My Friends in Movies, Running Balloons & Postcard From a German DJ!

It’s been another crazy week folks. I don’t even know where to start. That’s a lie, I’ll start with this:

Pitch Perfect 2 comes out this weekend! Why am I mentioning that? Well, because I know people in the movie! So happy for these folks. Especially my buddy Flula.

We will fight you…in a non violent way.

I’ve had the pleasure to make several videos over the years with him (I’m a TV producer when I’m not running). So glad that he’s finally blowing up!!! Much deserved! If you want to see any of the videos I’ve made with him, you can do so HERE.

During his last visit to Texas – Tall German DJ/Actor/Comedian dudes really fit in well here.

And bonus, Flula did send me a post card this past week too! And it reminded us runners to stretch our hammies!

Stretch it out boys! Not sure why you’re wearing prison pants tho.

The other people I know in PP2 is the group Pentatonix. OK, I don’t really know them know them, but I did shoot a video with them last summer.

My friend Emily and I with the band. They asked me to join the group based on some of my sick youtube karaoke videos.

And I got to enjoy their concert…from the side stage!

I think she’s checking me out.

Other than that, been running like a boss. Gearing up to start my training for the Chicago Marathon in a few weeks.

Kind of looks like a no-legged flamingo. Poor guy – all he needs is one.

I’ve also got a few races coming up this spring, so I’ve been trying to keep with up the track work…even in the rain!

400’s with my run bud @emarsha had me feelin all light headed.

Oh, and yogaing like a boss. Anyone who thinks yoga is easy is someone that has never been to yoga…especially if you run 5 miles right before practice.

Sweat and tears. That was a tough session!

Now it’s time for more of it all, like a boss!

How bout you? Are you running…to see Pitch Perfect 2? Do you yoga? Flamiliar with Flula?

-Scott

Key West Half Marathon Recap

It’s a two sided medal, it’s a wine stopper, it’s fun and functional.

Ahh, the Florida Keys. Who doesn’t love em? Key West in particular, has always been a magnet to the funky-fresh folks.

Closer to Havana than to Miami.

If you haven’t been, well, it’s kind of like a tropical and clean New Orleans. If you haven’t been to New Orleans, well, it’s kind of like an anything-goes sort of haven – full of good food, strong drink, history, openness, tolerance, and zero inhibitions. Both cities were home to pirates, poets, performers, and parties. Needless to say, I love it!!!

Two similar cities. Only separated by 630 miles.

In case you get lost.

And I’m glad to report that the Key West Half Marathon & 5k had the same feel to it that the island has – laid back, scenic, inclusive & fun! Peeps could even register under a “walker division” – can’t get more inclusive than that.

The fun feel starts at the race expo, which was held at a seaside bar and oyster joint…DUH!

Ain’t I purdy?

I was so excited at the expo, because it meant we got our race shirts! They are so over-the-top amazesauce!!!

The shirts….I heart them! And check out those bibs!

And if you’re so inclined, there are plenty of shops next door to load up on souvenirs.

Yeeeeah buoy!

From there, there were plenty of good joints on the island to get your carbo-load on.

My sis with our sushi grade raw tuna “nachos”

The eggs in the restaurants were very fresh.

The artwork in the eateries was very high brow, as my sis and her bae recognized.

My sis with some key lime pie, natch.

The whole pie.

And of course, there were good bevvies to wash it down with…

Key West beer, why not?

My sis and a Moscow Mule at Louie’s Backyard.

Hog’s breath is better than no breath at all. So they say.

Anyway, on to the race! It started at 7am over by the boat docks. Very laid back – no formal corrals, no pre-race formalities…

Can you spot me? Hint – white Ohio University shirt. Photo courtesy of http://www.fotobyfreas.com

I was a little worried going into the race. I was in good shape, but I’d been training in Dallas in 20-30 degree temps. Race morning it was in the 70’s with 90% humidity – 90%!!!!!!!!! OUCH!

But it was time to race, and hahaha, there wasn’t even a race starting horn – Someone must’ve said, “Go.” cause all the sudden, we were off!

I started my gps about a 1/4 mile into the race. My bad.

The course took us down famous Duval St., past the Southernmost Point marker, then an out and back along the beach.

Our friend Carrie caught me on the course. Throwin Dueces! Or maybe quotation marks cause I was feeling “great” in the humidity.

I crossed the 10k mark at 48:34, but it was all I could do to maintain that pace in that humidity. Shortly after, the wheels fell off. I was taking walk breaks to dump cold water on my head at each aid station.

Anyway, on the way back we went past the Hemingway house, the lighthouse, the A1A Mile Marker 0, and through Mallory Square (where everyone goes to watch the sunsets).

Photo I took of one of their famous sunsets.

The race eventually ended at the boat docks. But I was really hurting in the humidity. However, I sucked it up the last couple miles to finish at 1:50:00. A full 5 minutes slower than the Dallas Half last month.

At the finish, smiling on the inside. Photo courtesy from video from http://www.wildsideonline.com

I was hoping to break 1:40 at this race, but with the humidity, it wasn’t meant to be. I really did push hard though – so much so that I was very sore the next day.

That said, it was the same for everybody out there, and so I was still able to finish 27th in my age group and 201st overall (out of 3-4000 runners)!!!

See, I told you the race ended at the boat docks. Sweat much?

Even though I didn’t have the race I hoped for, I still had an absolute BLAST! It was so SCENIC! The volunteers were WONDERFUL! And the post race party was OFF THE CHAIN!

Before we could really get turnt up, I had some other friends and family finishing the race that I went back to root for!

Some friends.

Some family – my ma.

Sister’s bae.

My dad’s first half marathon!

My sis also ran, but I didn’t get a pic of her finishing. But we did get a selfie with the race announcer. This guy was THE.BEST.MC.EVAH! He was cracking us up with gems like, “This is the best day of our lives!” And I think he called me “dude” when I crossed the finish line.

Michael the Boston radio DJ. Solid dude. Perfect match for the Key West laid back attitude.

With everyone finished, it was time to party!!!

We had fun.

Da Key West crew.

The post race concert was Howard Livingston & the Mile Marker 24 Band. I’ve heard him before on Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville. Such a great performer!!! He even made us margaritas with a modified boat-motor-blender at one point.

Howard on stage.

Did I mention all the beer was FREE?!?! That probably led to us making some new friends. Like when I photobombed some stranger’s selfie because Howard had jumped off stage to be in it!!!

Selfie stick, Howard Livingston, PirateBobcat Photobomb. Love this pic! Thanks to Elizabeth T.F. for sending it my way.

Hahahaha, the race photog actually got a pic of us taking a pic of ourselves.

From there it was on to Duval St. where we could proudly display our medals and shirts.

Da Key West Crew all cleaned up.

Yet another patio bar to celebrate on. I figured I’d wear loud shorts with my screaming shirt.

The patio drinks led to even more selfies. Well, that and narcissism.

Look, a coconut tree and a coconut head.

And I even tried my best to copy RunColbyRun and her high angle, partially-obstructed-face selfies, but I couldn’t master the master.

So sexy.

So to sum up, it was a blasty blast!!! If you are ever thinking of running the Key West Half Marathon, I say DO IT!!!!

And besides, you can’t run all the miles until you run the first one…

Mile Marker 0. Yes, I was in Birkenstocks.

Good times people, good times all around!

How bout you? Ever run Key West…or do you want to? What do you think of the swag? Ever go on a runcation?

-Scott

Oktoberfest 5k Preview!

I get to race. I get to race. I get to race. I get to race.

My last race was in May, so I’m more than antsy to make some new safety pin holes in my shirt. That’s why I pulled the trigger and signed up for the Addison Oktoberfest 5k.

I’ve run this race probably a dozen times. This is a fun event. You run, then get free German beer. It’s a win-win.

Last year – My friend wore lederhosen during the race, so we decided to celebrate.

That said, I haven’t run this race the past few years. Instead I would wake up early for my long run…and then go to the race and drink free beer cheer for friends.

Some of my friends I cheered for. I had to blur out some x-rated items they had on the table.

I gotta say, I’m not a huge fan of the new course. Back in the day it was a flat race. But now the course goes over a rather large bridge…TWICE. Yup, you go over the man-made hill and then turn around and do it again.

But at least I know that going into the race, so my plan is to take advantage of the 2^nd downhill. I’m going to ride that wave, and use that momentum to carry me to the finish! Or that’s the plan at least.

The scene in the beer tent after the race.

This race has grown each year, and raised a lot of money for the charity. It has also gotten pretty competitive. Some speedy folks show up for the prize money all the fun.

If you don’t know, the Addison, TX Oktoberfest is one of the biggest in the country. It’s four straight days of beer-soaked, sour-krouted, polka-dotted fun.

Things may have gotten out of hand.

And if you don’t know, yes, Oktoberfest takes place in September. That is how they do it in Germany. I could explain why here, but instead, I’ll let my buddy Flula explain in THIS VIDEO. (And yes Jason, I do actually know him.)

With my 2nd favorite German. We will fight you…in a non violent way.

Ha, ok, if you watched that video, it didn’t explain much, but hopefully it gave you some giggles.

In the end, I hope to have a good time, a good race time, and a approval from this guy…

My friend here grows a glorious mustache.

Recap coming soon! Prost y’all!

How bout you? Racing this weekend? Celebrating Oktoberfest? Any Oktoberfest race predictions for me?

-Scott

Great Run Opportunity (and Other Stuff)

OK, so on Saturday June 8, we are leading a social run in Allen, TX at 8am.  We are starting/stopping at Pure Movement Dance and Fitness Studio.  One of my cool friends is the co-owner…I know people.  But that’s not necessarily why we’re running from there.  They are also hosting a big health/fitness event that same day.  See the flier below…or is it flyer?

Click on it to make it bigger. Or not, whatever.

I love hanging out with my like minded health conscience friends.  Especially when we’re encouraging others to get fit.  And so as part of this morning, after our run, they are offering us a yoga session by an amazing instructor for only $5.  Pretty cool deal. And if you follow my blog, then you know how important I think yoga is for athletes – especially runners.  Check out my post on it here: Yoga for Runners

If you’re in the area, join us.  If you’re not in the area, get to the area.  Minimum run will be 2 miles, max run is up to you as we are running laps around Celebration Park…the more laps you do, the more mileage.  It’s 1.5 miles around and exactly 1 mile from Pure Movement.  Here’s the course: Saturday’s route

I hope you can join us.

Other than that, I need to make a correction to my last post.  I said I had done 4 videos with Flula.  But I lied.  I had forgotted the very first video I made with him.  It was on a show we used to do called “The Dilly-O”.

Silly show, yes, but it must’ve been working because the series did win Two Emmys!

Fun night that was.

And one more thing I forgot to write about this week.  My soccer team made it to the championship game of our league.  The semifinal went to double overtime, then a double shootout.  I made my penalty shot to help them win.  But in the final, we also went to double overtime and double shootout, and I also made my penalty, but this time we lost.  Oh well, still had fun.

No smiles for second place.

OK, I think that’s it for now.  Keep it fit people!

Peace!

First (4th) Flula Video

Likes I said before, when I’m not exercising it, I’m producing it.  I am a TV/Movie producer/editor/writer/talent/shooter/etc.  And lately I’ve been very busy doing it.  So that’s why my blog posts haven’t been consistent lately.  Anyway, I’ve still been running, just not blogging.

A couple years ago I was lucky enough to make a video with the insanely talented Flula Borg.  The video racked up a ton of views and still makes me chuckle today.  Check it out here:

The video also won a ton of awards.  Being that it was so successful, we decided to bring him back to Texas to make some more videos.  While we were shooting them, he got an opportunity to ride on a Zamboni and so we helped him shoot one of his famous Auto Tunes videos.  He just recently finished editing it and here’s what it looks like:

While here, we also shot a quick episode of one of the shows I do called The Scoop.  Here it be:

But now I have finally finished editing the first episode of the new series we shot with him that’s called Rec X.  So it’s kind of the first new video we’ve done together, but really the 4th overall.  I think it turned out pretty well.  Hopefully you agree:

Anykitandkaboodle, we’ve got several shows in the can that need to be edited.  Besides Rec X, we’ve also got some surprises lined up.  Hopefully people will enjoy them and they’ll get their message across.  As you can see, two of the videos feature my friend Ashley Kamrath.  I’m glad she is involved in some of these projects.  She’s a pro!

Time to get back to editing…right after I go for a run, that is.

Holla!

Flula, St. Pats, The Mavs, Oh My!

So that was a jam packed crazy weekend, I tell you.  I’m still nursing this month long weird sickness thing, so I decided not to run, even the the Dallas Rock N Roll Half Marathon was a week away.  Due to this bug I haven’t been able to train properly for weeks, so I figure I’ll just not care about times and just have fun with it.  But even without the running or going to the gym, I still got a workout!  That’s cause I was lugging around video equipment as we shot a crap TON of footage for some videos we’re making with the great Flula Borg!!!!

Like our dope videos or we will fight you…in a non violent way.

Firsty off, you should know that this weekend was also St. Pats and my birthday weekend.  So it’s usually kind of a big deal to me.  But I skipped it all (mostly) for this amazing opportunity and I’m glad I did.  Yup, I skipped running, my soccer game, the crazy Dallas St. Patrick’s Day party, having a birthday party, all of it.  And I had an absolute blast doing it.  It was so great being around all of Flula’s creative energy for two straight days.

My friend, the amazing TV host Emily Reppert interviewing Flula for a segment we shot.  And yes, that’s a bedazzled fanny pack.

If you don’t know Flula, whenever you get a free day, spend it watching his hilarious youtube videos (vlogs, music videos, celeb interviews, autotunes, etc. etc.).  He’s also a sometimes DJ, hypeman, actor, live concert giver, poet, host, and author (he’s written two books – both in one day without using spell check).  You can find info here: http://flulaborg.com/

Shooting a episode of “Autotunes” on the Zamboni! He was singing “Ice Ice Baby” btw.

Anyways, now I’m in the process of editing, and videos will periodically be released.  But in addition to working with us, he was also interviewed a few times on 105.3 The Fan sports radio station, aaaaaannnnddd the Dallas Mavericks brought him in to meet his idol – Dirk Nowitzki – and shoot some videos for mavs.com.  And an extra cool part about that is Flula gave me an extra ticket to the Mavs vs Thunder game St. Pats evening.  I’m a huge fan and it was fun sitting a few rows behind Mark Cuban.

We lost the game to OKC, but hey, at least we don’t live in OKC. Kidding. No I’m not. Yes I am.

And the hits keep on coming.  After the game we went to see my friend’s band Graceland Ninjas!  This was for St. Pats since it was the actual day, even though it was Sunday evening.  These guys are a lot of fun.  They play cover songs as Elvis.  And when they saw me in the crowd, they pulled me up on stage to dance (as they sometimes do).  They also had the crowd wish me happy birthday.

I dance so radical, the camera can’t keep me in focus.

And get this!  They’re normal guitarist was unavailable, so who did they get to fill in – John Lefler!  He’s a great solo artist, but he’s best known for being in Dashboard Confessional.  If you know them, you know I’m not in their normal obsessed fan demographic, but I don’t care if mostly teen females are their big record buyers.  I heart them!  And to meet a member was icing on the cake of a crazy weekend!

He likes it when the girls call him Johnny. I like it when you call me maybe.

There is also a crap TON of stuff I didn’t include from the weekend, but my head is still spinning from all that happened.  It was truly a magical time, and I’ll take magical times anytime.  Even if it means mostly missing my birthday/st. pats weekend.  Let’s be honest, most of those weekends aren’t remembered anyway…thanks to Guinness!  So until next year….DANCE!

I’d be a giant in leprechaun village.