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?

St. Patrick’s Day Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I love Ireland and the Irish.  I love Guinness.  I love Irish music and food.  My favorite color is green.  So needless to say, I love this holiday.

I’d be a giant in leprechaun village.

I have been to Ireland thrice, twice of which was on St. Pat’s Day.  Those are some good times, my friend.

My St. Pat’s weekend this year kicked off with a 5am run.  I met some friends and we cruised to an easy 7-8 miles, followed by a mimosa 1 mile fun walk – it was St. Pat’s after all.

I’m checking my watch, and yup, it is 6ish AM.

I was on daddy daycare duty (and doodie) this weekend, so I wasn’t able to go to the big shindig with all my peeps.

Playing firefighter selfie.

I was however, able to make it to one of the big St. Pat concerts – Graceland Ninjaz.  It’s basically Elvis singing cover songs.  It’s fun.  I was actually in one of their music videos last year.  I played a ninja, coincidentally.

In between takes with some “Felvis” dancers (female Elvis).

We had some wicked storms blow in the early evening that day, and I thought the show might be cancelled, but then we got a St. Patrick’s Day miracle.  The skies cleared and delivered us a double rainbow!

Turns out I was the pot o’ gold at the end of the double rainbow after all.  But what does it mean?!?!

The show was on!  It was a fun time!  I’m friends with most of the people in the band, and so they brought me on stage for a bit so I could perform some of my sweet dance moves to titillate the crowd.

On stage open mouth selfie.

Back up for Elvis!

The next morn we were supposed to do a trail run, but it was too muddy.  So I met my runnin buds for power yoga at Lululemon.  Afterwards we went across the street to Starbucks.

Starbux selfie! Why am I always in back?

Now I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my entire life.  So I don’t make it to Starbucks much.  But I wanted to try the turkey bacon egg sammich that Run Salt Run goes on and on about.

Salt Gal made be do it. I’m a sucker to peer pressure.

It was purdy tasty!  Thanks Salt!  However I think I pissed off the line of coffee zombies behind me when I ordered my sandwich and tea.  I’m sorry I held you up, but their system of cup sizes cornfuzed me!  Sheesh!  Like I said, it had been years since I’ve been in one of those shops.

Anyways, it was a nice lil weekend there.  And today is the actual St. Patrick’s Day, so I will celebrate with a pint o’ the black stuff in my custom etched Guinness glass that I’ve been saving for today.

Now nobody can steal my Guinness!

Another thing to love about this holiday – it doubles as my birthday eve.   Yay me!

How bout you?  How was your weekend?  Do anything special for St. Pats?  Ever been to Ireland?  Did I take too many selfies this weekend?

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.