Running in “Da Hood”, Becoming Fashion/Yoga Expert & Free Lululemon Gear!!!

I’ve been cray cray bizzay. Let’s catch up, shall we?

Chicago Marathon training has kicked in and I’m pretty excited about it. For this, I’m going to continue to do my long runs whenever I can with WRRC. Solid folks.

Last week’s subtle group.

It’s summer now, and that means they do a lil’ thang called “Run My Hood”. Basically, each week we meet at the house of a different runner and run their favorite neighborhood course. It’s pretty cool. I’ve often thought on my own neighborhood runs how I’d like to show other people “my route”.

Anyway, the best part of the run is the after-run. Hey hey, pool part-ay today-hey!

Lounge.

Chill.

Fresh.  BTW, Snapchat – @piratebobcat – hit me up, fool!

As always, I like to incorporate cross training into my…well, uh, training. The trails are all flooded in North Texas, so that’s a no-go. But it can’t rain in yoga class (well, except maybe rain sweat).

My elf friend and I finally mastered “Partner Chair Pose”.

And I gots to give a big shout out to Lululemon. At yoga practice the other day, the employees called me up to the front. They said they wanted to thank me for being a regular yogi, “Go pick out any yoga mat…it’s yours!” I was so surprised and honored…and PUMPED!

The mat my foot finally chose.

It was so cool of them to do that. And I gotta say, this mat is like night and day compared to my old one…or is it like day and night, IDK. What I do know is the quality of this mat is top notch. No slipping when I sweat, good padding, solid construction – just incredible.

And bonus, my looooooong time friend (you can see her in a couple group run pics above) has been at these yoga seshes because the studio she goes to and teaches at is putting on the classes!

Meet Virginia. She never compromises. Loves babies and surprises. Wears high heels when she exercises. Ain’t it beautiful?

Other than that it’s been sweaty doggy walks. And seeing as I’m an fashion expert, I made a quick tutorial on how to look good as you walk the hound.

Of course there’s lots of other stuff goings on, but I’ll save it for the next post…I don’t want to tire your pretty little heads too much today. Have a great weekend, hombres y mujeres!

How bout you? Ever get to run someone else’s “hood”? Ever been rewarded by a business you regular (other than the corner pub)? Ever Meet Virginia?

-Scott

PS – Best of luck to everyone running Grandma Marathon this weekend! I have a few Dallas friends there – Look for them – They’ll probably be in tops with “WRRC” on the front and “Run Free” on the back. Slap em on the backside for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Half Marathon Recap – Disney Dopey Challenge Day 3

Race 3 of 4 of the Dopey Challenge.  This time it was time for the Donald Duck themed half marathon.  The evening before the race, we prepared by chilling a bit at Downtown Disney.

My sis and I carbo-loading.

Our sunny set view.

Then came the morning and another 2am wake up call.  By now I was used to it.  I had used up all my pre-race sleep jitters before the first race (5k).  And while I still hadn’t had a full night sleep, at least I got a few hours.  And of course we took our customary pre race photo.

Sis, Me, Mom.

Still wanting to take it easy, so I wore one last costume (as you can tell).  This time it was my PR 214 tech tank with an Alice in Wonderland apron.  My friend (who looks like an elf) lent it to me the day before I left for Florida.

Knee out. Hands on hips.

She told me she got it at Disney World when she was a little girl…so it’s probably like 50-60 years old (JK – if she read this).  She also lent me the matching dress, but I could no way in Hades get it on.  I tried, but couldn’t get the waist over my broad manly shoulders.  Nearly split it in four.  I guess costumes meant for a 6 year old girl don’t work on me.

I do like how the rabbit is chasing time – just like us runners!

The apron got quite the few comments and gawks.  One example during the race: a couple bros asked me if I lost a bet – I told them that it was either a result of too much medication, or not quite enough.

I’d be much faster if I ran like a normal person.

I also ran with the GoPro camera.  But I had forgotted to charge it the night before, so I only got a few moments of video recorded during the race.    You can see the fleeting moments here:

As you can see in the video, there was a bit of a let down at the start of our corral.  Now I won’t get into the corral complaints here, as I’m sure the runDisney folks have gotten quite the mouse earful already.  But what I wanted to bring up was that our corral got extra jacked up.  You see, Disney shoots off a pretty nice little fireworks show for each corral start – except for ours.  Something happened when the dude pushed the boom button and we got zilch sky explosions.  Bummer, bro.

But no matter, we were underway!

Follow the yellow brick road…or painted line, as it were.

I ran the whole way with my sis.  We chatted the whole way too, further ensuring that we’d take it easy (in addy to the costumes).

I have to correct my running form. So does she.

We didn’t stop for any characters, but we couldn’t pass up the Cinderella’s Castle photo op (no lines!).

As much as my arms are in the air, I hope I didn’t have B.O.

I was looking forward to this leg of the Dopey.  I had run the Disney Marathon 3 times, but never one of their 13.1 races.  I wanted to know what it was like.

I think I thought I was in 2nd place here.

But after running it, I can now say that I’m glad I run the fulls.  They didn’t have all the bells and whistles out for the half.  The course only hit up two parks (Magic Kingdom and Epcot).

Half of the most magical place on Earth.

The lights of the castle weren’t even on.  The people who run the half really do miss out on all the action of the full – but I guess that’s part of the reward for the people who are more than half crazy???

Catchin flies.

Anyways, it was pretty warm and humid.  So the apron and everything else got nice and sweaty (if Elf reads this – we did wash it after).  I’m really glad we didn’t have this weather for the full!  It was swampy!

Put the guns away already!

Once again, the race started and ended in the Epcot parking lot.  The crowds of supporters were bigger than the day before (10k), which was bigger than the day before (5k).

No mid race selfie for you! Battery is dead bro!

But once again, I was trying to go for a personal worst (PW).  This was the 3rd of 4 legs of the Dopey Challenge and the 1st of 2 legs of the Goofy.  And once again I succeeded!

I must’ve run the entire way with my hands in the air. Sheesh.

We finished at 2 hrs 17 mins.  A near 30 minutes slower than my previous half (1:48).  Just a nice easy medium-long run.

And at the finish, I did a little high step dance, but I couldn’t get the video for y’all, but you can kind of tell from the pics.

Sideways high steppin.

Anyways, we enjoyed the journey and Disney does make a fine race medal!

Thumbs up, finally arms down.

So now we’re 3 races down, with just one to go – the full 26.2 mile marathon!

Family reunion time.

The only scary thing was that people started to point out that even though we’d finished 3/4 races, we hadn’t yet reached halfway of the total mileage!!!!!  We wouldn’t reach that until a few miles into the full.  I wish nobody had pointed that out.

You can lick the medals if you want. One of the benefits.

So there you go.  We are now 1/2 Goofy and 3/4 Dopey.  One (big) race to go to complete the challenges!!!

***Side note – I saw a really funny race shirt that day – it read on the back, “Is this the line for Space Mountain?”  Bwhaha!****

If you missed the previous recaps, here’s the ones for the Expo, 5k, and 10k.

How bout y’all?  Ever cross dress in an ill-fitting outfit for a race?  Can you suggest a new mid-race pose other and arms up?  Should we had made fireworks sound effects when their real ones malfunctioned?

KT Tape & Elves

No offense to swimming, but I’m really itching to get back running.  I’m going to give it a go later this week, but when I do, this time I’m going to wear some tape (in addition to clothes).  You may have heard/seen all the rage for athletes the past few years: KT Tape.  I have too.  Problem is that the few times I’ve worn it, it never seems to last too long after I get schwetty.

But I have a running buddy who has introduced me to a new (to me) brand.  In case you’re curious about her, she looks like an elf.  See if you can spot the elf in this photo of some of us after a recent trail run…

Hint: She’s the one on the John.  I was horrified.

Anyway, after a run, she took off her shoes.  Once we got over the smell, I noticed she had some funky KT Tape on the bottom of her feet.  She said she does it to prevent blisters.  “Doesn’t it come off pretty easily in that location?”  I inquired.  “Nope.  Elfen sweat doesn’t bother it either.”  She retorted.

Fast forward to last night.  I was getting adjusted by my chiropractor and she offered to put some KT Tape on my knee.  That’s what reminded me of the Elf’s brand – it’s called Rocktape.  I went to Amazon and read all the glowing reviews.  Mostly they said it cost more than other brands, but is way worth it.  I ordered a roll.  Can’t wait to try it!

Bonus, they have tutorial videos on how to adhere it, like the one above that I’ll be following.

Anyway, what’s your experience been with KT Tape?  Ever tried Rocktape?  Do you know any elves?