Chicago Marathon Recap – New PR Followed by Beers, Butts & Burgers!

The Chicago Marathon is doneski! Months and months of miles and miles to prepare, and it was over in just three hours and forty eight minutes. If you’re keeping track at home, that is a nearly 20 minute PR for the Ole Scott-O…I’ll take it!

Yay, we did it! Can I sleep now?

The morning started with a 3 a.m. alarm and breakfast. Then off to the ALZ Stars staging location (two of us were running for that charity, two others were running for different charities) where they were nice enough to let us stay warm and destroy the toilets use the facilities.

Well this is embarrassing…we all wore the same thing!

And YAY, my old college buddy was able to meet us too. Love me some Rexy!

She decided on the pink tutu. Dang, I shoulda wore one too-too!

From there it was a short walk to the start corrals at Grant Park.

A bundle of nervous energy.

And before we knew it, we were off! I felt great. The weather was a bit warmer than we’d like, but at the start it was pretty nice – mid 50’s.

WTFrick?!?! My feet are actually in the air?!?! Nice!

I’d heard the tales of the amazing crowd support, and they were all true. The cheering, the signs, the music, the costumes, the everything was awesome! Chicagoans really know how to support a race! Each neighborhood had their own flair and I loved each of them – drag queens in Boystown, mariachis in Pilsen, dragons in Chinatown, etc. etc. etcetera.

Keep rollin rollin rollin.

10k in and I was feelin runderful. I ran into a Dallas friend who said she felt the same. Just ahead of us was the 3:35 pace group. I went ahead and passed them. I didn’t feel like I was working hard at all.

13.1 miles in – halfway there and I was at 1:45:43 – that is my 4th fastest half marathon ever – within 3 minutes of a PR! I hoped I could keep it going.

Do I ever change my expression?

The second half of the marathon is where reality sets in. Miles 16-19 I started to feel it. I tried to push through, but I could feel I would need to start taking some walk breaks soon.

Still determined…or gassy, I’m really not sure what that expression is.

By mile 20, reality had really set in. The sun was up in full force. The temps were rising. Mid-Upper 60’s by now. I was still determined, but slowing. Luckily they had a hydration stops about every mile. I made it my goal to run to each one, then I would allow myself a walk break as I sipped Gatorade/water, before running to the next one.

The 3:35 pace group had passed me around mile 17…then the 3:40 pace group…finally the 3:45 pace group around mile 21-22. I didn’t want any other group to pass me. I picked up the pace best I could and luckily they weren’t able to catch me.

I really need to get a new expression.

Everyone says this race is “pancake flat”. That’s mostly true, but there is an incline at the start & each bridge we crossed was a little mini hill. That, and I had been warned by several people about a hill right at the finish. Half a mile to go and I saw it. My sister was right to describe it as “dumb & annoying”. It was so dumb and annoying. I was temporarily defeated and immediately started to walk up it. Then I said, “eff that noise.” I ran up that stupid hill and cruised into the finish line!

I guess I’ll smile when I finish.

At the finish line I was pumped when I saw my I had set a huge PR at 3:48! Then even more pumped when my training partner cross shortly behind me. She rocked a 3:45 (she was in a later corral) – a PR by like 30 minutes!!

Yay, smiles!

I’m happy to report that everyone I came to the race with set new PR’s!!!! My college buddy Rexy even crushed a 3:05!!! And she did it in style with the tutu and a finishing brewski!

She knows how to do it right.

After a long rest, we slowly started to make our way out. But not before a couple pictures and a few beers at the post race party!

We’re members of the sunglasses of the month club.

We found a shaded area to park our rears & drink the free 312 beers.

Snapchat had some fun marathon specific overlays.

There wasn’t much cell service due to the crowds, so we had trouble meeting up with other friends. That’s ok though, cause we couldn’t walk very fast by this point anyway.

Can I sit here forever?

To sum up the race, I felt great the first 30k, then it was more of a struggle. No negative split for me this day, but you race and learn. I hope to be stronger at the next 26.2.

Out of 37,000+ total finishers.

I had my A, B and C goals for this race. A – PR. B – Break 4 hours. C – Run in the 3:30’s. I hit 2/3. I’m pretty happy with that.  Especially considering that 3:48 shatters by nearly 20 minutes my previous PR of 4:07 (set at the Disney Dopey Challenge)!!!

Anyway, after a little while we became rungry and rangry. So a few of us ate greasy burgers at the famous Billy Goat Tavern.

It says “butt” Hahahahahaha! Yes, I am 12.

The best part about this was all the beer & fat & carbs marathoners trying to walk down the flight of stairs into the restaurant. Well, it wasn’t funny when we did it, but it was funny to watch the others try to negotiate it…4 minutes to walk down 7 total stairs, seems about right.

If it’s good enough for Bill Freakin Murray, it’s good enough for me.

I’m still trying to process all that happened, but I had a total blast! All the feels!!!!!!!

How bout you? Any Chicago Marathon memories? Any dumb and annoying hills lately? Go-to post marathon grub (cheezborger)?

-Scott

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 Santa, Hipster Tacos & Purple Time!

Chicago Marathon training is in full swingers beasty mode. Been a good week of running. Let’s go backwards, shall we?

Sunday – I had a race, but I’ll save that recap for the next post. So let’s go to Saturday. This was the long run of the week.12 sweaty sweaty miles.

Texas roads don’t look normally like that – It’s a weird route because it was around a lake.

The plan for this run was to do a 9 mile loop of the lake, followed by a 5k race to make an evenish 12. Well part I of the plan went ok, part II did not. I had failed to pre-register for the race, and by the time I got there they had run out of bibs. So no dice, Detroit!

So mad that I had to partially strangle my running booze.

No worries – Went ahead and ran the final 3 miles along the race course so I could cheer for friends. And yay! Some of them won age group awards!

Tory y Juash. A tale of two pairs of shorts.

Serene got her medal, but her real reward is that I let her run with me sometimes.

Afterwards we met up with a bunch of other runner friends to get wasted on tacos! Woot woooot!

It’s ok to wear blue shades there, it’s a hipster taco joint. Fo realz – everyone in there is either in short running shorts or purple skinny jeans.

Moving on…or uh, further backwards….The weekday runs were also on point. The highlight being the Thursday Night Social Run.

Click image to enlarge and see all the totally not photoshopped action going on here. Really – Some of my friends just have weird proportions and don’t cast shadows.

This run took us past yet another group of longhorn statues. Not sure why we need so many of them here, but whatevs.

We were looking at something udderly amazing. Honest, I wouldn’t steer you wrong! Thank you, I’ll be here all week!

It was also like runner Christmas in July at my house cause a gift magically appeared this week…My ALZ Stars tech tank!

Thanks, Running Santa!

As you may know, I’m running Chi-town this fall on behalf of an Alzheimer’s charity. I’m so proud to represent the purple! If you would like to donate to the cause, you can find info HERE. And to those who have already donated, I know it’s slow going, but I promise to get your thank you prizes soon!!! #BoomShakaLaka!

On to more run-fun!

How bout yous guys? Do you believe in Running Santa? Ever have a hipster taco? Isn’t it unbullieveable how many longhorn statues are ’round here?

PS. Come back in a day or so for rest of the weekend’s recap!!!

Runnning in Yellow, Beer Mile, & Belch Prayers

What up, playas? Beachy keen, I hope. I’ve been bad about the blog recently. Just so flippin busy all the time. But here’s what’s been goin down…

I’ve been running, natch.

I drew a line for you, oh what a thing to do, and it was all yellow. Yes, it’s nike+, add me: piratebobcat

I’m still in pre-training mode for Chicago Marathon, so that just means trying to keep the mileage at a decent number to try and stay fit and healthy.

And you know that thing runners do when they finish a run and look at their gps and realize they’re a little short of the next mile and so they run circles around the block until it clicks over? Yeah, well the other day I was a qtr  mile short and so I ran laps around a giant fountain. The people eating nearby thought I was nuts.

Me and my fountain training partner. Yes, it’s instagram, add me: piratebobcat

And if you’re familiar with me, then you know how I love me some tacos. Well get this – a new Torchy’s opened up near one of my go to running spots. So the little group I was with had to go there post-run…natch!

I make bunny ears look good. Yes, it’s snapchat, add me: piratebobcat

And here’s some exciting news: I’ve signed up for a couple races!!! And the best part, both of them are free! One is a 10k that I’ll post about another time. But the other is this week – the annual TNSR Beer Mile!

The happy group last year pre-race.

I think this is the 3rd or 4th year for this unofficial race. But it’s raised a few eyebrows as it’s gone on. And this year it will raise a few more because TNSR will be providing MichUltra, race bibs, etc. Getting closer to official!

If you’ve never done a beer mile – here’s what happens.

1-Drink a beer

2-Sprint a quarter mile

3-Repeat until you reach 4 beers/1 mile total.

I’ve done the TNSR beer mile twice. It’s a VERY tough thing to try to do. Last year I felt like death during the race – it was awful.

Sloshing to the finish. I think my face/posture sums it up.

The first time I did it, I came in 2nd place overall. I felt much better during that race. The difference – I was able to burp out all the carbonation along the way. I really really hope this year’s experience is more like that one. Please, pray for burps for me!!

A trophy, yay!

Come back soon for the race recap!!!

Until then, I’m proud to be giving out a few more blogger shout outs to the latest dope individuals who contributed to my Chicago Marathon Charity Fundraiser. Thanks so much to: Running Wild, Run to Race, & Darlin’ Rae  I promise I’ll get on your thank you pics/videos soon!

I’m overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. I really am. Thanks so much! If anyone else wants to donate, you can do so HERE.

How bout you? Ever run a beer mile? Ever run circles to make the next mile click over? Will you pray for burps?

-Scott

Running With Kanye, Blogger Shout-Outs & Free Beer!!!

Not sure how it is where you are, but the weather has been gorgeous this week round here. I took full advantage by hittin the pavement. With the social run always being a highlight.

Oh hey, look…Kanye joined us. Again, I was assured that there was no photoshopping in this pic. (click to enlarge to see the non-photoshopping)

I got in 4 fun miles with the gang.

Don’t mind us, just running through.

And then after the run, we were treated to free beers from a local liquor rep! Score!

Free is good.

This week also saw another track workout. The weather was in the freaky forties early in the morn. Felt good, but I didn’t think I’d have to bust out cold weather gear for like another 8 more months.

Yes, I wore pants for the 400’s. Yes, I’m a baby when it comes to cold.

I know the Texas summer is looming, but it’s nice to have this little break in temp. I’ll take it!

That wrapped up a 145 mile month of April. Hopefully I can continue this and have a really great race at the Chicago Marathon. Speaking of which, the lottery winners were announced this week – Congrats to all who got in and to all those who are running for charity, like my pal Helly On The Run – Can’t wait to see you there!

There ya go, short and sweet. But I can’t go without another blogger shout out. Thanks so much to This Mama Runs for Cupcakes! You helped me reach my Chicago Marathon Charity fundraising goal!!!!!! I’ll get to work on your personalized picture!

And if anyone else wants to donate, you can still do so HERE.

How bout you? Who all got into Chicago???? Good weather weather lately? Did you see any non-photoshopping?

-Scott

Running a Camel-Thing, Hangin with Da Prez, & Thanking Bloggers!

First off, big ups to all my blogging friends who have contributed to my Chicago Marathon Charity Fundraising Campaign.

Check out these amazing bloggers: Run Colby Run, Helly On The Run, Outdoor Running Adventures, So Very Slightly Mad, & Charissa Running.

You guys truly rock my wheelhouse! I promise to get you your personalized thank you pictures/videos soon!  Maybe they’ll even look like this…

On my last visit to Chi-town. Hangin with the Lincolns and a baby.

You guys have really helped me get closer to my goal digit!

So close!

I’m super pumped about the Chicago Marathon. It’s really helped inspire my runs this week. Starting with a 12 miler with WRRC.

After the run. Chillin outside La Rei.

The next day I did some hill repeats on my run. Why not?

Looks like a bunny-camel.

And of course, I have to follow it up with yoga to help keep me centered and strong.

I can’t spell gud, butt at least I finally kept my tongue in my mouth. Yeah, it’s Snapchat – add me: piratebobcat

What else is inspiring this week – oh yeah, watching the Boston Marathon! I especially loved stalking tracking all my friends who were there. Y’all did some amazing times! Including my man Logan, who rocked a 2:31! Yes, that’s a full 26.2 in 2:31!

Logan at the finish via webcam. I will run this race one day. I will.

So there it is. Rockin and rollin! Keepin on and remaining calm. Bring it on, brah!

How bout you? Watch Boston…or were you there? What’s inspiring you? Any suggestions for the personalized pics for those bloggers?

PS. If you’d like to donate to my fundraising campaign, you can do so HERE. Or watch a short video I made telling you why HERE.

Chicago Marathon Pre-Training, Lake-Mansions-Taco, & Me Pretty One Day

In case you missed my earlier post, I’m runnning the Chicago Marathon, and I’m super pumped <squeal>!

The race is in early/mid October. So I still gots time before I really need to start training. In the meantime, I’m just trying to have fun running and keep in shape. The other day I met up with WRRC for a nice casual 10 miler.

Taking a quick water break at White Rock Lake (no, I didn’t drink lake water…this time).

Always good running with this group. They’ve made me faster over the past year. And we have some fun along the way.

Nuther water stop by the Swiss Ave old money mansions.

Another good thing about this group is that they’re always up for breakfast tacos after our runs!

The only bummer that about the Chi Marathon is that since it’s in the fall, that means I’ll have to do my training in the Texas summer. I’ve always run winter marathons, so this is a first. I’ve never envied my friends who are on a 20 miler in August. Blergh.

But for now the weather isn’t too hot. It’s still spring. And it’s bluebonnet season! This happens once a year for like two weeks. And when I saw some on a trail run, I had to take the photo op.

So pretty. And the flowers are nice as well.

Up next I need to decide on a training plan to follow. I have a friend who may make one for me, or maybe Higdon, or my other friend recommends Jack Daniels – tho I don’t like him as much as Jose Cuervo. Gotta figure this out.

In the mean time, I’m going to keep on running and lifting and yoaging.

My foot is ready for practice.

Oh, and fundraising too! I did mention that I’m running this race through charity, right? In fact, I’m already halfway to my goal!!!

Let’s make those grey people green people!

If you missed the short video of me explaining why you should donate – and what special perk I’ll make for you, watch it HERE.

If you prefer to go straight to the donating page, well good on ya. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.

Thanks in advance!

How bout you? Recommend a training plan? Who still goes for longish runs when not really training? What did you think of my super high tech video?

-Scott

PS. Good luck to everyone running Boston on Monday! I’ll be stalking rooting!

My Big Secret Revealed & a Gift for YOU!

I’m sorry I left you hanging in my last post. I had to take several days to align my ducks (by height) (which FYI, didn’t work out so well as they don’t like being crittersized).

But I digest.

So here’s what I was holding back from y’all: I’m running the Chicago Marathon for charity in October!!!

Do what the words say.

Yes, I’m raising funds to help end Alzheimer’s. Why did I pick this charity? Well, my grandfather passed away a few years ago from this disease.

The gramps and baby me.

If you don’t know, Chicago has a lottery system now for registering. But, since I decided to go the charity route, I get a guaranteed entry. But up now I have to raise at least $1000.

My grandparents a few years ago.

So here’s me asking you to donate. You can do so by GOING TO THIS PAGE.

But wait, there’s more!

When you do donate, I will make a personalized Instagram photo or Vine video for you! Just click on those two links to see what you might be getting!

This is one example of my Instagram pics.

I also made a super hi-tech short video where I explain all this:

So to sum up:

1. I’m running the Chicago Marathon for charity.

2. If you donate, you get a personalized Instagram photo or Vine video.

3. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Again, you can DONATE HERE.

Thanks so much in advance!

-Scott

P.S. – If you want to remain anonymous, that’s cool too.