2014 – Runs, PR’s, Celebs, Concerts, Tacos & Sexiness (Mostly in Photos)

Welp, we’ve dun it. Anuther trip around the sun. Looking back, 2014 was a pretty decent year. Let’s take a peek at a few hightlights, shall we?

It kicked off with a BANG! In January I ran the Disney World Dopey & Goofy Challenge. That’s 4 straight days, 4 straight races.

The 6 Dopey Challenge Medals.

Day 1 – Thursday – 5k (3.1 miles)

Medal 1/6 gotten!

Day 2 – Friday – 10k (6.2 miles)

Medal 2/6 got.

Day 3 – Saturday – Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

Medals 3/6 got.

Day 4 – Sunday – Full Marathon (26.2 miles)

Medals 6/6 (includes Dopey & Goofy bonus medals)

All in all, it was a magical 48.6 miles.

Running at Epcot, waving to my fans.

Included in the weekend was the Kids’ Race, where the soon to be 5 year old rocked it!

Medals for everyone!

Oh, and did I mention my sis and ma also did the Dopey?

At Magic Kingdom with our medals.

Shortly afterwards though, I was going for a run, tripped, felled, and Nancy Kerriganed my own knee.

Put me out of commission for a little while.

I was able to eventually get active again by doing a lot of yoga in a retail store.

Cat, cow, what difference does it make?

I really think yoga is important for everyone – including runners. So I do a lot of it. And besides…

#NotCreepyatAll

Another part of my cross training is lifting weights. And besides…

Dumbells make you smart…and sexy.

I also like to mix up my runs with track work. And besides…

Track work makes you sexy. Here’s the proof!

Trail runs are also great. And besides…

#truth #obviously

Eventually my knee felt better and I got back on the roads with some of my fave people. Like Thursday Night Social Runners.

TNSR, Representin

And also my crazy early morning elfen crew.

They like to run at like 5am. They cray cray.

I also made a few Luke’s Locker social trail runs.

Run trails, eat pancakes. Repeat.

And the White Rock Running Co-op, who really helped me to become a better runner this year.

WRRC. Good runners.

To help fuel my workouts, I ate lots of tacos. Lots.

Legit, son!

In between training, I also got to see some of my fave bands…like at this FREE concert – The Killers!

About 30 rows deep, my mouth a gasp with excitement.

And the Old 97’s.

Seen this band countless times.

And I was super thrilled to see the traveling Broadway show, based on the movie – Once!

And I got to make my annual Jimmy Buffett concert experience…TWICE!

JB concert #1. Just call me Front Row Joe.

JB concert #2. Things get wild at the tailgate parties…trust me!

I also got to hangout on stage during a Graceland Ninjaz concert.

On stage open mouth selfie.

As well as Pentatonix.

I liked to imagine they were all cheering for me (they may have been).

They were amongst the Celebs that got to hang out with me this year.

They asked me to join the group based on some of my youtube karaoke videos.

And my model friend Brooke Becker.

She’s kewl.

And long time friend, fashion blogger, and TV host, Hilary Kennedy.

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

And all around media star, and long long time friend, Ashley Kamrath.

At the Emmy’s. We didn’t win this year, but we’ll get again next year!

And I made another video with friend & TV host, Emily Reppert.

On the set with my actor friends.

And I made a new BFF when I interviewed Olympic gold medalist, Jennie Finch.

See, told ya we were new BFF’s.

And my Dallas Half Marathon Champion friend, Logan Sherman.

Logan, Me, Patrick. Mustachioed.

And model/actor buddy, Shane Land.

We have played brothers in two movies. Can you see the resemblance?

And a Dallas Cowboy – Charles Haley.

A couple of legends.

Anyways, back to running. I ran a bunch of races. Starting with Abby’s Run 5k, where I won my age group!

Yay! I got a photo with Abby (who the race is named for) and her mom. Ann photobombed us.

Then came the Rock the Block 10k. New PR – 46:00!

And we’re off! -Photo from Dallasnews.com

During the months of Texas heat, it was really hot, so I only ran a few unofficial races. Like the Boston Marathon virtual run.

And the America, F**k Yeah 4th of July 10k.

Censored Bling

And the TNSR Beer Mile.

This was a bad idea.

Then came the Fall. Autumn is always a time of change. For us, a big change was the boy starting kindergarten. Where does the time go???

He’s grown about 5 times his size. Based on that growth rate, I figure he’ll be about 80 feet tall by his 20’s.

I even volunteered to coach his soccer team. That was a lot of fun!

Landsharks on three!

And the little girl just keeps growing too!

Stop looking at me swan.

Fall also saw a lot of PR changes. Starting with the Oktoberfest 5k – 21:33. When you PR, you have to celebrate…

They love me.

Next up was the Dallas Mavericks 5k. Another PR!

The Mavs Dancers asked to have their photo taken with me. I obliged.

Speaking of which, my brother ran his first half marathon this fall! And my dad is running his first half in January 2015!

Dad, Bro, Me at an FC Dallas game this fall.

The next PR to fall was at the Dallas 13.1 – 1:42:59!

Bottle opener medal.

Next was the annual Halloween fun run.

Our costumed group.

One sad change was that we lost our oldest doggy this fall. She was such a great pup.

sweet Bailey girl

But in happier times, I set another PR at the North Texas Turkey Trot 5k 20:04. Bummer was the course being .1 miles short.

Stop looking at me turkey.

Next up was the Rudolph Run 5k. And yet another PR – officially 21:29, but my watch had the course being long. According to it I came across at 20:50-something. Either way, I got 2nd in my age group!

Last year’s race was cancelled due to ice. So I got two medals!

The final race of 2014 was the Dallas Half marathon. No PR this day, but still got my 2nd fastest half – 1:45:01.

Big state, little medal.

And as part of the Dallas Marathon festivities, I got to meet MEB!!!!!!

Me n Meb

The end of the year was spent with friends and family for the holidays.

Looking back, it was a pretty good year. Lots of tacos, shows, good times, and running. In fact, I went over 1,200 miles on my feet. I even surpassed 5,000 miles total with my Nike+ watch – starting when I got it a few years ago.

5 g’s over the past few years.

Here’s hoping 2015 will be even better! Happy New Year, y’all!

Today’s only question: What’s your top 2014 highlight?

145 Oct Miles Run, The Body Whisperer & London Calling

So I had a pretty good October, running wise. I ended up going the most miles in a month since when I was training for this past year’s Disney Dopey Challenge.

My last run of the month was with friends. Here’s what we looked like after…

Post run #groupie

I ended up running about 145 miles. Not bad, especially considering that I’m not training for any particular race.

 

I know it says 142, but I did get in some miles that weren’t recorded by my watch.

Buuut, when it came to the last day of Runtober, I didn’t run. Why not? Because my knee felt weird, fool!

I’m convinced that it was my body telling me to get some rest. I didn’t take one day off…even after setting a nearly 5 minute PR in a half marathon in October. Mistake. And so my body was telling me to take a break.

Wheeeeee!

I ended up taking three days off. And since then it feels much better. And I’ve jumped back into running 6 days a week.

My body did the same thing to me back in the winter. After the Dopey Challenge, I didn’t take enough time to let my body recover. And when I was out on a run, I tripped and Nancy Kerriganed my own knee. Forcing me to take a month off.

The view back in early 2014…Gettin my swol on.

What’s the lesson? Don’t be a fool…listen to your body, fool! When it says rest, rest. When it says go, go. When it says go-go dance, go-go dance.

She’s got moves like grocery bagger.

And now for something completely different…

Here in Dallas, the city is gearing up for the football Cowboys playing their game in London, UK this weekend. And the talk radio station I listen too has been broadcasting live from Jolly Ole’ England. They are going on and on about all the cool experiences they are having. I’ve been to London a few times, but it’s been several years. And all this talk is really making me miss it.

London Calling

Ahh well, the best I can do now is find a British Pub and watch English Premiere League on the telly. Might have to do that this weekend.

How bout you? Have a good Runtober? Are you a body whisperer or a fool? Ever been to London town?

-Scott

Running with Celebs

So I’m still working on organizing all my pics and vids from the Disney Marathon, so I haven’t blogged about it yet.  But looking at some other reviews of the race made me realize that we were in the presence of some celebs.  I’m not talking running celebs and elites, cause I’ve run races with plenty of them (Frank Shorter, Jeff Galloway, Bart Yasso, etc), but actual Hollywood types.  I live in the Dallas area, and don’t get to run with as many as if I lived in NYC or LALA Land, but I’ve raced with a few….and have beat them all!!!  Haha.

First was the Rock n Roll Dallas Half Marathon a few years ago.  Troy Aikman was also in it.  My sis and I beat him by 15 seconds or so.  Yup, we’re faster than a world class athlete, lol.  Then my sister followed that race up by beating him again by a few seconds a few weeks later in another half at Cowboys Stadium.  Here’s a photo of them next to each other after finishing:

Based on running times alone, I’m athletic enough to quarterback the Cowboys.

But Disney had pulled out all the stops and starts for the 20th anniversary of their marathon, and some running celebs wanted to be part of it.  A bunch were running the half, but Sean Astin and Drew Carey were signed up for the Goofy Challenge (Half on Saturday, Full on Sunday).  Unfortunately Sean had to pull out due to a gig.  And Drew had to pull out due to an injury.  Though being the cool guy he is, he still showed up to cheer on the runners and party with them afterwards.  Here’s a pic from when I met him a few years ago (before losing weight and taking up running).

No, my plastic novelty glasses aren’t prescription.

As for Sean, he showed his support through twitter.  He even responded to one of my tweets when I told him the hot conditions wreaked havoc with my per mile pace.  He helped put it back into perspective:

Getting Twitter celeb support, I’m officially a twit.

It’s a shame he wasn’t able to run, but we runners appreciate his support.  I was a little bummed because I have met the real Rudy and was hoping to get a pic with the fake Rudy.

He really was five foot nuthin, and a hundred and nuthin.

Also of note, Joey Fatone ran the Goofy Challenge.  Now he’s not a runner – this was his first half and full, but he did it!  He ran in place of his injured wife and followed the Jeff Galloway walk/run method.  So needless to say, we beat him in the full – another feather in our caps…haha!  (Now if only I had use for these feathers)

It’s the guy from that boy band – I think it’s named – My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Anywaddle, I’m always glad to see celebs out there promoting running and being healthy.  I really appreciate their support of the sport, and it’s great to see how they like to run just as much as some of us!

That’s all for now because I have to go and pick up all those names I just dropped.

Peace!