Run – Keepin it 200, Dogz Treatz & Super Moon Powers! #OwnChicago

Guys, you guys! Hey guys! I’m back. In so many ways, I’m back! Back to the poor lonely blog. Back to my ole runnin self. Back to life. Back to reality. Wait…I think I devolved into a Soul II Soul song there for a second…but I digest.

September is over and it saw my legs carry me 200 miles!!!

192 + 8 = 200 according to math and Nike+

Chicago Marathon training is winding down and I’m feeling grrrrrreat! Oh wait, I just got why Tony the Tiger says that – so he can grrrrrrrrowl when he does. Huh, learn something new every day…but I divest.

Run. Sun. Shoes. Tacos. Life.

The Texas weather is still hawt as all get out during the sun times, but during the before sun times it is actually kewl out! The humidity/dew point finally broke. It’s no longer oppressively oppressing. I can actually sweat and have it evaporate and cool my bod. Ya know, like it’s sposed to.

It’s made a world of difference in my runs. I have pep in my step. I’ve missed pep this summer.

Mess with the bull statue, get the statue horns.

I had zero confidence two weeks ago. Now I have all the confidence. So many hot sweaty muggy slow long runs finally replaced with cooler damp fun faster jaunts. I didn’t even mind the final track workout.

The numbers and letters say it all..or write it all, as it were.

I’m feelin fine. My month long cough seems to be gone. My aches don’t ache so much. And I’m really enjoying the sunrise runs.

Which way do you want to go?

Keep it coming, Skyler.

You don’t see many people out and about as early as I’m running, but you occasionally see some regulars in the parks. I’ve gotten to know a few folks, and a few dog folks too.

We’ve been good. We can haz treatz?

And this has to be a good sign – I even got to run under the #SuperBloodMoon too!

#nofilter #ILoveMyMoon

Anywhoodle guys, I got some more blog catching up to do. But I’ll save it for next time, which should be maybe…tomorrow? Yay, I’m back!

How bout you? Feelin any Fall? Who’s ready to #OwnChicago??? Does the blood moon give any special powers?

-Scott

PS – To all my blogger friends – I’m sorry I’m so behind. I’m reading your comments and I’m going to reply to all of them! I can’t wait to catch up with your happenings too!!! Working on it, kids!

Plano Balloon 5k Recap – Trophies, Balloonies & Selfies!!!

So here’s da ting – I got to race this weekend!!!! It was the Plano Balloon Festival 5k. It went pretty well ~ I think I sent a PR on the way to a 3rd place division finish!

Balloon race, balloon medal, balloon trophy!

I signed up for this race a long time ago, and I’m glad I did – had tons of friends out there this day!

We run. We fun.

I was also glad to run into some of my super speedy friends who I haven’t been able to run with in a while. These two have been inspiring me for a while now – starting a few years ago when we’d regularly meet at the track to try and kill each other with 400’s…

Me and a couple BQ’ers. Maybe I could join them if I got shorter shorts.

It was a VERY humid day. So humid, in fact, that it started raining shortly after the race. Because of the weather they weren’t able to launch the hot air balloons as planned. Bummer, yo! It’s ok doe, I was there to race…and race I did!

And big ups shout out to my boy Tory for taking the following video of some of us during the race. T-dawg is always so supportive of his fellow runners…

I was purdy pleased with my race. I had a great time for me despite the humidity, hills and already running 40+ miles that week.

Official Results: 5k- 21:11 – 3rd in Age Group – 31st Overall (Out of 1945)

Don’t steal my soul, race photographer guy…or my award!!!

I LURVE the awards they gave us – individualized hot air balloon metal wall art hanging thingies…

Division placers…I have fast friends.

After the race, we explored the balloonless festival a bit. And of course, made a spectacle of ourselves…

Not sure what’s happening here.

Oh yeah, I remember ~ someone brought a selfie stick.

I enjoyed the race. I’ve been doing so many hundreds of miles getting ready for the Chicago Marathon that I couldn’t remember what it felt like to go short and fast! I was so glad to see I had gotten faster than when I started marathon training. Funny how that works ~ to get better at running, practice running.

I don’t think our group got enough pictures.

In the end, it was a good time with good peeps. And it was just the little confidence boost I needed after such a miserably hot Texas summer of long slow sweaty miles. Yay, my legs still work!

All smiles after the miles.

And guess what…..the festival also had a half marathon the day after the 5k. And yes, I ran that too. Stay tuned for that recap!!!!

How bout you? Any races recently? Ever go to a balloon festival with no balloons? Did our group take enough pictures (trust me, there’s more I didn’t post here)?

-Scott

Running Through Soupy-Swamp, Tower Water & Karen Needs to Chill!

Yo man, what it is blood? Things cray cray round here. Sorry I haven’t been on the blog world very often lately, but I’ve ben hella-busy. I’ve also been hella-focused on Chicago Marathon training…focused like my telescope on my neighbor Karen when she’s working in the yard a meditating monk.

That’ said, I’m trying to keep my Instagram game strong in case you really want to follow along with my journey to Chi Town…

I just ran 12 miles on a Tuesday, I’ll loiter if I want to.

Anyway guys, it’s been a rough summer. Rough like cat tongues. This is my first time training for a Fall (Autumn) marathon. Which means it’s my first time trying to run gahundreds of miles in Texas heat. It’s been hot and humid, y’all.

Runners are wilting, cacti are thriving.

4am alarm clocks phones only get you up early enough to shield you from your neighbor Karen seeing you in her bushes the sun. It don’t much shield you from oppressive heat and humidity. But we plug along…errrday.

I try to stay near water towers, ya know, in case I need more water…or towers.

6 days a week we’re at it. Leaving puddles of sweat behind us. I’m sure some coyote is out there tracking my salty trail as we speak.

Tower, give me your delicious water!

And boy howdy have we ever left some tracks all over Dallas. We’re running out of new places to run…literally.

Just another manic weekday.

But guess what kids????? We actually had a break in the hella-weather. First came rare rain…

What is that wet stuff falling from the sky?

Then came a cold cool front!!!!!!!!!!! Oh miraculous DAY!!!

I was stunned. Frozen in disbelief. I didn’t want to let it go.

It was so effing uhmazeing! The humidity was non-existent. I felt like I had been let out of a swampy cage and released into a land of easy breathing and evaporating sweat!

Felt like I was flying!!!!

But alas, it only alasted 4 days. 4 incredible, beautiful, wondrous days. But now the heat and humidity are back with an effing vengeance…like Karen when she found my binoculars Rambo.

Please tree, hide me from the mean boogie weather man.

But we got no choice, Cap. Gotta keep truckin. Less than a month until the marathon. We can tough it out.

What’s that? The cardinal rule is “just keep running”? Okie Dokie!

The heat couldn’t have come back at a worse time. In the middle of a 57 mile week. 22 big miles on Sunday alone. But we will tough it out, we will get stronger, and we will fly in Chicago.

How bout you? Ready for Fall much? Are you keeping at it? Why is Karen so up tight?

-Scott

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

Marathon “Train”ing, Chasing Waterfalls & Helping Chicks

Playa playa, what it is? Been another crazy week! So busy! I still have…not one…not five…but TWO race recaps I need to blog. Hopefully next week!

For now, let’s just look at some pictures of some of my Chicago Marathon training from some of this week, shan’t we?

Doggone it’s hawt in hurrah!

That’s not a real waterfall, that’s just my actual sweat dripping down the stairs.

I choo-choo-choose to have some fun in my marathon “train”ing.

To my chagrin, she wasn’t pumping water, she was churning butter.

Oh hey, look, I even have some moving pictures from the morning of those last two pics…

Here we are just over halfway through the month and I’ve already run almost 90 miles! Woot woot! So the training is so good so far.

***Bonus Alert***I have one extra pic.***End Alert***

It comes to us from the FIRST RACE I attended last weekend. I love this pic…

So much going on here.

Here’s what had happened: You see us all laughing in the background? Well that’s cuz that gal had just passed chicked that guy and we yelled at her to keep it up all the way to the finish line (about 50 yards away). Then our buddy Josh (in orange) yelled at the guy to not let her beat him. The guy paused for a second, weighed his options, then started yelling out profanities before taking off on a dead sprint! It cracked us up.

***Spoiler Alert*** He didn’t catch her.***End Alert***

More miles and hopefully more dope pictures this weekend! I’ll share on Monday (& hopefully have those other two race recaps too!).

How bout you? Climb any statues lately? Ever curse during a race? Did I miss any other caption puns?

Play on playas!

Sun Runs, I’m Sir Mix-A-Lot & A Whole Lotta Bull!

Things around here have been crazy whack funky! So bizzy I’m dizzy! But I’ve managed to keep my Chicago Marathon training on point. All it takes is a 4 am alarm…oy!

The sunrise and I like to cuddle. I’ll be honest, it burns a little.

I’ve been trying to mix up my runs by changing locations frequently. It helps to have the new scenery, of that there is no diggity, no doubt!

Sunrise, I eat you! Unless of course you can melt all those gnats off my neck…Then I only nibble you.

And when you change locales, you also change the cool things you get to see.

Did you hear about the cow that was artificially inseminated? It’s true, no bull!

Besides mixing up the locales, I’ve also mixed things up by going to various group social runs. That does wonders!

Before the run, 96 degrees…Kanye and Taylor look thrilled.

Besides helping my runs go by fast (literally), the other runners also always like to replenish our carbs and swap run stories afterward.

After the run…Kanye and Taylor had to bail. Some of us wore shades to hide our glowing cat eyes…some didn’t.

This is true at the sunrise hour as well.

This morning run was in 98% humidity with a dew point at 74. The staff literally had to mop the floor under our table when we got up to leave!

I feel very lucky to have so many runner friends and so many run groups that I can join up with on any given day. It really does help the running!!

More morning social miles – all smiles!

So there’s a quick visual update. Sawwy I’ve been so bad about blogging recently, but like I said, it’s been crazy whack funky around here! Hopefully it will get a bit more chill soon! That would be on fleek! (I hope I’m using all the slang correctly)

How bout you? Mixing up your runs at all? Got any other bovine jokes? Been on fleek lately?

-Scott

Death Defying Run & Easter Fun!

The Easter weekend was a good one, but not without some danger! It kicked off with a long run. I met up with my run bud for a 13 miler that nearly took my life!

I know it says 12, but my gps shorted me a freakin whole mile! I swear, I mapped it out.

Ha, we had come to the end of a trail, and saw there as another trail on the other side of a pond. All we had to do to get there was scale a waterfall. It wasn’t my most graceful moment, but eventually got across.

Whew! That was close!

Of course, when you run a lot, you need to reward yourself a lot. So a couple run buds and I met up for a quick nip.

Runners are normally happy people. Sometimes we need to mean mug tho to keep our competitors worried. And yes, I normally do keep a feather behind my ear. It’s a good look all around.

Easter day was rainy and gloomy. But I braved the wet stuff to get another 6+ miles in.

Bunny ears selfie! I actually ran closer to 7 – need to get that dang gps fixed!

The rest of the day was nicely spent doing Easter fun things with family people.

Just a couple of weirdos.

All the weekend activities left me pretty exhausted. But I gotta muster up because now we have to chase toddlers who are all hopped up on leftover chocolate bunnies and jelly beans!

How bout you? Get in a bunny run? Get any Easter candy? Did you nearly fall off a waterfall too?

-Scott