:  1,081 finishers for the 5K; 442 finishers for the 10K.  I arrived with about 40 minutes to go to the 5K start, got my race packet and then wandered around taking some photos and chatting with many many friends and acquaintances I saw at this event. San Antonio Sports was the primary presenting organization for this event, held over three days with activities that included the 5K and 10K; a cycling race, and much more. H-E-B of San Antonio was the primary presenting sponsor.

On The Course:  Both the 10K and the 5K started right on time.  As I am a fairly slower runner (averaging 12-to -14 minute miles) I lined up fairly back a ways in the start crowd; probably a mistake with a crowd this size as there were a whole lot of people in front of me; it took me almost 3 – 4 minutes just to cross the start mat to get my timing chip started.  The course was a combination of paved roads and off-road paved trails.  Coming out of the UTSA campus, we turned left on Valero Way, passing in front of Valero Energy headquarters. We did an out-and-back on this road, heading toward UTSA Boulevard after we made the turn-round.  Crossing over UTSA Boulevard, we headed into an apartment complex area, but we did not going into the apartment area of the residents living there; instead, we went onto one of the off-road paved trails that led us onto the trail system of the Valero Park Trailways. We turned left onto the trails and and off we went. There were a couple of mild inclines along the way, but nothing you could really call a hill.  I kept thinking this was an out-and-back course; however, after reaching a mile with me not seen any other 5K participants coming back towards me, I knew this would be a loop course and thought “Uh oh…I see where this is going” I work for UTSA and often run in this area after work, so was familiar with it.  Sure enough, and as I suspected, we came out on the Valero Trailway head of the trail system where the parking lot is, and then went out onto a frontage road of highway 1604 – right down from the university – and proceeded to climb a long uphhill that I have run before, and it takes a while to get up this thing.  Once we did get up it, the course then turned us back onto Valero Way. We passed by Valero headquarters once more, and then proceeded to the finish line the way we had originally come out.  I did my usually 8 minutes running/2 minutes walking thing, taking photos during my walk breaks, and ended up with a chip time of 42:28, 15^th out of 24 in my 60-69 males age group, averaging 13:40 per mile. Also, I had negative splits – yay! – with Mile 3 being my fasted mile as I  ran that whole mile almost completely non-stop.  One thing I thought was funny…as I was finishing my 5K, my speedy friend Max, whom I think did the 10K, passed by me – and I think that was his cool-down run, lol, after already finishing the 10K. So he did “loops” around my slow self, lol.

After My Finish: First thing…get some hydration in me and get a banana, my usual first post-race eatery-thing after I finish a race.  After that, wandered around in the finish area, getting some post-race photos of finishers, vendors, sponsors, etc.  After that, went wandering around looking at all the event booths, tents, and whatever else was going on.  I tend to do a lot of races over the year, as well as posting my reports on my blog, and always wear one of my cancer shirts whenI race, so as I roamed about, I heard lots of “Scottydog!” call-outs, resulting in several post-race chats and lots of photos taken. This is also a dog-friendly event, so I soon ran out of the dog treats I carry with me when I do a run or a race, and made some 4-legged friends for life, lol. The Fit Fest sponsors/vendors completely filled one of the East Campus parking lot areas, so there was a ton of stuff going on from activities for the kids there right up to enjoying some post-race Michelob Ultra at the Michelob pavilion area. They even had a Texas Special Olympics area too, with activities there to accommodate the disabled, etc., which I thought was really nice.

Epilogue:  One of the very best and enjoyable events I have ever done.  This one is definitely a keeper for my race calendar.  There were so many things to chose from, and all kinds of post-race goodies and freebies hand-outs from the sponsors and vendors. There were also lots of activities going on too, including things for the kids to do, challenge things from Camp Gladiator folks, and much, much more; so many that I can’t remember them all.  This is really a well-done event.  Mucho thanks to all the sponsors and vendors; he many, many, many, race day volunteers and event volunteers; the police officers and medical staff out there for our safety, including the UTSA police force officers; our MC who did a really great job for us; to my friends at iaap race management company that did the course setup, timing, and results – they had to be there REALLY early – and were even out on the day before to get the course ready – and anyone else/all involved that I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all so much.  See you next year!

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/tvrFxeL7bGadVguaA

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Before The Start:   My 18^th race of 2023, and my 3^rd race of the first weekend of April was the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K, put on by the Colon Cancer Coalition.  This event is held in several different cities over the year on various dates. The San Antonio 5k was held on Sunday, April 2^nd at Morgans Wonderland with a start time of 8 a.m.  Very convenient location for me, as I live only about 5 miles from Morgan’s Wonderland, so got to sleep in a bit after doing two 5Ks on Saturday.   I’ve done the San Antonio event for several years, with my first one being done way back when at Brackenridge Park soon after the Air Force reassigned me to Lackland way back when during my 24-year Air Force career.  I  do this event regularly as I had colon issues way back when, at 29 years old, with aggressive malignant polyps found, which pretty much would have become cancer and a small tumor that was caught so fast, it had not spread, so I was very lucky it was found at stage zero and removed.  That was also the year I became a runner, and I have this superstition that as long as I keep running I won’t have a recurrence. Here I am still running, with my 40^th anniversary of being a runner coming up on April 15^th. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed in 2021 with an aggressive prostate cancer, and was treated 15 months for that, finishing in November 2022, and all is good.  Due to some side effects from my prostate cancer that I am dealing with – radiation proctitis – I got another colonoscopy in August 2022 and very aggressive malignant polyps were found and removed.  Due to this and my history my gastro doc has now move me from getting a colonoscopy every 5 years to every 3 years, which is okay by me, better safe than sorry.  All I can say is I am one darn lucky dog and my docs at BAMC have always taken very good care of me.  For the 5K, I arrived with about an hour to go and encountered my friend Woody – who had also done two 5ks on Saturday – and we got our packets for the race pretty quickly as we had pre-registered.  Woody went to get some coffee (blech! can’t even stand the smell of the stuff, lol) and I wandered around getting some pre-start photos.  Local news station KENS-5 was there, with Marvin Hurst – a fellow cancer survivor –  helping with some of the MC duties, which was pretty cool.  The opening ceremonies at the Morgan’s Wonderland amphitheater included some really good comments from a couple of survivors who have impressive stories of surviving this disease; very inspirational.  Some of the volunteers and sponsors recognized me from attending this event in previous years – I am pretty recognizable, the way I dress when I go for a run, lol – and I enjoyed chatting with them as I wandered around getting some pre-start photos.  

On The Course:  Having done several 5Ks over the years at Morgan’s Wonderland, I was  pretty familiar with the course; it’s pretty much the same route for just about every 5K done here. I started out doing my usual 8-min run 2-min walk thing, taking photos during my walk breaks. We started near the Amphitheater and just below where the water play area is.  After doing a loop around the park’s man-made lake, we exited the park with a right turn, and headed past the Morgan’s Wonderland splash-pad on our right and Toyota Field soccer stadium on our left. The route took us past the park’s basketball and tennis courts and around Heroes Stadium, a football-type stadium of Northeast Independent School District. We passed by the very recently opened Morgan’s Wonderland Multi-Assistance Center (The MAC) that assists people who have disabilities – I can relate; I was a March of Dimes baby.  This took us to the halfway point.  We then did a short stint in front of Heroes Stadium. This took us back out onto the road we had come down to get to the halfway point. After that we returned to the finish line the same way  we had come out, only in reverse, with our last bit being another loop around the man-made lake to get to the finish line.  After doing two 5Ks on Saturday, I thought today would be slow-and-easy for me; well, I AM  always slow, lol, with 12 – 14-minute miles these days as I continue to deal with these darn side-effects, but even so felt pretty good today.  I ended up running most of Mile 3 nonstop, surprising myself, finishing 3^rd in my 60-69 males age group with a chip time of 41:32, and I even had negative splits, nice.

After My Finish: After I stopped, THEN, lol my legs shouted at me “OK, 3 races, we are done, sit down for a while!” lol.  Nice post-race goodies, including  breakfast tacos, so I enjoyed a couple of those and was joined by friends Woody, Carolyn, and Donald, and we all enjoyed sitting with each other and chatting post-race and just relaxing for a bit.  After that, I wandered around getting some after-photos – and several of the vendors/sponsors recognized me from previous years; had a nice chat with the Thrivewell Foundation lady; and one of the race volunteers when I got my age-group award handed me a couple of snickers bars saying she had made sure they had them this year because she remembered our chat from last year when I jokingly complained that they had all these nice candy bars, but no snickers, my favorites.  Wow, that was so nice of her.  My friend Woody was first in our age group, my friend Don was second, and I was third.  One more year, Woody, and I will be out of your age group, lol. Next year I turn 70. My strategy, since I am not speedy, is to try and outlive all the competition. 😉

Epilogue: This is always a really good quality event, with the Cancer Coalition organizing it really well; and all those great post-race goodies are a bonus.  The race shirt is a very nice quality shirt – orange this year, my favorite color – and the medals are really nicely done.  I would certainly recommend this one and will continue to participate in future ones. Lots of freebies from sponsors, and all kinds of great information handouts on this insidious disease.  Colon cancer is the 4^th leading cause of cancer deaths in the US, but if it is caught early, the survival rate is very high; so please, know your family history, and get checked.  This thing can be cured and someday, hopefully wiped out altogether.  Much thanks to all the people that made this one happen for we participants, Morgan’s Wonderland, all the many sponsors – especially the presenting sponsor, Gastroenterology Clinic of San Antonio  and all the vendors; iaap web for the course setup, timing, and results; KENS-5 for being there for this one; all those survivors that told us their stories; the police officers out on the course for our safety; our awards MC; and anyone else involved I may not have mentioned here. Thank you all so much!  See you next year!

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/C7xK4Tr4XLGV5PwS9

Before The Start:    My 17^th 5K of 2023 was the April Fool’s 5K on April 1^st at 5 pm. This was my second 5K of the April 1 – April 2 weekend, after having done the Northside Education 5K ion Saturday morning Put on by Soler Sports, this event was held at McAllister Park. Since it was an April’s Fool’s 5K, the event held a few surprises in the awards area. This was also the birthday of my late friend and best-est running buddy for over 20 years, Bernadette Beck, who died of cancer on Dec 5, 2021.  She would have been 66 years old  today.  In honor f her birthday, I brought some cupcakes and cookies for people to enjoy post-race. She was very well known in the running community, with lots of friends. I arrived around 4:15 pm, got my bib number and race shirt and then got a few pre-start photos.

On The Course: With it being April Fool’s Day, I was not sure if this would be an actual 5K or maybe we’d go longer; or shorter.  It turned out it was an out-and-back on one pf the park’s paved roads, and then  a short distance to a turn around point on one of the parks off-road paved trails, and the distance did turn out to be 5K.  Our MC, however, had told us before we started, to do something as we came across the finish line – jump, dance, roll, handstand, whatever – and a prize was going to be given for the ‘best’ finish.  I actually ended up feeling pretty good for this event and ran most of the last 1.5 miles nonstop.  I ended up with a 43:13 finish time in my 60-69 age group, 6^th out of 9, which included my speedy friends Rex (1^st) and Woody (2^nd). As for a  finishing act, well I am not too flexible lol, what with arthritis and recently finishing cancer treatment, so I just did a small jump when I finished, not too impressive at all…and glad I did not hurt myself, lol. I then got a few photos of some other participants coming in, including my friends Carolyn and her dog, Lucy.  

After My Finish:   Really nice goodies post-race for this one that included beer, sausage-on-a-stick, bananas and other fruits, water, of course, and more.  Very nice post-race spread.  Being April Fool’s Day, the awards were crazy and funny, lol.  First place finishers got an award, and then there were all kinds of different awards, lol, sometimes for 5^th place, sometimes for 8^th place and other different places, too funny, and also awards for the best ‘finisher act; for doing such things, when finishing, like one-handed pushups, flips, dancing into the finish, and lots more.  It was lots of fun; some of these finishers were quite inventive with what they did. For being a PM race on a very busy race Saturday, with lots of local area races, this one had a pretty nice turn out, with 112 finishers.

Epilogue: This was the First Annual April Fool’s Day 5K and hopefully not the last. It really is a fun event, with lots of good people showing up.  Very well organized by race director Lisa Haby Soler with the help of Tony Garcia, MC Anthony Z, food prep guy Gilbert and his help crew; music-and-sound man Paul, and all the many volunteers out there. I will certainly do this one again.  Nice finisher medals to all and nice quality race shirt. Mucho thanks to all the people I noted above that made this one happen for us, as well as Alamo Beer Hall, listed on the back of the shirt, so I am assuming the race sponsor – good post-race beer too. Anthony Zamora did his usual great MC job; and a personal and very heart-felt thanks to Lisa and Anthony for having everyone sing Happy Birthday to my running bud, Bernadette for her Heavenly birthday; I was very touched by that, almost started bawling on the spot. All-in-all, a very nicely done inaugural event.  Hope this one grows as it continues, it really is a fun event. Also, thanks to the iaap crew for doing their usual great job of timing and results and to the park police officers out there for our safety.  Thanks also to anyone involved I may not have mentioned here.  Thank you all.

Photos are here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/QLw6uWmfahgrrVaf8

Before The Start:   My 16^th 5K of 2023 was the Northside Education Foundation (NEF) 5K held on April 1^st  at Sandra Day O’Connor High School in Helotes, with a start time of 9 a.m and a theme of “Do Great Things”. The NEF has a “mission to foster community involvement in innovative educational programs.”  I work for UTSA and the Northside District is, like all the San Antonio school districts, one of our partner schools, and a UTSA ‘neighbor’, being right down the road from us only a short way. This 5K was a fun-run to support their efforts, so no age group awards, but participants did get a finisher medal.  Along with the 5K, there was also a family health and wellness expo, so there wrere lots of various vendors/sponsors with tables and booths.   I arrived with a little under an hour to go to the start time, got my  packet, and got a few pre-start photos.  I have never been to this high school before and was surprised to see how really large this campus is.  There was a really nice turn-out too, with over 1,000 participants of all ages, from small kid right up to old geezers like me, lol; it is also a stroller/chair friendly event.  I did not see any dogs on the course, but per the race description, service dogs are allowed.

On The Course:  With my two race speeds of “Slow and Slower”, I lined up in kind of in the near-back/middle of the huge start crowd., so it took me a while to get going to my normal pace; that and I did stop after I started to get a couple photos of this huge start crowd.  The route was completely on the campus.  It was pretty flat for most of the way, with participants heading first toward the front gate, where we did a turn-round.  We headed back the way we had come out, and then did a right turn onto another road for a second-out-and-back.  We then proceeded back towards the school building, making  a right turn onto a road before we got to the school’s main parking area.  This road took us back to the road we had started on.  Once on this road, we proceeded down to another road, making a right turn onto that.  This looked like a service area road to me, with buildings for the maintenance staff’s equipment, etc.  We followed this road around until we came to another road – from which I could see the finish line on my left – and then made a right turn onto a road that took us up a pretty fair-sized hill, kind of reminding me of Gorilla Hill at the zoo since, when we got to a curve in the road and went around that, there was another part of the hill to go up.  Once up this hill, we went downhill on a road where all the school buses were parked. At the bottom of this hill, we then made a left turn, went around a curve, and had to climb yet another hill – passing more school buses – which took us back to the first hill we had climbed. When we got on that, this time it was all downhill. After reaching the bottom, we then made a right turn, then a quick left turn and crossed over the finish line.  My garmin had a distance of 2.9 miles, not a 5K, so I checked with my very speedy friend, Rex, and he told me the same thing, he had 2.9 also; so not quite a 5K, but what the heck, it’s a fun run for a good cause, so all good as far as I was concerned.

After My Finish:   Chatted with some people near the finish line, got a few photos there too – including one lady with the only dog I saw today on the campus – and yes, it did get treats from me – and then went over to check out the post-race goodies and some of the vendor/sponsors tents, tables, etc.   There really were a lot of them, nice turn-out from them too; all very friendly and several had some free give-away stuff. One of the sponsors, Orange Theory, even had an Amazon gift card that they raffled off, along with some training classes; and Camp Gladiator, if I remember, correctly, also had a deal on training classes. Post-race goodies included lots of fresh fruits – especially bananas, lots of bananas – water and various other types of non-alcoholic drinks – probably a good thing, lol, as there was a whole fleet of bicycle officers riding on the campus before, during, and after, making sure everyone was okay – and other various sundries offered by the vendors/sponsors. Sound guys had some really nice tunes playing too – oldies and some classic rock from my growing up era, lol; enjoyed it all.  Epilogue:  For as many people as do this one, this was a very well-organized event – and the campus is so large, it had plenty of parking for everyone.   For what Soler Sports had to work with, Lisa and her team set out a very nice course for us; we got a foot-tour of practically the whole campus and the roads were nice and wide, so nobody was running into each other, we all had room to maneuver.  The organizers also had one building open for us, so we nicely had actual restrooms instead of porta-potties. Pretty nice quality race shirt too.  I certainly would do this one again, and I would recommend it to others.  If you have never done a 5K event, this is could really be a good one to start with.   Mucho thanks to all the people involved that made this one happen for we participants:  NEF; the school staff; our MC who did a great job, and our sound guys; all the many, many volunteers and sponsors; Soler Sports; all the police officers out there for our safety, and the EMTs that were there – who kindly gave me a blood-oxygen oximeter measurement  postrace (97%)  so I could log it for my cardiologist, as I have a pacemaker -and personal thanks to my friends Lisa Haby Soler of Soler Sports, and Tony Garcia, who let me know about this 5K.  Thanks, also to anyone involved I may not have mentioned here.  Happy running/walking to all!