So if you read my post this week about my PR at the Rock n Roll Dallas Half Marathon, you saw a few of my pirated race photos. Well, I have some bonus ones. Let’s take a look, shall we?
I took time during the race to kiss an angel.
I thought making a double chin would help with wind resistance.
Making sure to give the finish line an angry glare to remind it who’s boss.
After glaring at, be sure to stomp on it’s face.
Then remind the race that you’re stronger than it.
Well, that was fun! You know what else was fun? Hanging out with my puffy cheeked boy and our puffy cheeked friend.
We were watching something very important, I’m sure.
And as I got back into the swing of things this week, I made sure to help my body recover by eating lots of tacos (broken record, I know).
They don’t look it, but they’re vegetarian…Honest! ~Avocados, portabellos, jalapenos, and other veggies that end in “os”.
I also got in a bunch of runs this week. Felt good to work out the soreness. Now it’s on to the weekend and I have to decide if I should race a 5k, or do a long run with friends. Hmmmmmmm. Either way, there will be taco recovery! Believe that, son!
How bout you? Ever kiss an angel? Should I race short or go run long? Who’s meeting me for tacos later?
We finally got a few days of somewhat fall-like weather. Yippee! It made for some good runs. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes when it’s not a billion degrees.
For Saturday’s long run, it was in the upper 40’s when I meet WRRC at 6am at a strip mall with an interesting store…
Nothing butt good deals here.
A lot of the folks I ran with are gearing up for the Dallas Marathon. I am not. They were going 20 miles. I did not. I ended up with a group that went 15. Why? Just for fun.
It was an out and back because one of the runners wanted to end with hills. And this route started with hills. So that’s a nice hilly bookend. Lucky us. Amazingly though, some of these runners pushed me to negative split. At the half we were an 8:25 pace, but by the finish our total average mile was 8:15! Feels good to be a gansta.
Afterwards some of us mowed down some totally epic tacos. Sadly, I didn’t take a pic, but I did when I previously visited this taco joint.
This place is cleverly called “Taco Joint”
For Sunday Runday, I met my run-bud Serene for some trail running and I added another 6 miles.
I photo bombed her selfie. I’m such a rascal.
She had done a 30k trail race the day before. And.Was.Hurting. But she toughed it out. I’m glad she did, because in the middle of the park we spotted a photo op!
This will be the cover photo when my next album drops.
Lots of people have photo shoots in this park, and I assume that’s what this chair was there for. But nobody was with it. It was just randomly in the middle of a field. Later on it was gone. So either someone took it, or it was a ghost chair. Probably the latter.
Afterwards I went to yoga. The instructor decided it was going to be a power leg day. Lucky us. I legs were shaking so bad, and now I am berry sore. I didn’t take a pic in class…but also this weekend, our friend at Candies and Crunches challenged me on Instagram with a yoga pic. I sent one back.
Leaning tower of paradise. Yes, I’m a mouth breather.
Also this weekend, our friend at My Walk to Rio 2016 challenged me on Instagram with a taco pic. So after yoga I went to yet another taco joint. Again, I forgot to take a pic, but here’s an earlier pic from the same joint.
It’s a BBQ joint in a gas station, and it’s good. They serve breakfast tacos too!
So not a bad weekend of running, yogaing and tacoing!!!
How bout you? Do your run friends push you? Any Instagram friends challenge you? Do you believe in ghost chairs?
***Sorry I don’t have any photos to go along with my post today…but then again, maybe you’ll be grateful.***So something interesting happened on my morning run. But first, you should know a few things about the situation:
Part of this run took me along a paved hike and bike trail.
This trail is NOT in an isolated area. It connects two neighborhoods and passes a large apartment complex.
The trail is one mile long, but ¾ of the trail goes through one of the neighborhoods. However, the other ¼ there are no houses adjacent.
We had a really massive storm overnight. So the ground this morning was wet. That made it possible for me to see the footprints of those who ran before me on the trail.
Also, it was morning, that meant there was daylight.
Despite all that, one person decided it was the perfect setting for a nude photo shoot.
I had just turned a corner on the section that is not adjacent to any houses. There I saw a tripod with an iPhone attached to the top. There was a large professional lens attached to the iPhone. Someone was planning to take some artsy photos.
The subject was in front of the camera. He was disrobing. A pile of clothes lay on the ground. He didn’t see me at first because he was taking off his shirt. All he had left to remove was the white g-string he was down to (thank goodness I didn’t arrive 15 seconds later).
Then he saw me. He had the most embarrassed expression I have ever seen on a human face. He hurried to put his jeans back on, but it was too late. I was running after all and was about to pass him. He surrendered to the situation with slumped shoulders.
I gave him a wave, he dropped his head.
Now that my back was to him, I had a sudden fear. My mind flashbacked to the ending of ‘American Beauty’ where then military man who tried to kiss Kevin Spacey was so embarrassed that he shoots him in the head. I don’t know where the budding model would’ve hidden a gun, but I picked up the pace in case.
I made it home safely, but with a head full of questions…
Who was the photo for? Where would he post his ‘art’? Why did he think he would be alone on a popular hike and bike trail? What is the title of his piece? And most importantly…Why oh why couldn’t he had been a nude woman???
How bout you? Can you answer any of the above questions?
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?
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the President Kennedy assassination right here in Dallas. I grew up in Ohio, and I wasn’t alive back then, but I know all about it…as most people do. Being the 50th, it was kind of a big day in Dallas today. They had a big ceremony at the site, and it’s all they’ve been talking about all week on the radio and local TV.
If you’ve ever been to Dallas, you probably did the tourist thing and visited the Texas School Book Depository and the museum on the assassination that it now hosts. You’ve probably strolled the grassy knoll. I’ve been down there countless times as visiting guests usually want to see it.
Now, what you may not know is that many of the road races downtown run right down that same street. Right along the same path as the President’s motorcade. Every time I run one of those courses, I always feel a little weird. Especially since there is an X painted on the spot where he was shot.
Yes, we run over this in some races.
I don’t know if these race directors do this on purpose, or if it is out of convenience. But I’m guessing it’s intentional. Do races in DC go past Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was shot? I have no idea, but I think it’d be weird there too.
I think I’m wearing the same sweet cargo shorts.
Anyway, I love love love history. My dad does too. And so pretty soon after we moved to Dallas, we decided to go see the sites dealing with the assassination. We saw Lee Harvey Oswald’s residences, the Texas Theater where he was arrested, where Officer Tippet was shot, etc.
During that sightseeing trip, we had a really bizarre encounter. We were trying to find one of LHO’s houses. We were driving slowly down the street checking the addresses, when a woman came running out and asked us if we were “Looking for Lee Harvey?” We said yes, and she invited us into his old house. Then she took us into the backyard where the famous photo of him holding the gun and paper were supposedly taken. She went back into the house and came back with a rifle and newspaper, and instructed me to pose in the exact same spot as LHO had. It was weird.
I’m just a patsy!
All she asked in exchange for the photo op was our address so she could send a Christmas card. Like I said, bizarre.
I’ve been to the JFK eternal flame in DC. And I’ve seen a statue of him in Ireland. As for LHO, I also saw where he was arrested once in New Orleans. And on a tour there, the guide pointed out a hotel that he said Kennedy had once stayed while at the same time around the corner was a school that he said LHO was attending. I’ve run two half marathons in New Orleans, and I always think about those to spots when we run past them.
I’m a sucker for the fleur de lis.
What about y’all. Ever been to Dallas and visited Dealey Plaza? Ever run by anything historical? Do you want my address so you can send me a Christmas card?
Piratebobcat 