Running with Armadillos, Skunks, Kanyes & Humans!

I’m tired, kids. Gone over 500 miles the past 2-3 months getting ready for the Chicago Marathon. That’s a lot of 3:45-4:00 am wake-up alarms. The good news is that I still haven’t missed a single day of training. That, and I’m relatively healthy – no major injuries to report – just the odd aches and pains and colds and coughs. It’s going relatively well, all things considered, if you must know, I do declare, but I digress.

The past weekend saw our 2nd 20 miler of the training plan.

If we make funny faces, it’ll mask our pain.

Oh, that reminds me, in August we ran 198 miles. And yeah, I thought about running an extra two, but then I unthought about it.

So close to the double century mark. Oh well, there’s always next month.

Back to last week – One nice surprise was the rare “short” weekday run – Only a 5k! That’s a far cry from the 12 miles scheduled we ran just 7 days richard prior. Decided to do it on the track – just a few pre-sun 800’s amongst friends.

It was dark. Used a flash. My shoes glowed.

And is it just me, or are there a lot more varmints out and about lately? On the track there was a skunk…a SKUNK…On.The.Track!!!!

There’s also been some coyotes, frogs, bobcats, bunnies, more skunks, and some giant roly poly bugs…

Happy to report we outran the armadillo. And we were sure to cautiously approach the dangerous HS XC team behind us – oh how I hate them with their short shorts, long hair & zero body fat.

Not sure what’s going on…are they all foraging for winter sustenance? Do I need to do the same? Should I start hoarding choco-sprinkle donuts like these smelly critters…?

Strange beasts indeed.

Oh, and did I mention the snakes? Indiana Jones would hate it up in hurrah..

It’s totes real.

That pic above is courtesy of Thursday Night Social Run – as always, things got crazy with TNSR. There is so much going on below, that I don’t even…

Da Fu?

There’s been some more runs and funs, but I’ll get to that, like later, or whatever, no big whoop. For now, I gotta go lay down, put my feet up and watch the new episode of Drunk History. Hasta luego, playas!

How bout you? Been seeing any critters on your runs? Armadillos – cute or dangerous? If you were an animal, what would you be?

-Scott

The Mankini Run, Greek Tacos & Dinorappers!

Quick update on the Chicago Marathon training. The beats by dre goes on. And things may be getting weird…

Ladies love the mankini.

What had happened was we got a Christmas in in July miracle! A “cool front” came through Texas over the weekend. So instead of being triple digits, we were just in the upper 90’s!!! It made the 16 mile group run somewhat pleasant!

Thankfully no mankinis were worn on the run.

It started at 5:30 am at a WRRC member’s house (thanks John!) for the final Run My Hood run. I had never run in this area before and the route took us on a long hike and bike trail that I really enjoyed. But 16 miles later it was over, and the non-running fun began. Pool Party, hey hey!

Party like it’s 8:30 am (cause it is)!

Funny how your brain works after waking up at 4 am to run for over two hours. You sometimes do silly things. Meh, oh well. Good times.

And if you know me, you know my love of tacos post-run. Well this week was no different. But this time it was Greek tacos!

Gyro, taco, same difference.

As for the rest of the week, the runs have been going very well. I’m very pleased. And this weeks TNSR didn’t even have any dinosaur attacks! But one did join us for the run. We were all very pleased.

Rapasoraus. Photo cred @sojomy

And so it goes. And there you go. A quick update for your face’s eyes to look at.

How bout you? Get a break in the weather at all? Do you like Greek tacos? Be honest, is that mankini a good cut/color for me?

More updates to come in a day or so!!!

-Scott

Running Santa, Hipster Tacos & Purple Time!

Chicago Marathon training is in full swingers beasty mode. Been a good week of running. Let’s go backwards, shall we?

Sunday – I had a race, but I’ll save that recap for the next post. So let’s go to Saturday. This was the long run of the week.12 sweaty sweaty miles.

Texas roads don’t look normally like that – It’s a weird route because it was around a lake.

The plan for this run was to do a 9 mile loop of the lake, followed by a 5k race to make an evenish 12. Well part I of the plan went ok, part II did not. I had failed to pre-register for the race, and by the time I got there they had run out of bibs. So no dice, Detroit!

So mad that I had to partially strangle my running booze.

No worries – Went ahead and ran the final 3 miles along the race course so I could cheer for friends. And yay! Some of them won age group awards!

Tory y Juash. A tale of two pairs of shorts.

Serene got her medal, but her real reward is that I let her run with me sometimes.

Afterwards we met up with a bunch of other runner friends to get wasted on tacos! Woot woooot!

It’s ok to wear blue shades there, it’s a hipster taco joint. Fo realz – everyone in there is either in short running shorts or purple skinny jeans.

Moving on…or uh, further backwards….The weekday runs were also on point. The highlight being the Thursday Night Social Run.

Click image to enlarge and see all the totally not photoshopped action going on here. Really – Some of my friends just have weird proportions and don’t cast shadows.

This run took us past yet another group of longhorn statues. Not sure why we need so many of them here, but whatevs.

We were looking at something udderly amazing. Honest, I wouldn’t steer you wrong! Thank you, I’ll be here all week!

It was also like runner Christmas in July at my house cause a gift magically appeared this week…My ALZ Stars tech tank!

Thanks, Running Santa!

As you may know, I’m running Chi-town this fall on behalf of an Alzheimer’s charity. I’m so proud to represent the purple! If you would like to donate to the cause, you can find info HERE. And to those who have already donated, I know it’s slow going, but I promise to get your thank you prizes soon!!! #BoomShakaLaka!

On to more run-fun!

How bout yous guys? Do you believe in Running Santa? Ever have a hipster taco? Isn’t it unbullieveable how many longhorn statues are ’round here?

PS. Come back in a day or so for rest of the weekend’s recap!!!

Running with Taylor Swift, A Real Life Monster, & Don’t Ask About My Job!!!

Chicago Marathon training is in full swing! It’s early still, but so far so good. It’s nice to finally have a plan instead of just running random daily miles. I’ve been running a lot with friends and I think I have a pretty solid base heading into the real dillyo.

A highlight of the week was our TNSR celebrity social run…

Josh didn’t photoshop anything here. It’s all legit. Kanye and Taylor set the pace.

It’s always good to have other folks around to help push you on the run…and to mess with your otherwise perfect running photo…

Guess they thought I needed two sets of bunny ears.

Another fun group run this past week was with the WRRC and their “Run My Hood” series. This time it was a run around some East Dallas neighborhoods, followed by another fun pool party!

I actually ran 10 miles – the gps was acting up.

There’s something about jumping in a pool after a sweaty humid Texas summer run. I need to get a pool, or more friends with pools, or figure out a way to sneak into my neighbor’s yard.

And I don’t know if you can tell this or not, but whenever a camera makes an appearance, I am instantly drawn to it…even if the subjects didn’t necessarily want me to be in it. Cause in my head, if you want to improve your pics, just add Scott! 😉

Photobombsaway! #notcreepy

So the training is going well so far. And other than that, this little monster had a birthday…

Don’t let the cute smile fool ya, she can single-handedly destroy an entire house.

And at her school, they gave her a father’s day questionnaire. After reading her answers, I feel like she doesn’t know me at all!

If any narks are reading this, please ignore her answer to what my job is. (click the photo to enlarge)

So things are good, things are good. Oh yeah, and so are TACOS!!!!

I like to eat in front of a mirror to make it look like there’s more tacos.

So there ya have it. BOOM! On to more!

How bout you? You’re not a nark, are ya? Who likes mirror eating? Will you invite me to your pool?

-Scott

Race Discount for YOU, Check My Flow, & It’s (hopefully) Race Day!

It’s been a good week of runs for me, I think even Kanye would agree…

Josh is excellent at photoshop.

A TNSR run is always fun.

Trying a new running form.

Tho the day before’s run on the track was whack.

The clouds and the noises they made were scary, but I got the run dun before they cried on me.

But the day before that was pretty phat.

A baby run and a papa run.

OK, that’s enough freestylin. I gotta focus on this weekend – RACE TIME! Well, I hope. My last two races have been cancelled due to massive Texas storms. And as I write this it is storming again. Hopefully it will clear up before the race.

I was lucky enough to get a free entry to this race – Rock the Block 10k. That said, I’m dreading it a little. I ran this race last year and wasn’t a fan of the course.

Last year’s poster. The route hasn’t changed. Who likes an out and back – I mean, honestly?

But at least I know what to expect since I’m familiar with the route.

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

And hopefully the rain clouds will help keep it kewl this year – last year it was friggin hawt!!!! But I still ran a PR (with a horrible positive split) of 46:00.

Just a bit sweaty at the end.

I’m going for a negative split and another PR, so come back in a couple days for the recap!!!

Other than that, the fine folks at Spartan Race have sent me a discount code to share with you:

They do these obstacle races all over the USA (and I think internationally too), and they have different distances you can choose from…

But hurry up and use the code MEMORIAL because I believe it expires pretty soon!

So there ya go, kiddo. A week that was pretty on fleek. And now I best be goin cause my rhyme is done flowin.

How bout you? Running this holiday (US) weekend? Ever run a Spartan Race…or going to? Do you have any race predictions?

-Scott

Beer Mile Race Recap – Someone Puked

The latest TNSR Beer Mile came and went. And I’m happy to report it went much better than my previous attempt.

Everyone is all smiles before the race…that would change.

I wouldn’t set a PR this day, but I still had a decent time, and I didn’t blow chunks – that’s always a win in the Beer Mile. Not everyone there could say the same thing. A few people in the pictures in this blog vomited. I won’t say who, but maybe you can take guesses.

At least one smiley clean shaven person in this pic puked.

If you’ve never done the Beer Mile, what happens is you pound a beer, sprint a quarter mile – then repeat until you drink 4 beers and run one mile total.

We were so official this year – bibs, timers, and we were provided with Mich Ultra beers.

What makes it tough is all the carbonation bubbling up in your belly. Well, that and 48 ounces of liquid sloshing around as you try to sprint 400’s. If you can’t get some burps out, then you’re in trouble. I’m happy to report that I burped each lap!!!

Someone in this pic may or may not have puked.

And even though I didn’t PR, I did come in 4th place overall – just missing out on the podium.

The official results.

Looking back, I think a couple things helped me out this year – Like I said, I worked really hard to make sure I burped. But also, I chose to drink warm beers instead of cold – tasted nasty, but had less carbonation. <taps head> “Not just a hat rack.”

Thanks for another great event, TNSR!

And after the race they had food grillin, music blastin & fun havin. I even made a 6 second video about it…

All in all a good time was had by all – even the folks who hurled.

Kanye was upset at his race results…or maybe because he puked.

Luckily these Beer Mile races don’t happen too often – they really do hurt. But I did have a great time and look forward to the next one!

How bout you? Would you ever want to do a Beer Mile? Have you ever? Any guesses as to the pukers?

-Scott