I Have a NEW BLOG!

Hello Blog Buddies. I know I’ve been mostly gone for the past two years. I’ve missed all y’all. And I know I’ve lost a lot of you since I haven’t been regular (posting, not pooping).

But there is good news – I’ll now be writing on a NEW BLOG!!!! If you wouldn’t mind following Run|Drunk|Love I’d really appreciate it. That’s where you’ll be able to find me from now on, I shan’t be posting on PirateBobcat anymore so much.

Here’s the deal people: ever since the 2015 Chicago Marathon, I haven’t really posted here. There’s good reason, but I’ll explain that in another post. For now, just know that my life has been absotively nutso the past two years. And because of that, this blog was put on the back shelf burner.

Again, in my next (and probably last) post here, I’ll explain where I’ve been. For now, please connect with me over at the new blog. It’s going to be fun and full of running, tequila, concerts, travel, blended family, food, and more!

I can’t wait to get the new blog connected with y’all and such, as I can’t wait to be back connected in your blogging lives.

See you soon, kids.

XOXO

Scott “PirateBobcat”

Question of the day: Do you even remember me?

 

 

Guess Who’s Back, Back Again

No joke – this was taken in a 200 year old insane asylum. Appropriate, I’m sure.

Hello Blog people. The other month I wrote my first post in like a year and a year and a half. I went from posting here 5 days a week to 0 days a week in one swift act of cold turkey, right after the 2015 Chicago Marathon. And in my latest post I mentioned that I had never forgotten you, and I wanted to start dipping my toes back in. Well, that’s what I’ve been doing…slowly…dipping…one pinky…at a time.

However, I now want to come back full frontal force. And I’m going to. But this time I won’t be alone. I’ve been working on starting a new blog. I’m really excited about it. I don’t want to give to much away right now, but hopefully you’ll like it.

It will be sad to leave this site and all my amazing followers, but I need to start anew. Hopefully some of you will follow me over. I’ll post a post on how to follow in the coming days. I really hope you come over.

Without getting into details, just know that my life has changed completely in the past couple years.It’s all for the better, but my transition required my full attention, thus the blog suffered.

To quote the mortal Will Smith:

“My life got flipped, turned upside down” – The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

I know some of you still follow my Instagram and Twitter and Snapchat accounts (all are @piratebobcat). I’ve never stopped posting there (particularly IG). So I’m glad I haven’t lost touch with everyone I met through this blog world. In fact, quite the opposite…but I’ll get to that at a later time.

For now, it feels great to be coming back, back again. Scotty’s back, tell a friend.

Question: How’s your life been? 

Blog Time, No See

Good grammer is impotent.

Oh herro der, Bloggy McBlogface. I know it’s been a while. I’m sorry. I know, I should have called. I should have at least reached out just to let you know things are ok. But life is crazy, and I just couldn’t even.

I did occasionally visit you. A few times over the past year and a half, I did check in. There were even a couple instances where I’d begin writing a post, but I could never seem to hit that little button called “publish”.

1. Go to French Qtr. 2. Sip tea. 3. Make brain work.

But now I want to dip my toe in. I’ve been thinking and scheming. I’ve got hope for a comeback. It may be different, but it’ll still be a comeback. Soon, berry soon. Will you be up for the ride? Will you join me…or rather, join us?

I’ve got big news. I’ve got big plans. I’d like to share them with you. Dat kewl?

We can only hope, Ahnold.

Just know, I never forgot about you. You were always in the back of my mind. Even though we’ve had distance between us, I hope we can still be close.

-Scott (PirateBobcat)

Chicago Marathon Pt. 1 – Lost Wallet & Expo, No Flat Runners & We Bean Runnin!

So the trip got off to a rocky road start. As in my ride to the airport arrived at 5 a.m. (thanks for the ride dad!) and as I was walking out the door, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. It was nowhere to be found. It was frustrating. It was stressful. It caused me and my friend to miss our flight. I felt awful about that. And any hope to getting to the Expo early was dashed.

Too many people. Too much stimulation. Please don’t make me go in there.

Luckily I’m one of the few Americans who actually has a passport. I grabbed it. My pops let me borrow his credit card. I thanked him. Finally got to the airport and sweated out the standby process.

Three happy people. One miserable one.

Luckily there was a loooooong security line that caused many a people to miss their flights. Thanks TSA. But their loss, my gain. I took one of those poor suckers seats on the next flight. Standby success!

Next stop, Chi-Town!

First sight off the L train. A sign that we were in the right spot.

Then it was off to the Expo. Luckily there was a shuttle from our hotel. And by shuttle, I mean a real live school bus. Okie dokie.

Snapchat fun: @piratebobcat

I personally don’t like expos much. Too overwhelming for me. But I sucked it up and tried to enjoy it. Luckily they had free beer to help endure it.

We found the beer bus!

Do we really have to run that far?

Bibs got.

Hoping I will be like the sign says.

You see that Chicago? I own you!

With the expo out of the way, we were free to do a bit of light sight seeing.

Who us? No, we’re not tourists.

Heck of a town.

I see you, camera person.

And of course, we ate. A lot. We ate a lot. Ate a lot, we did.

Homemade past? Yes. Wine? Double yes.

And did I mention I was running this race for charity? I had raised funds for Alzheimers, and the group was cool enough give us a pre race dinner! They rule!

And it was all purple.

But the best part of the pre race shenanigans was meeting up with my old college buddy, Rexy. We were on the cheerleading team at Ohio University and have remained close ever since. She’s the bomb biggie…and one heck of a runner. We met up with her for a two+ mile shakeout run the day before the race.

Lisa Lisa, why ya buggin?

Where did we run? To the Bean of course! And we weren’t the only ones with that idea. I think every other shakeout runner was there too.

Have you ever ‘bean’ to Chicago?

That’s always a good spot for pictures, and I’m glad we got it out of the way early as it would be packed later on in the weekend.

Just hanging around.

And since I refuse to take a #flatrunner picture the night before a race…all that was left was to wait for the 3 a.m. alarm to go off. While I did, I went back and read all the supportive comments you bloggers have been making on my posts the past few weeks (I still promise to respond to each of them). I also checked out all the supportive messages on the Facebook as well as the kind texts I received. Thanks again urrbody!

Time to sleep. Months and months of preparation was over. In the morning we race 26.2 miles across CHI.

Good night, sweet city.

One heck of a town.

Come Monday I will post my recap of the race. Stay tuned folks! Spoiler alert – I ran a PR!!!!

How bout you? What’s your pre-race ritual? Do you like expos? Ever bean to Chicago?

-Scott

Running with Taylor Swift, A Real Life Monster, & Don’t Ask About My Job!!!

Chicago Marathon training is in full swing! It’s early still, but so far so good. It’s nice to finally have a plan instead of just running random daily miles. I’ve been running a lot with friends and I think I have a pretty solid base heading into the real dillyo.

A highlight of the week was our TNSR celebrity social run…

Josh didn’t photoshop anything here. It’s all legit. Kanye and Taylor set the pace.

It’s always good to have other folks around to help push you on the run…and to mess with your otherwise perfect running photo…

Guess they thought I needed two sets of bunny ears.

Another fun group run this past week was with the WRRC and their “Run My Hood” series. This time it was a run around some East Dallas neighborhoods, followed by another fun pool party!

I actually ran 10 miles – the gps was acting up.

There’s something about jumping in a pool after a sweaty humid Texas summer run. I need to get a pool, or more friends with pools, or figure out a way to sneak into my neighbor’s yard.

And I don’t know if you can tell this or not, but whenever a camera makes an appearance, I am instantly drawn to it…even if the subjects didn’t necessarily want me to be in it. Cause in my head, if you want to improve your pics, just add Scott! 😉

Photobombsaway! #notcreepy

So the training is going well so far. And other than that, this little monster had a birthday…

Don’t let the cute smile fool ya, she can single-handedly destroy an entire house.

And at her school, they gave her a father’s day questionnaire. After reading her answers, I feel like she doesn’t know me at all!

If any narks are reading this, please ignore her answer to what my job is. (click the photo to enlarge)

So things are good, things are good. Oh yeah, and so are TACOS!!!!

I like to eat in front of a mirror to make it look like there’s more tacos.

So there ya have it. BOOM! On to more!

How bout you? You’re not a nark, are ya? Who likes mirror eating? Will you invite me to your pool?

-Scott

Running in “Da Hood”, Becoming Fashion/Yoga Expert & Free Lululemon Gear!!!

I’ve been cray cray bizzay. Let’s catch up, shall we?

Chicago Marathon training has kicked in and I’m pretty excited about it. For this, I’m going to continue to do my long runs whenever I can with WRRC. Solid folks.

Last week’s subtle group.

It’s summer now, and that means they do a lil’ thang called “Run My Hood”. Basically, each week we meet at the house of a different runner and run their favorite neighborhood course. It’s pretty cool. I’ve often thought on my own neighborhood runs how I’d like to show other people “my route”.

Anyway, the best part of the run is the after-run. Hey hey, pool part-ay today-hey!

Lounge.

Chill.

Fresh.  BTW, Snapchat – @piratebobcat – hit me up, fool!

As always, I like to incorporate cross training into my…well, uh, training. The trails are all flooded in North Texas, so that’s a no-go. But it can’t rain in yoga class (well, except maybe rain sweat).

My elf friend and I finally mastered “Partner Chair Pose”.

And I gots to give a big shout out to Lululemon. At yoga practice the other day, the employees called me up to the front. They said they wanted to thank me for being a regular yogi, “Go pick out any yoga mat…it’s yours!” I was so surprised and honored…and PUMPED!

The mat my foot finally chose.

It was so cool of them to do that. And I gotta say, this mat is like night and day compared to my old one…or is it like day and night, IDK. What I do know is the quality of this mat is top notch. No slipping when I sweat, good padding, solid construction – just incredible.

And bonus, my looooooong time friend (you can see her in a couple group run pics above) has been at these yoga seshes because the studio she goes to and teaches at is putting on the classes!

Meet Virginia. She never compromises. Loves babies and surprises. Wears high heels when she exercises. Ain’t it beautiful?

Other than that it’s been sweaty doggy walks. And seeing as I’m an fashion expert, I made a quick tutorial on how to look good as you walk the hound.

Of course there’s lots of other stuff goings on, but I’ll save it for the next post…I don’t want to tire your pretty little heads too much today. Have a great weekend, hombres y mujeres!

How bout you? Ever get to run someone else’s “hood”? Ever been rewarded by a business you regular (other than the corner pub)? Ever Meet Virginia?

-Scott

PS – Best of luck to everyone running Grandma Marathon this weekend! I have a few Dallas friends there – Look for them – They’ll probably be in tops with “WRRC” on the front and “Run Free” on the back. Slap em on the backside for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Running Margaritaville & NRDD (National Running Day, Duh)

I’ve been absent from these blog parts, but not by choice. As I often do, I wrote some posts & saved the drafts for future publishing. But when I logged in next, they were GONE! All that genius, lost forever. Sorry, world.

So lemme ketcheweup…Buffett Day was a wild success, like always.

Some of the SFW highlights.

This is my abfab fave day of the entire year. I try to explain it to people who’ve never been, but I’m learning that it’s indescribable. No matter how much I sell it, people who reluctantly finally show up to a tailgate always look around wide-eyed and say, “I had no idea it was like this! I wish I knew! This is awesome!!!”

We see Capn’ Jack Sparrow every single year.

Everyone seems to assume it’s a bunch of geriatrics sitting in lawn chairs drinking green tequila drinks. Everyone shouldn’t assume so much.

I almost wore this same thing.

Every year it’s like a competition to out-do everyone else creatively-tropically.

Mermaids get thirsty too.

And everybody is so chill – no politics, no drama, no greed…everyone shares everything (especially bevvies).

Shotski!

Making friends around a neon octopus.

This year got a bit cray cray. They stopped enforcing the strict parking rules – so anyone and everyone was setting up canopies, boats, etc. wherever they darn well pleased.This really condensed the space and it felt like one big back yard. Love it!

Caught taking a pirate lady selfie. I need that leg chalice.

Another thing that’s changed over the years is my Buffett crew. We had a huge regular group (not talking bathroom habits). But over the years most of them have faded away. Kind of sad, but c’est la vie dansante.

Buffett4Life friends and a svelte merman.

But like in regular life, most of these people have been replaced with runner friends. I still miss my old crew, but not much I can do if they don’t even respond to invites. It’s all good, runners be crazy, yo!

Runner friend unicorn and a zebra lady.

Someone let us drive their land boat.

Free lap dances from “pretty mike”.

I welcomed several runner friends to the Parrothead phlock.

And for those of you paying attention, why yes, that is my Key West Half Marathon race tech tee under my ultimate party Hawaiian shirt.

Perfect shirt for a perfect day.

And here’s a pro tip: Many people just come for the party, but for those of us who like his music and enjoy the concerts, don’t buy tickets in advance. You can always get some for free/cheap at the tailgate from other parrotheads. My dad and I got tickets for $10.

Boom-shaka-laka.

And I’ll leave it at this – one of the newbies who showed up posted this on her facebook page:

“Soooo…yesterday was my first time at a Jimmy Buffett tailgate party, and it’s taken a good 24 hours for me to mentally recover from what I witnessed there. There were things I simply cannot unsee. And I can’t wait until next year to do it all over again!”

OK, back to running. I’m sure everyone did something for National Running Day. Me was no different. I met up for a local running store’s social run followed by free breakfast tacos!!!

Miles and Smiles!

I got to see a lot of old running friends. It was great! And I’ve got some more good running news, but you’ll have to wait for tomorrow for that…I try to keep these posts more visual than wordy, and I see my word count is growing. Till next time!

How bout you? Anything special for NRD? Can you tell we had fun this week? Are you intrigued or frightened of Buffett tailgates based on my pics?

-Scott

I Ran in a TORNADO!!!*

First up, some good news. I’ve been feeling pretty good on my runs lately. Official Chicago Marathon starts in a few weeks, but the pre-training is in full effect. This week’s highlight being a run with WRRC.

Sometimes Asians let me run with them, which is good cause they like to replenish carbs afterwards.

Now for some tragic news – I skipped 2 runs last week! Eeek! I couldn’t help it doe. It’s been raining like a mofo around North Texas. I mean big nasty storms, like several times a week, like every week, like for months. Just look at the graph from our water supply source lake…

That’s a wet couple months.

Don’t get me wrong – all the rain has been great as we’ve been in a massive drought for YEARS! Just look how our lake was only 50% full just a couple months ago. Now it’s over 100%! So unbelievable!

Buuut, the storms have cancelled/postponed a couple races I was signed up for, like one this past weekend…

Bummer yo.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid to run in the rain, because as we all know…

This is what I kept telling myself all week.

But when you’re in the middle of a run and tornado sirens start going off, and then lighting starts cracking over your head, and then the heavens open up, and then the flash flood water is up to your ankles, and then you start laughing at your irresponsible situation…you really start to question your sanity.

“With all of our running and all of our cunning,
If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.” – Jimmy Buffett

So I’ll keep doin what I can – enjoyin the cool rain, appreciatin the resulting greenery, and sqeezin in runs like Charmin.

How bout you? Ever get caught in a bad storm mid-run? Have any races cancelled? Who’s sexy this week?

-Scott

*OK, maybe it was just a tornado siren.

Death Defying Run & Easter Fun!

The Easter weekend was a good one, but not without some danger! It kicked off with a long run. I met up with my run bud for a 13 miler that nearly took my life!

I know it says 12, but my gps shorted me a freakin whole mile! I swear, I mapped it out.

Ha, we had come to the end of a trail, and saw there as another trail on the other side of a pond. All we had to do to get there was scale a waterfall. It wasn’t my most graceful moment, but eventually got across.

Whew! That was close!

Of course, when you run a lot, you need to reward yourself a lot. So a couple run buds and I met up for a quick nip.

Runners are normally happy people. Sometimes we need to mean mug tho to keep our competitors worried. And yes, I normally do keep a feather behind my ear. It’s a good look all around.

Easter day was rainy and gloomy. But I braved the wet stuff to get another 6+ miles in.

Bunny ears selfie! I actually ran closer to 7 – need to get that dang gps fixed!

The rest of the day was nicely spent doing Easter fun things with family people.

Just a couple of weirdos.

All the weekend activities left me pretty exhausted. But I gotta muster up because now we have to chase toddlers who are all hopped up on leftover chocolate bunnies and jelly beans!

How bout you? Get in a bunny run? Get any Easter candy? Did you nearly fall off a waterfall too?

-Scott

Hello Spring & Egg Hunt Run!

Don’t call me French Scott…call me Freedom Scott. Our dog is so Che in this pic.

So yes, when I turned over the April page of our #flalendar (Flula + Calendar), I saw an opportunity to do a recreation. Such is life.

Ha, anyway, it’s Sprung around North Texas. That means high winds & humidity, warmer weather, and occasional storms. It’s made my runs interesting. I’m not quite acclimatized yet. Buuut it does feel good to get some sun on our skin.

The girl catchin some rays.

The boy runnin with bulls. His idea. He’s learned well.

Even though it was windy and warm, I still had fun running with friends this week at an unofficial egg hunt run.

First we ran.

Here we come, into the Gale force winds!

And then we looked for eggs.

My pals getting a tricky one.

I don’t know who had more fun – kids or non-kids (the eggs had prizes inside for all ages)

After the fun was dun, it was time for more fun. We went down the street for some nibbles and bevvies (see, I’m so European).

Throwin shade…because we’re young and hip.

On the patio, doe.

And since my French Freedom look went over so well, I decided to keep it going.

I’m so intellectual that I have light coming out of my ears. Photobomb courtesy of run bud Katie.

Good times for all! I’ve got some more fun runs planned for the weekend. Onward and upward, kids!

How bout you? Springing yet? Any Easter runs planned? Any ideas for more fun photos you want to see?

-Scott