Off To Chicago Marathon, You Stalkers!

Hey guys, it’s almost time. After over 700 miles of training, countless hours of yoga & weightlifting, it’s time to #OwnChicago!

This week saw just a few more training runs. They looked something like this:

The only explanation I can give for this is we have taper madness.

It was nice to have shorter runs this taper week leading up to the race.

Yellow + Blue = Green. No, I didn’t plan this, I dress in the dark, it was coincidence.

I still can’t believe it’s here. It’s been so many months of running many many miles at ungawdly hours. I mean, just look at this daily alarm setting:

I died a little each night when I turned this alarm setting on.

I’m happy to report though, that we ran EVERY SINGLE TRAINING RUN. We didn’t skip a single one. No, they weren’t all pretty, but at least we were out there.

I still can’t believe the final run came and ended…

Done before the sun, but it’s all good, we glow anyhow.

Now it’s here. Time to run 26.2 miles. Going to let me sink that in for a while.

In the mean time, feel free to stalk me:

I’ll be Instagramming hard in Chicago: @piratebobcat

I’ll bet Tweeting too: @piratebobcat

You can track me TWO ways during the race (My bib number is 2411):

1. Download the Chicago Marathon App
2. Get updates with MY RUNNER TRACKING

That is all. See you on the other side.

-Scott

Run 4 Da Taco, Pro Soccer, & Weekap

It’s been another crazy week! It started with my Oktoberfest 5k PR on Saturday. Then a 10 mile run at the Balloon Half Marathon. Those were two too hot days. But then…

…We fina-freakin-ly had a break in the weather!! We actually had cool mornings all week! My pace per mile was a minute faster than my runs the week before. Felt great!

One of the runs was at a local running store. It was an early 4 miles followed by breakfast tacos and Pepsi. And when I say Pepsi, I mean my friend (yes, that’s her name).

Pepsi and Serene. A couple of my running partners. Pepsi forgot to wear a longhorn shit. What a fool!

If you follow this blog (or my Instagram) then you know how I love tacos. So when they offered them that morning, I ate them. Then when I got to work, somebody had brought some. So I ate them. I almost made myself sick of tacos. But don’t worry, I’m over that.

Also this week, the boy and I went to watch FC Dallas play against Seattle Sounders. It was a good night and we won the match!

Just a couple of slack-jawed mouth-breathers.

And now it’s time for another crazy weekend! Got a lot planned (yes, tacos included). Aaaaaand, I’m excited because I’m supposed to be getting some new running shoes today! Yessir! Gotta love that!

How bout you? Get a weather break where you are? Any social runs? Who loves free tacos (if you say, “not me” we can’t be friends)?

-Scott

Running in Sweat, Possible Fart, & Pea

I’m ready for a weather break. This Texas summer has been pretty mild temperature wise, still hot, but we haven’t had the dozens of consecutive 100+ degree days we usually get.

That said, it’s been extremely humid. So much humid. It’s like trying to run through hot pee pea soup.

By the end of my runs, I’m SOAKED in sweat. Yesterday I threw my run shirt on the corner of the bath tub. A few minutes later I heard a leaky faucet. I went to turn it off and realized that it was my shirt dripping sweat. There was a nice stream leading to the drain. I wondered if any bugs gaught caught in the “Great Spider Sized Flood of ’14”

Today’s butt sweat – some see Mickey Mouse, some see a heart. Either way it’s gross.

For the past week or so the TV weather folks have been promising a “cold” front. It ain’t came yet. And if it ever does, there’s no telling how long it’ll last.

What HAS arrived however, is some wind. The past two days we’ve had a 20 mph constant hairdrier blowing in our faces. It made today’s track workout interesting…half the track felt like I was running in place, the other half I felt a giddy up.

I made a very hilarious and extremely sophisticated video about the situation. The middle school football team practicing in the field gave me some sideways looks.

I’m not complaining, mind you, I’m just a little frustrated. I haven’t raced in a couple months. And this weather has slowed my pace, despite feeling like I’m working harder. I’m just looking forward to some reasonable fall weather races where I can go for “speed”.

I expect all this muggy weather training to pay off when we do get a break. Till then, it’ll still be minimum 2 showers per day. Rock on, playas.

How bout you? Got Fall yet? Like looking into the clouds, do you see anything in my butt sweat? Ever run in a giant’s fart?

-Scott

The 9 Mile Lake Loop Run & Taco Reward

I’ve written about it before, but White Rock Lake in Dallas is an extremely popular spot for area runners – as well as bikers, walkers, fishers, kayakers, unicyclers, etc.

The main trail around the lake is pretty much exactly 9 miles. There are also connecting trails and secret little side trails if you want to add more mileage. When in marathon training, this is where I usually go for my really long runs – especially if I need to run 20+ miles.

Running Shoes, meet Lake. Lake, meet Running Shoes.

Since I finished the Dopey Challenge in Janurary, I hadn’t been down to WRL to run. But as our week of record low temps for North Texas in July kept on keepin on, I decided I better take advantage, and so I went to loop the lake.  The temps were awesome, but it was still 95% humidity – It never quite rained, but it did mist at times.  But the cloud cover was very welcome indeed.

Panorama mode

One always see a lot of weird interesting things around the lake – elites training, an episode of Cheaters being shot, coyotes, Dallas Cowboys taking photos of a horse, a dead body, a marriage proposal – seriously, you knever know.

This time around, I ran into crossed paths with a couple runner friends who were doing their own loops…Like my buddy Lindsay over at Marathonstateofmind .  It’s funny though how none of us ever seem to stop and say our hellos – nobody wants to interfere with the others’ workout – we just wave and shout a passing, “Heeyyyyyy!”  Haha – though immediately afterwards we all contacted each other to make plans to catch up.

You might want to avert your eyes at the Pump House ~ brown chicken brown cow!!

Anyways, for my run I decided to keep my pace comfortable and not look at my watch the whole way. Just wanted to enjoy it. I don’t know if it was the weather, but I think this may be the first time I’ve looped the lake without taking any quick breaks (to refill my water bottle or use the loo). I just kept going – one foot after another until I made it all the way around.

When I finished, I looked at my watch and was pleasantly surprised. I had ran the whole way with an average pace of 8:10 per mile! Not bad (for me) for a ‘long’ ‘comfortable’ solo run. I’ve run one 10 mile race as well as a few half marathons at an 8:13-15 pace which felt like tuff exertion.  So I’m anxious to see how my next race at those distances goes! Looks like my speed work is working.

And so ends the tale of one brave man and his trek around a city lake.

Another bonus to running there is the proximity to some good taco joints. Of course that is exactly where I went after I was done to get some breakfast tacos…

Boom. Tacos. Boom.

All in all, a purdy good lil Saturday morning there.  It made me really look forward to the fall (not a literal fall, like falling down, but like the Autumn kind ~ ya dig).

How bout you?  Any special go to run spots?  Seen any odd interesting things on a run recently?  Who wants tacos?

-Scott

I Need A Cold Shower…

…Because it’s hawt outside.  Very haute.  I’m not complaining, I know it comes with the territory of living in Texas, and I know it’s going to get hotter, but I have not acclimatized yet.

We’ve had a very mild spring, Texas-wise.  But this week has been more weather normal-like around these parts.  Hittin’ mid 90’s in the day, rockin 80-90% humidity at many times.

It really hit me this morning (literally).  I walked out the front door for my morning run and Boom-shaka-laka – here’s a hot wet towel slap to the face!

I only ran a 5k+, but I was absotivley SOAKED!!!  But hey, at least my pores were cleared and toxins flushed out, right?

Yes, that’s my butt sweat from sitting on the ground. And yes, I have a heart shaped butt.

Yup, we’re getting to the point of multiple shower days.  And yes, mine was cold.  Otherwise my body temp doesn’t cool down enough to stop sweating.

There’s nothing more troubling than the looks your co-workers give you when they look over and see you profusely sweating.  {whispers} “What is he looking at on his computer?  What’s he so nervous about?”

Anyways, nothing we can do about it, so gotta look at the positives – like it takes less time to get properly warmed up to run, or I can wear less clothes on my runs (you’re welcome world).  So bring it on Sun!

How bout you?  Do you notice a change in your running depending on temps?  Aren’t you glad that at least there’s no ice on the ground?  What shape is your butt sweat?

-Scott

 

Running Debt Paid & Dressed in Drag

I wrote a little while back about a bet I had going on with a running-blog ‘friend’.  You can chickity check it HERE.

Well, I lost the bet.  His team beat my team in the NBA playoffs.  And of course it went the maximum 7 games, which meant I owed him 7 400’s on the track.  Today I did that to pay off the debt.

Photo taken after…hence the sitting.

He tweeted me in jest after the final game and said he’d like to see my splits from the track.  Well, I don’t run with my phone (camera), so I just tried to keep track in my head.  Best I could make out with my math skills were that it went something like this:

1 – 89 seconds, 2 – 86 seconds, 3-7 – 85 seconds.

It was tough.  The winds were between 25-30 mph, with gusts much stronger than that.  The whole back side of the track was a wall of wind and it felt like I was running in place.  Hopefully that made me a stronger runner though.

The flag is holding on for dear life. It’s like that every spring here.

Luckily I forgot to mention to him how the gaggle of my fellow bloggers commented that they wanted us to up the ante with an embarrassing costume, or the opponents team jersey.  In fact, I had planned on wearing my throwback Mavs jersey in spite, but I forgot it at home.

#MFFL

Truth is, I don’t get embarrassed easily, so it wouldn’t have bothered me too much to dress up for it.  You know this if you followed my Dopey Challenge races.

Knee out. Hands on hips. It’s slimming.

Besides, if I had been dressed in drag like some of your suggested, I might have gotten a visit from the cops as I was running on a middle school track – and their girls soccer team was practicing on the infield.  I can hear the 9-1-1 call now, “There’s a creepy man in a sports bra and tutu running laps at the middle school.”

From a Halloween past – The Drag Queen Bee. Or Prom Queen Bee. Whichever you prefer. Aren’t you impressed I found heels to fit me? And a prom dress for that matter?

In the end though, it wasn’t all bad.  Sure, I’m disappointing that my team didn’t win, but hey, I got a good workout out of it!

How bout y’all?  Lost any wagers lately?  Dressed in drag lately?  Besides my blogging friend at hellyontherun (who let’s me know via Twitter) is anyone else interested in the NBA playoffs?  Anyone want to go to the prom with me?

-Scott

A Gentleman’s Wager – “loser” runs.

So my running-blogging buddy Jon over at My ourney: 1,000 Miles in 2014 and also at Inspired Race Events has challenged me to a bet.  Before I get to that, first you should know that Jon and I have never met.  He lives in San Antonio, TX and I live in Dallas, TX.  We only know each other through the blogosphere and our interactions on Twitter.  But now we’re in the middle of a wager.

This came about because both of “our” respective NBA teams are currently playing each other in the NBA playoffs.  He’s a Spurs fan, and I’m a Mavericks man.  These teams are pretty big in state rivals, and so we were taunting each other on Twitter.  Finally he said we need to have a bet.  I agreed.  He asked what it should be over.  I suggested the ‘loser’ has to run an uncomfortable workout.  He agreed.

On the court after a Mavs game last year. Dirk is peeking out of my shirt.

How the playoffs work is the two teams play each in a best of seven game series:  The first team to win four games wins and moves on to the next round.  Loser goes fishing.  The series could be over in 4 games, or it could go up to 7.  We decided that the ‘loser’ will have to run as many 400’s as the number of games the series goes.  If it goes 7 games, the loser has to run 7 400 repeats.  It is currently tied at 2-2.  Hopefully I won’t have to bust out my lucky retro Mavs jersey that I was wearing when the won the title a couple years ago.

My secret weapon.

I personally think the bet should be weighted somehow considering the Spurs had the best record in the NBA regular season and are a #1 seed.  The Mavs are the #8 seed.  But oh well, I guess you throw that all out in the playoffs.  Hopefully my main man Dirk Nowitzki can bring home the win!

Pic I took getting Dirk’s autograph at an FC Dallas match. See, I told you we’re tight.

In the end, the wager isn’t that bad.  Truth be told, I’d probably be doing 400 repeats anyway, hahaha!  Either way, at least one of us will be on the track running 400 repeats at a pace that should induce dry heaving.

From my track workout last week. Luckily I didn’t puke on my pretty shoes.

How about you?  Ever make a ‘run’ bet?  Any other ideas for what we could’ve had the ‘loser’ run?  Anyone else have ‘lucky’ clothes?

-Scott

Back on (the) Track

Yesterday I got in another track workout.  Does anyone else get a little nervous before doing these?  Kind of like before a race?  I think it’s because I know it’s going to hurt.

Anyway, I did some 400’s with a 200 jog in between each one.  I’ve been running each between 80-90 seconds.  Granted, I’m not going 100% on these repeats, but still that’s a far cry from high school when I ran them averaging around 55 seconds per.  Ahh well, that’s the sweet bird of youth for you.

Anyone want to go to the Prom with me?

Maybe if I stay consistent with my track workouts, I’ll start creepin my times back down towards my high school self.  Anywhoodle, it was super windy again.  Sustained 20mph winds with gusts a lot stronger.  So half the track I was running straight into a wind wall.

The flag is holding on for dear life.

After I finished my 400’s, I decided to reward myself.  Here’s how:  I ran two more laps, jogging the 200 into the wind, and then sprinting the 200 with the wind at my back.  Some might call this cheating, but it was my reward, and it felt good to go short and fast!!!

Hello 400, we meet again.

How bout you?  Anyone else ever reward themselves after a tough workout with a little ‘cheating’ run?  Do you ever compare your olden days times with current ones?  Anyone else a lil nervous before track work?

-Scott

Lunch with a Celebrifriend, Track Workout, & Fun Cornbread

Today was a decent day.  I got to have lunch with a longtime friend (and something of a celeb).  I’ve worked with Hilary Kennedy off and on over the years in TV.  She’s an amazing host, model, actress.  And she’s also a pretty successful Fashion Blogger.  Check her site out if you got a minute.  And ladies, she told me that soon she will be working with Adidas on her blog – so check it out for all your workout gear tips!  http://hilarykennedy.com/

We had to wear our shades because of the flashes from the paparazzi.

It was good to catch up, talk shop, and brainstorm future projects.  We went to a famous place in town that I had never been to before – Love and War in Texas.  I got the buffalo chili and Shiner beer beans.  It came with some Texas shaped cornbread.

The Texas shape gives it big flavor.

Looking back though, I probably should’ve ordered something else.  You see, I had a track workout planned for the afternoon.  And spicy chili, as it turns out, is not the best pre speed-work dish.  Regardless, I did some 400’s.  I ran into a friend at the track who was doing his speed-work for the day – 100 sprints.  Man, did I envy his planned distance each lap I churned out.

Two feet, One lane. The Sequel to Two Girls, One Cup.

I have a 5k on Saturday, and I hope the last few weeks of beginning speed work will help me out.  I have no idea what kind of race shape I’m in since I haven’t raced since the Dopey Challenge in January, and since I had to take a month off after falling on a run and jacking up my knee.

But when I wanted to quit when the 400’s hurt, I didn’t.  When the wind was strong, I fought through it.  When my legs burned, I added more fire.  I think that will pay off for me.

How bout you?    Seen any old friends lately?  Doing any track work?  Would you want to run behind me after I ate chili?

-Scott

 

Disney Dopey Challenge Week is HERE!

In just a couple days we’ll be in sunny Florida for the Disney Dopey Challenge – 5k, 10k, 13., 26.2.  This weekend’s training called for 8 miles on Saturday and cross training on Sunday.  Done and done (Sunday was a really tough yoga class).  All that’s left is 2 miles (+ weights) on Tuesday.  Then the training is done!

Let’s get doped up.

Some exciting news – they released the official design of the race shirts…well, 4 of the 6 anyway…

I’m guessing the Dopey and Goofy shirts will have Dopey and Goofy on them, respectively. Yup, I’m smart.

It’s time to make final preparations.  Thanks to everyone who gave me costume ideas.  I found a couple gems in my box of Halloween past.  They aren’t too exciting, as I want to keep it functional and also light, as the weather may be warm.  I’ll be sure to post photos at the race!  Be sure to check my Instagram and Twitter!

My standard Disney statue and castle photo op.

Even if you’re not going to this race, here’s a tip – DO NOT PACK YOUR RACE SHOES IN YOUR LUGGAGE! Last year, an American airline (which shall remain nameless, ha!) lost my bag for a MONTH.  Luckily it was on the way home from a race and not on the way to a race!  Keep them on with you, like they’re your little shoe babies!

My precious Brooks (and heart shaped butt sweat), can’t run without em!

I’ll also be sure to leave room in my carry-on for all the bling!  My eyes are already looking like this…

Dopey in the sky with diamonds.

Because these will be some of our rewards…

I hope to have the energy to carry these!

Anyway, my brain is kind of skattered trying to get everything ready.  I’m itching and ready to race!

If you care to follow my progress in real time during the races, then either follow my Twitter, or sign up for Runner Tracking through Disney – HERE.  Just enter my name – Scott Evans, and choose how you want to follow my progress.

How bout yous?  Any last minute personal tips you want to share?  How do you get ready for a destination race?