Hey kids. Just checking in from the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. Will give a full recap later but so far we’ve had the Expo, 5k, and kids race. We’re going on little sleep (2am wake up calls… Urgh) but so far so good.
In the morning is the 10k, so gotta try to catch some zzzzzzzs. Hope everyone is well!
On Saturday the Disney Dopey Challenge Training Schedule called for 13 miles. I had three groups of friends who were running different distances at different times, I wish I could’ve run with all of them, but my time was limited that day. So I chose the group that was meeting at 5am. Ugh. 3:45 alarm. Ugh. I told them that the same roads are out there at 7 am, but they didn’t care. And I had no choice anyway, as I needed to be somewhere by 8am. 13 windy, chilly miles done with some buds.
On Sunday, the sched called for cross training. I went to yoga, which I’m so glad that I did. Afterwards, I went and met some friends who were helping another friend finish a run.
At the mile 27 station.
Here’s the lowdown. My bud’s dad committed suicide several years ago around this time of year. So he does several events to get the word out about fighting depression. One of the things is an unofficial 30 mile run. He does this with little to no run training. He want’s it to be a challenge that he proves he can overcome, just like he believes others can overcome their own challenges.
Hey, there’s me (on the right)! I know him!
A handful of people run the entire way with him. The majority of us join him for short stretches of the run. For the past two years, I’ve joined for the final 3ish miles. And I’m glad to say that he once again made it the entire 30 miles!
At the finish!
He’s also working to start a non profit foundation. He set up a donation page for the past weekend’s 30 miler. You can donate here: http://bswarms.com/swarm274
How bout you? Ever run at any crazy times because you have no other option? Have you ever gone a run for no other reason than for a good cause?
I’ve written before about my run ins with dogs and such on my runs. In fact, it almost happened again this morning. A man was walking his dog without a leash. He didn’t see me, so I made some loud coughing noises to get his attention. When he heard me, he ran over to his dog to grab the collar. It’s disappointing how much I have to use that trick.
Anyway, after that I got back to my neighborhood and there was a beautiful coyote that was also going on a jogabout. Unfortunately, when most people here come across coyotes or bobcats, they bust out their phones to take photos for Instabook. This is wrong as it teaches them not to be scurred of humans. Ya heard?
Stolen from a friend. He took this near his place here in Dallas recently.
What I was told to do by an urban wildlife expert is “haze” them. This doesn’t mean you strip them to their undies and make them drink a bunch of beer at the frat house kegger. What it means is you try to scare the animal with loud noises and motions.
Stolen from another friend here in Dallas who saw these guys in his yard.
The coyote was about 30 yards away and it seemed like it wanted nothing to do with me, and would’ve jogged off on it’s own, but I decided to take this chance to teach him a little sumthin sumthin. I turned towards him and chased after him while yelling very loudly with a deep voice and flailing my arms about.
This accomplished a couple things. 1.) My neighbors surely now have confirmed their suspicions that I belong in a tree…because I’m a nut. and 2.) It spooked the coyote something fierce, and it took off sprinting without looking back!!!
So there ya go.
What about you? What do you do when you encounter wildlife – take a selfie? Do you ever cough or give some other warn people you’re coming up (when you’re too far away to say “on your left”)?
Disney World Dopey Challenge – 4 straight days of races in Jan – 5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2. On the Hal Higdon plan I’m following, his week’s start on Monday…er, ok. Mine start on Sunday, but whatevs. Going by his plan, it looks like this:
Mon – Rest, Tues – 4 miles, Wed – 7 miles, Thurs – 4 miles, Fri – Rest, Sat – 10 miles, Sun – Cross Train. I also have a couple gym sessions in there, and still deciding on my cross – Def yoga, but maybe a little trail run too? We shall see.
So Dopey indeed!
This is one of the “easy” “off” weeks that we are rewarded with after pulling a back to back weekend of runs. This past weekend was a 6 miler followed by 16.
This morning’s run was kind of eerie. Not many people on the roads, not much light from the crescent moon, very overcast, mighty windy (around 20 mph), humid humid – 90%, and 70 degrees. So yes, my tank top was soaked. The weird thing was that most of the run there was a faint smell of skunk in the air. I hate coming across skunks on my runs. I have yet to be sprayed, but I’d rather avoid any chance. Believe you me you, I was analyzing every shadow to see if there was a white stripe in there (no, I’m not talking about Jack White). Luckily, ole Peppy never revealed himself to me today. Maybe he smelled my musk from my sweat and it was too much to handle, so he scurried off.
True words. It takes a lot of work.
My only dilemma this week is that I usually get up early before work to run. If you don’t know, I work as a TV producer. And the problem is that I have an early shoot on Wed. So I’d have to get up extra extra early to get my 7 miles in. I’d say I should just wait and do it in the afternoon, but we’re supposed to have a massive storm roll through town. Don’t think I want to be running in hail weather.
Oh crizzap, I think I just convinced myself to get up at the butt crack of dawn. I guess it’s good training, after all for the Disney races, we have to wake up at 2 a.m. Yes, it’s an early check in and start time, so the alarm goes off at 2 flippin a.m.
How’s bouts yous guys? Ever come across a skunk on a run? What’s the earliest you’ve gotten up to run?
I’ve been very diligent about my training for the Disney Dopey Challenge. Running four races in four consecutive days will be a new experience, and I want to be smart about it. Add to that the hefty registration fee, results in me not doing any races lately. But not racing for several months makes a PirateBobcat go a bit nutso. Not to mention it’s good to break up training now and again with a race. This not only serves as a barometer of your status, but also helps you practice racing. And of course, they’re fun!
This past Saturday I decided to race The Loop 15k by the Dallas Running Club. Here’s why I chose it: I had some friends doing it, the weather was finally supposed to cool off, it fit into my training schedule, and the registration fee was only $10! Also, I had never run a 15k, so instant PR!
They call this race The Loop, because it takes you on one loop of White Rock Lake. It’s a very popular running and biking spot in Dallas. It’s where I go to do my long runs as the lake is about 8.9 miles around. There are also a few detours to make add distance. This race had to add a detour because we needed to get to 9.3 miles to complete the 15k. I know, right, why aren’t we on the metric system, except for races? Haha!
The start/end was at Winfrey Point. I assume named for Oprah.
My last several half marathons have been run at around an 8:12 per mile pace. My goal after the Dopey is to get faster and the next step is to run 8:00 min miles in a Half. I secretly hoped I could do that in this 15k. I thought that hope was out the window when I arrived though because the weather was not cool like the weather dude promised. It was in the low 80’s with 90% humidity. It was swampy. I did a quick warm up before the race and was absolutely drenched with sweat. But a funny thing happened when the gun sounded – I was able to finish with a pace UNDER 8 min miles! Here’s what had happened…
Before the race I started chatting with a dude who was new to running. He was asking me all sorts of questions about it, which I was happy to answer. This guy is younger and looked like he was in pretty good shape, but this race would be a new experience for him. Also, at the start line I saw one of my running buddies – Lea. She’s a great runner who is getting ready for the Houston and Boston Marathons. I decided to try and keep up with her despite the weather. My new friend decided to try and keep up with me despite his newness. We did all stay together until about mile 7 when we hit some hills. Not nice hills either. They actually hit me pretty hard, and I fell off the pace a bit. But my two friends did great and finished just ahead of me. Lea even got 2nd place in her age group.
I finished in 1:13:48. Good enough for 8th in age group and 60th overall out of 512. I was really happy with this. Especially considering the weather, and especially considering that I took a few walk breaks through water stations (and part way up the last nasty hill). The conditions were so bad that I had to briefly stop at one point and tighten the belt lace in my running shorts because they were so heavy with sweat that they kept falling down, and I didn’t want to have a wardrobe malfunction on the course – especially in case a race photographer was around!
Say ahhhhhh!
There was also a 5k race that I had some friends in. In both the 5k and 15k, my other friends did great in their races too! It was tough out there and I’m proud of them all! One friend even got 1st in his 5k age group!
But here’s the thang – about 15 minutes after I finished my run, the skies opened up and it began to pour down rain! I was glad I finished before the wet stuff came down, but after it passed, the weather dropped down into the 50’s! What I wouldn’t have given for those temps at the start of the race! Oh well, what are you going to do? Hopefully those cooler temps will stick around for a while for my next round of training runs.
Anyways, that’s why there are no post race photos – because it was pouring rain and cold as crap. I’ll try to take a photo of the lake next time I run there. Some nice views!
I know this was a big racing weekend around the country. Did you race? How’d you do? If not, what did you do? How’s the weather there?
-Scott
Piratebobcat 