Katy Trail 5k Recap – Hawt Run, Dope Party & Epic Photos!

The other day was the Katy Trail 5k. This is a hugely popular race in Dallas. I hadn’t registered for this race before it sold out, but I got hooked up with a bib at the last minute from my man K-Rob. Thanks dude, it was a blast!!!

Pre-race group below, double photobombs up top.

The Katy Trail is a highly popular running spot around here. It’s 3.5 miles long and it really is pretty nice. In fact, last week after the Bloomin 4 Mile Race, some of us went to KT to get in some extra miles.

Runnin free down the trail…or was it up the trail?

This race takes place on a school night at 7pm. I had planned to take it easy, after all it was in the 90’s – also I had already run 5 miles this day and done a track workout the day before.

My heart shaped butt sweat from the track workout.

But of course, when the horn sounded I was off like a prom dress! Unfortunately, the heat and previous miles took their toll…legs felt heavy…There would be no PR this day – not even close! But I’ll take the results, considering it all.

Official Results: 22:17, 7:10 per mile, 14th in Age Group, 132/3622 Overall.

If you want to see a 5 second video of me crossing the finish line, do so HERE!

Post Race – I’m glad Josh fixed my sun-washed-out head in photoshop. Looks totally natural.

But the reason this race is so popular is the after-party. Local restaurants bring out a ton of good food and drink – and it’s all free!!!! Besides the grub, there’s also live music and tons of give-aways. And there may have even been a human centipede pyramid or two.

I had hoped to be a top.

My buddy Logan won the race in around 15:30. Not too shabby, I guess. 😉 But I bet he’s more proud that he made it into one of my famous leg-pop photos…

Logan and his short-time fiance, Amanda & me and my long-time friend, Tahressa.

Since it was an evening race, pretty soon the sun was down. Luckily we had time for a couple more photo ops before heading home to slizzeeep!

Good times with these fools.

Smart move on the free photo-booth with your logo…Well played, Nike.

I had only run this race once before a few years, and to be honest, I thought it was a bit unorganized then. However, this time ’round I had a blasty blast!!! I get now why it’s so popular ’round here. I’ll be back!

How bout you? Ever run an evening race? Why do runners lurve a good post race party so much? What is the shape of your butt’s sweat stain?

-Scott

I Got a Fever & New Key West Half Marathon Pics/Video!

Sup mutha truckers? Hope everyone is staying warm wherever you be. I myself, have been quite out of it recently. 102 fever, yo. And let me say that a Thursday Night Fever isn’t as much fun as a Saturday Night one.

While I’ve been trying to recover, I got some good news – More Race Photos/Videos!

Last month I ran the Key West Half Marathon. It was Epic. You can read the recap HERE.

Anyway, they’ve been trickling out race photos to us as time goes by. Earlier they sent me this one…

Boom Shaka-laka!

The other day they posted a few more…

Runin Down Duval St.

The after party. Can you spot me?

The fams celebrating after the race.

And then…….The other day they posted a “drone” video they shot at the event. Now I am a TV producer, and I use one of these quadcopter cameras from time to time. They really do give a cool perspective on things.

They only posted it on Facebook, which was giving me issues about trying to post the video here. But I think I got it figured out. Please to enjoy the Key West Half Marathon from above…(see if you can spot my cameo)

That just reminds me how much fun that event was. And hopefully it will remind you that there’s warm days out there to be had!

How bout you? What should the prescription be for my fever? Do you ever find yourself in random race videos/photos? Who’s ready for spring?

-Scott

Free Race Photos! Woo to the Hoo!

I like the recent trend I’ve been seeing here and there of races giving you the photos for free! I’m sure it’s included somehow in the registration fee, but it’s much better than them asking for $30 a photo.

If you read my Hot Chocolate 15k Recap, then you know I ran the race, duh. But after I wrote it, they sent me the race photos they said they took of me. Here they are:

Before the race with run buds Julie and Mike!

During the race. Looks like I was feelin it.

Apparently I had time for a wardrobe change and facelift during the race.

And also gender reassignment surgery.

Oh look, there I am next to my yellow shirted clone.

Finally, at the finish line!

When you think about it, it’s just smart to give out the photos. Then the race photogs know that they’re getting paid instead of hoping to sell a few prints. And since they put a bug on the pics, it’s free advertising every time someone posts them to social media, or ahem, blogs using them.

Speaking of which, a photog associated with the Key West Half Marathon later saw my BLOG RACE RECAP and was kind enough to send me a photo he took of me! So cool!

Boom Shaka-laka!

This is like the 4th time in the past few months that the races have been sending out free photos. Gotta love it! The others that come to mind are the Dallas 13.1 I PR’d also sent Free Photos, as well as the Abby’s Run 5k where I won my age group! who posted All The Pics! Glad to be able to memorialize those races!

I hope this trend continues!

How bout you? Any free race photos lately? Do you even want your race pics? Ever had gender reassignment surgery?

-Scott

Free Race Photos, The Emmy’s, & Destination Run

So some more good news to go with the nearly 5 minute PR in a Half Marathon that I ran over the weekend…today they gave us our race photos…FOR FREE! That is rare and most welcome!

Look, a decent race photo! Feet in the air and all. Shirt looks like it needs ironing.

Not as good, but hey, it’s free. At least my shirt is less wrinkly.

OK, this one is awkward. I think I tried to smile, but only half my mouth agreed to do so – either that or I had a mild stroke.

And get this, they also had a short video of me finishing. You can watch it HERE.

Anyway, after the race, I didn’t have much time to celebrate because I had to get to the airport for a flight to Houston. Took a quick video flying over Dallas…

I was off to H-Town for the Emmy Awards Gala. This year we were nominated for two.

Here’s looking at you, kid. Hey wait, how did a baby goat get in here?

Anyway, we didn’t win any this year. But that’s more motivation to step up our game! We’ll be back next year!

The next morning I was tired and sore from the previous day. But I looked out the hotel window and saw the Houston Half Marathon going on. Despite the 93% humidity, I decided to lace up my runnin’ shoes and go run along the course for a bit to shake out my legs and to support the racers. I always love running in new places.

I actually went 4 miles, but my GPS had issues amongst the skyscrapers.

What a crazy few days. Such a whrilwind. But would we want it any other way?

How bout you? How would you describe your race photos? Run an any new cities recently? Tell me something!

-Scott

Proof That I Ran the Oktoberfest 5k

If you missed my post about my 5k PR last week well don’t fret. You can either click that link in the previous sentence or you can skip it and just look at some of the official race photos that were just released.

Why is that kid in the yellow shirt falling over?

I usually take bad race photos, but there’s actually a few decent ones here.

So long lobster-backs!

Yes, these are previews, and I do buy race photos when it’s a special occasion. But this was one of a million 5k’s I’ve run. And I wouldn’t mind getting a few of the non watermaked ones, but at $20, no thanks.

My secret to running fast is to keep your mouth open so you catch bugs – instant protein!

I read about a race in Cali that all the photos were either included in the registration, or were like $5 bucks a piece. Much more reasonable. I wish more races offered that.

Deuces.

Anyway, I thought I’d end this post with my favorite photo of me from the race. This was one of several they tagged under my bib number…

I look like I finished strong!!!

There you go. A few of the pics they tagged me in. Ha, hope you enjoyed them.

How bout you? Ever take a decent race pic? How great do I look in that last pic? Any other questions or captions to the pics?

-Scott

The 9 Mile Lake Loop Run & Taco Reward

I’ve written about it before, but White Rock Lake in Dallas is an extremely popular spot for area runners – as well as bikers, walkers, fishers, kayakers, unicyclers, etc.

The main trail around the lake is pretty much exactly 9 miles. There are also connecting trails and secret little side trails if you want to add more mileage. When in marathon training, this is where I usually go for my really long runs – especially if I need to run 20+ miles.

Running Shoes, meet Lake. Lake, meet Running Shoes.

Since I finished the Dopey Challenge in Janurary, I hadn’t been down to WRL to run. But as our week of record low temps for North Texas in July kept on keepin on, I decided I better take advantage, and so I went to loop the lake.  The temps were awesome, but it was still 95% humidity – It never quite rained, but it did mist at times.  But the cloud cover was very welcome indeed.

Panorama mode

One always see a lot of weird interesting things around the lake – elites training, an episode of Cheaters being shot, coyotes, Dallas Cowboys taking photos of a horse, a dead body, a marriage proposal – seriously, you knever know.

This time around, I ran into crossed paths with a couple runner friends who were doing their own loops…Like my buddy Lindsay over at Marathonstateofmind .  It’s funny though how none of us ever seem to stop and say our hellos – nobody wants to interfere with the others’ workout – we just wave and shout a passing, “Heeyyyyyy!”  Haha – though immediately afterwards we all contacted each other to make plans to catch up.

You might want to avert your eyes at the Pump House ~ brown chicken brown cow!!

Anyways, for my run I decided to keep my pace comfortable and not look at my watch the whole way. Just wanted to enjoy it. I don’t know if it was the weather, but I think this may be the first time I’ve looped the lake without taking any quick breaks (to refill my water bottle or use the loo). I just kept going – one foot after another until I made it all the way around.

When I finished, I looked at my watch and was pleasantly surprised. I had ran the whole way with an average pace of 8:10 per mile! Not bad (for me) for a ‘long’ ‘comfortable’ solo run. I’ve run one 10 mile race as well as a few half marathons at an 8:13-15 pace which felt like tuff exertion.  So I’m anxious to see how my next race at those distances goes! Looks like my speed work is working.

And so ends the tale of one brave man and his trek around a city lake.

Another bonus to running there is the proximity to some good taco joints. Of course that is exactly where I went after I was done to get some breakfast tacos…

Boom. Tacos. Boom.

All in all, a purdy good lil Saturday morning there.  It made me really look forward to the fall (not a literal fall, like falling down, but like the Autumn kind ~ ya dig).

How bout you?  Any special go to run spots?  Seen any odd interesting things on a run recently?  Who wants tacos?

-Scott

3 Day Weekend of Runs, Monogramed Flip Flops, & Bringin Aloha Back!

I have been all out of sorts this week.  Having a three day weekend for Memorial Day kind of messed with my schedule.  I’m not complaining tho, the weekend was great!  Here’s what had happened.

I’ll say last weekend started on Thursday with a social run.

In my run fighting stance.

Following the run, my blog run buddies at hellyontherun and runsaltrun started a fun little game with on our Instagram accounts.  We were supposed to take a photo of what we were doing exactly at the moment and share.  What I was doing was enjoying the ‘social’ part of our social run…

Cheers to you from pouty faced dude.

Saturday morning I went and totally bro-style crushed a PR (PB) in a 10k race.

I know it looks like an industrial park, but it was actually a nature park.

I can’t believe I actually got photos with my feet in the air!  Later I got free candy from a guy in that van.

The next morning I got up and ran a trail run with a big group.  I was going to keep it at 5 miles, but I ended up running with a person new to the trail and she decided to go the full 7 mile loop.  I went with her so she wouldn’t get lost.  Afterwards I changed into my custom flippy floppys so my dogs could breathe.

Yes, I have my name on my sandals.

Then came the holiday day.  We actually got a little rain, and I mowed the yard in it…That’s safe, right?

After the mow, I figured I was already sweaty, so I went for another run.  It felt good to run in the rain.  I can’t remember the last time I did that!  Cool thing was that I ran to my normal park and it was all dressed up for a military presentation.  Being Memorial Day (where we remember our troops who died in service), that was really cool to see!  I’m glad I went on that run!

Following that, we went to a big BBQ, and so I decided to bust out a Hawaiian shirt.  I used to wear them ALL the time, but it’s been several years.  Maybe I need to bring aloha back…

The colors on the shirt were so bright, I needed shades.

The BBQ turned out great!  Backyard fun was had by all!  Even our normally not impressed daughter actually smiled for a photo…

She looks so hoppy. (Get it?) PS, all that stuff that looks like dirt all over her is actually chocolate. Must be nice to have the metabolism of a 2 year old.

After that, the weekend of getting up early, running and merriment caught up with me.  Sleepy time, here I come.  Still not complaining!

How bout you?  Did you have a good week/end?  Do you also run on your days off?  Jealous much of my sandals?  Aloha shirts – yes or no?

-Scott