Chicago Marathon Recap – New PR Followed by Beers, Butts & Burgers!

The Chicago Marathon is doneski! Months and months of miles and miles to prepare, and it was over in just three hours and forty eight minutes. If you’re keeping track at home, that is a nearly 20 minute PR for the Ole Scott-O…I’ll take it!

Yay, we did it! Can I sleep now?

The morning started with a 3 a.m. alarm and breakfast. Then off to the ALZ Stars staging location (two of us were running for that charity, two others were running for different charities) where they were nice enough to let us stay warm and destroy the toilets use the facilities.

Well this is embarrassing…we all wore the same thing!

And YAY, my old college buddy was able to meet us too. Love me some Rexy!

She decided on the pink tutu. Dang, I shoulda wore one too-too!

From there it was a short walk to the start corrals at Grant Park.

A bundle of nervous energy.

And before we knew it, we were off! I felt great. The weather was a bit warmer than we’d like, but at the start it was pretty nice – mid 50’s.

WTFrick?!?! My feet are actually in the air?!?! Nice!

I’d heard the tales of the amazing crowd support, and they were all true. The cheering, the signs, the music, the costumes, the everything was awesome! Chicagoans really know how to support a race! Each neighborhood had their own flair and I loved each of them – drag queens in Boystown, mariachis in Pilsen, dragons in Chinatown, etc. etc. etcetera.

Keep rollin rollin rollin.

10k in and I was feelin runderful. I ran into a Dallas friend who said she felt the same. Just ahead of us was the 3:35 pace group. I went ahead and passed them. I didn’t feel like I was working hard at all.

13.1 miles in – halfway there and I was at 1:45:43 – that is my 4th fastest half marathon ever – within 3 minutes of a PR! I hoped I could keep it going.

Do I ever change my expression?

The second half of the marathon is where reality sets in. Miles 16-19 I started to feel it. I tried to push through, but I could feel I would need to start taking some walk breaks soon.

Still determined…or gassy, I’m really not sure what that expression is.

By mile 20, reality had really set in. The sun was up in full force. The temps were rising. Mid-Upper 60’s by now. I was still determined, but slowing. Luckily they had a hydration stops about every mile. I made it my goal to run to each one, then I would allow myself a walk break as I sipped Gatorade/water, before running to the next one.

The 3:35 pace group had passed me around mile 17…then the 3:40 pace group…finally the 3:45 pace group around mile 21-22. I didn’t want any other group to pass me. I picked up the pace best I could and luckily they weren’t able to catch me.

I really need to get a new expression.

Everyone says this race is “pancake flat”. That’s mostly true, but there is an incline at the start & each bridge we crossed was a little mini hill. That, and I had been warned by several people about a hill right at the finish. Half a mile to go and I saw it. My sister was right to describe it as “dumb & annoying”. It was so dumb and annoying. I was temporarily defeated and immediately started to walk up it. Then I said, “eff that noise.” I ran up that stupid hill and cruised into the finish line!

I guess I’ll smile when I finish.

At the finish line I was pumped when I saw my I had set a huge PR at 3:48! Then even more pumped when my training partner cross shortly behind me. She rocked a 3:45 (she was in a later corral) – a PR by like 30 minutes!!

Yay, smiles!

I’m happy to report that everyone I came to the race with set new PR’s!!!! My college buddy Rexy even crushed a 3:05!!! And she did it in style with the tutu and a finishing brewski!

She knows how to do it right.

After a long rest, we slowly started to make our way out. But not before a couple pictures and a few beers at the post race party!

We’re members of the sunglasses of the month club.

We found a shaded area to park our rears & drink the free 312 beers.

Snapchat had some fun marathon specific overlays.

There wasn’t much cell service due to the crowds, so we had trouble meeting up with other friends. That’s ok though, cause we couldn’t walk very fast by this point anyway.

Can I sit here forever?

To sum up the race, I felt great the first 30k, then it was more of a struggle. No negative split for me this day, but you race and learn. I hope to be stronger at the next 26.2.

Out of 37,000+ total finishers.

I had my A, B and C goals for this race. A – PR. B – Break 4 hours. C – Run in the 3:30’s. I hit 2/3. I’m pretty happy with that.  Especially considering that 3:48 shatters by nearly 20 minutes my previous PR of 4:07 (set at the Disney Dopey Challenge)!!!

Anyway, after a little while we became rungry and rangry. So a few of us ate greasy burgers at the famous Billy Goat Tavern.

It says “butt” Hahahahahaha! Yes, I am 12.

The best part about this was all the beer & fat & carbs marathoners trying to walk down the flight of stairs into the restaurant. Well, it wasn’t funny when we did it, but it was funny to watch the others try to negotiate it…4 minutes to walk down 7 total stairs, seems about right.

If it’s good enough for Bill Freakin Murray, it’s good enough for me.

I’m still trying to process all that happened, but I had a total blast! All the feels!!!!!!!

How bout you? Any Chicago Marathon memories? Any dumb and annoying hills lately? Go-to post marathon grub (cheezborger)?

-Scott

Chicago Marathon Pt. 1 – Lost Wallet & Expo, No Flat Runners & We Bean Runnin!

So the trip got off to a rocky road start. As in my ride to the airport arrived at 5 a.m. (thanks for the ride dad!) and as I was walking out the door, I realized I didn’t have my wallet. It was nowhere to be found. It was frustrating. It was stressful. It caused me and my friend to miss our flight. I felt awful about that. And any hope to getting to the Expo early was dashed.

Too many people. Too much stimulation. Please don’t make me go in there.

Luckily I’m one of the few Americans who actually has a passport. I grabbed it. My pops let me borrow his credit card. I thanked him. Finally got to the airport and sweated out the standby process.

Three happy people. One miserable one.

Luckily there was a loooooong security line that caused many a people to miss their flights. Thanks TSA. But their loss, my gain. I took one of those poor suckers seats on the next flight. Standby success!

Next stop, Chi-Town!

First sight off the L train. A sign that we were in the right spot.

Then it was off to the Expo. Luckily there was a shuttle from our hotel. And by shuttle, I mean a real live school bus. Okie dokie.

Snapchat fun: @piratebobcat

I personally don’t like expos much. Too overwhelming for me. But I sucked it up and tried to enjoy it. Luckily they had free beer to help endure it.

We found the beer bus!

Do we really have to run that far?

Bibs got.

Hoping I will be like the sign says.

You see that Chicago? I own you!

With the expo out of the way, we were free to do a bit of light sight seeing.

Who us? No, we’re not tourists.

Heck of a town.

I see you, camera person.

And of course, we ate. A lot. We ate a lot. Ate a lot, we did.

Homemade past? Yes. Wine? Double yes.

And did I mention I was running this race for charity? I had raised funds for Alzheimers, and the group was cool enough give us a pre race dinner! They rule!

And it was all purple.

But the best part of the pre race shenanigans was meeting up with my old college buddy, Rexy. We were on the cheerleading team at Ohio University and have remained close ever since. She’s the bomb biggie…and one heck of a runner. We met up with her for a two+ mile shakeout run the day before the race.

Lisa Lisa, why ya buggin?

Where did we run? To the Bean of course! And we weren’t the only ones with that idea. I think every other shakeout runner was there too.

Have you ever ‘bean’ to Chicago?

That’s always a good spot for pictures, and I’m glad we got it out of the way early as it would be packed later on in the weekend.

Just hanging around.

And since I refuse to take a #flatrunner picture the night before a race…all that was left was to wait for the 3 a.m. alarm to go off. While I did, I went back and read all the supportive comments you bloggers have been making on my posts the past few weeks (I still promise to respond to each of them). I also checked out all the supportive messages on the Facebook as well as the kind texts I received. Thanks again urrbody!

Time to sleep. Months and months of preparation was over. In the morning we race 26.2 miles across CHI.

Good night, sweet city.

One heck of a town.

Come Monday I will post my recap of the race. Stay tuned folks! Spoiler alert – I ran a PR!!!!

How bout you? What’s your pre-race ritual? Do you like expos? Ever bean to Chicago?

-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

The Mustard Run, Running From School & Getting High On Weekdays!

Yo dudes. Yo. Luckily I have recovered from the Ginormous Cat Attack and Chicago Marathon training marches runs on. We just had our highest mileage week yet – 55 big ones! To get that high, you gotta do some decent sized weekday drugs runs. Here was Tuesday, for example…

Not even the morning lightning could stop me!

All those early morning miles leaves you constantly tired and hungry and sore, but I know it will pay off in October.

Needed flowers to mask my smell.

I’m still happy to report that I haven’t missed a single mile yet. Sticking to the training plan like honey.

Warning, I may have lost my mind somewhere along the way.

It’s been fun though, I’ve gotten to see a lot of interesting stuff along the roads. Amazing where your own two feet can take you.

With my friend, Annette.

The only thing different the past week has been that school is back in sesh. The once quiet pre-morning streets are a little bit more active. That, and I can hear the cries of children (along with wine corks popping from the ‘rents).

I feel your pain, kid.

And can you believe the little stinker is in 1st grade? Makes you feel old, doesn’t it? Well, probably not if you haven’t known him since birth. But if you have, then yeah…

He likes it when we draw on each-other’s pictures (no, he’s not on Snapchat, – just me).

Anywhoodle. The long run for the week was our first 20 miler of the training plan. I’m not going to describe it here because it.did.not.go.well. None of it was fun. Let’s just say that at one point I resorted to eating mustard packets from a 7-Eleven. Yeah, that bad.

Ugh, just thinking about this run hurts me.

But heay, we all have a bad run/day. That just means that the next one will be better, right? It’s got to!

And besides, you can always have a few craft brews with dad afterward to help feel better.

Yes, it’s a selfie stick. No, it’s not mine. The pub actually provides them for your own safety.

And besides, gotta carb load back up cause we have our 2nd 20 miler this Saturday! Here’s to redemption!

How bout you? How’s back to school going? Ever eaten mustard on a run? Is it wrong that I’m so proud of my “Annette” joke?

-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

Bikini’d Runners, Virtual High Five & I Don’t Need No Selfie-Stick!

Whew, I’ve finally recovered from being chased by dinosaurs!!!!

So back to more rockin n rollin (Or something like that). This past week’s long run was a 16 miler. Once again I ran with the WRRC as part of their Run My Hood summer fun.

I think I heard someone yell, “Get off my lawn!”

Here’s how it broke down: 5:30am, small group ran 3 miles. 6am, joined bigger group ran 6 more. 7am joined full group for another 7.

By the end the sun was up. I was struggling. So hot and humid. So much. And yes, I probably should’ve eaten better before hand. But we’re runners…We like self inflicted punishment, right?

Luckily doe, some of my #runbooze helped me through it!

Three throwin shade, one mad hatter.

And yes, this run did end with another POOL PARTY!!! Woo to the hoo (Or something like that).

The rest of this week has been more more of the same. Basically keepin it real (Or somethin). Let’s go through it in a series of awesome post run selfies (no stick used, thank you very much)!

Run dun b4 da sun.

Towering above the competition. Unless that tower is my competition, then it towers over me.

This is proper run fuel, right?

Virtual High Five! Go ahead, slap your computer screen. I’m keeping my hand up until you do…Do it already!

Chicago Marathon trainings has me feeling good so far. For the month of July we went 172 miles! I’m trying to remember back to my Dopey Challenge training, but that could be one of my highest months ever. Duh duh duh duh duh, I’M LOVING IT! Bring on August!!!*

How bout you? Selfies – use a stick or no? Did you slap your computer screen yet? Any post run photo requests/ideas? 

*Actually, Mr. August…I’m sorry…Mr. Texas August, please be kind to me. I want to be your friend. I really do. Maybe you could be a little cooler than normal? What do you think? Hello? Ok, I’ll let you think on it. Hugs!

Undressing Runners, Trespassing Yoga & (not) Passing up Tacos!

Sup kiddos? Keep it real? Rock n rollin? I hope so. As for me, I’ve just been tryin to stay gold.

Chi Marathon training is in full wreckx n effect. It’s goin good so far. This weekend’s long run was with WRRC’s Run My Hood series. And it was hot.really hot.and humid. But crushed a 14 miler…Followed by a pool party!!!

If that wasn’t a salt water pool to start with, it is now.

This run started bright dark and early with a smaller group of folks who needed the extra miles.

“You’ll never shine if you don’t glow.” -Smashmouth #NeverForget

We got in a quick 6 miles before heading back to meet up with the sleeper-inners.

This group is known for running in various states of undress.

I’m not gonna lie, I had a really hard time on the second part of this run. The sun was up and it was really really hot. I struggled. It was just one of those bad runs we all have from time to time. As soon as we finished I started to cramp up a bit and had to bust out an impromptu yoga sesh in a stranger’s yard.

I CANNOT believe my “friend” took this photo of me and put it on the internetz. At least a passing car gave me a honk doe…I still got it, baby!

Even though it wasn’t the best run, I’m thankful I had friends who helped me through it – especially the last few miles!!!!

And afterwards, of course was the funner stuffs! Woot wooot!

Oh, and we couldn’t wrap up the morning without one last mandatory group photo.

See, various states of undress, I told ya.

Double oh, this may have also happened…

Don’t judge us early-morning-taco-eating-margarita-drinkers. I mean, we’d been up since 4am for crying out loud. It was like afternoon to us. It’s 5am somewhere, #amiright?

Other than that, the mileage is starting to ramp up. 45 big ones this week. Stay tuned for updates…and more taco pictures.

How bout you? When is too early for tacos/margs? Ever down-dogged someone’s yard? How undressed do you get (when you run)?

-Scott

Running With Pirates, Yogis & Mouth Breathers!

Whazzzuuuup? I hope all my American friends had a great 4th of July holiday weekend – and my foreign friends had a great normal weekend! I, myself, and me participated in an unofficial race. Not so much a race, but more a social run…but we did get kewl homemade medals afterwards!!!

I like my nike mustache, or is it a muswoosh?

The course was  10kilometers, but for our Chicago Marathon training, we needed 10miles, so we tacked on another 4 afterwards. I’m glad we did, cause we found a big ole pirate ship!

I had to invoke the right of parley.

Almost Just as good, I also ran into some other run buds in the last stretch. Soo coo to go for a run in a different part of town and still literally run into friends on the roads.

A. Pickle on my right and an ole Ohio high school bud turned Texan on my left.

Speaking of Chi-town, the training is slowly picking up. It feels kind of good again to be running mediumish runs during the work week. The 4am wake up calls blow, but #whaddyagonnadoboutit? Gotta get em done!

Yes, I was so rungry that I tried to eat a tree.

And of course, I always like hitting up some of the local social runs to incorporate into the training.

We ran and then sat in big red chairs, duh.

Even though I’m all the tired from it all, I’m still keeping up with the cross training – either at the gym or in the department store.

I wear that I squatted a little lower right after this pic was taken.

OK, there’s more but I’ll save it for the next post. I really am planning on being more diligent about blogging – especially as the training increases. But if you want to keep up quicker, just give my Instagram a follow! Like a dude who eats a lot of bananas, on there I’m pretty regular.

Howzit? Training going well? Can you guess what the pirate ship was for? Do I ever close my mouth in an IG photo?

-Scott

Running in “Da Hood”, Becoming Fashion/Yoga Expert & Free Lululemon Gear!!!

I’ve been cray cray bizzay. Let’s catch up, shall we?

Chicago Marathon training has kicked in and I’m pretty excited about it. For this, I’m going to continue to do my long runs whenever I can with WRRC. Solid folks.

Last week’s subtle group.

It’s summer now, and that means they do a lil’ thang called “Run My Hood”. Basically, each week we meet at the house of a different runner and run their favorite neighborhood course. It’s pretty cool. I’ve often thought on my own neighborhood runs how I’d like to show other people “my route”.

Anyway, the best part of the run is the after-run. Hey hey, pool part-ay today-hey!

Lounge.

Chill.

Fresh.  BTW, Snapchat – @piratebobcat – hit me up, fool!

As always, I like to incorporate cross training into my…well, uh, training. The trails are all flooded in North Texas, so that’s a no-go. But it can’t rain in yoga class (well, except maybe rain sweat).

My elf friend and I finally mastered “Partner Chair Pose”.

And I gots to give a big shout out to Lululemon. At yoga practice the other day, the employees called me up to the front. They said they wanted to thank me for being a regular yogi, “Go pick out any yoga mat…it’s yours!” I was so surprised and honored…and PUMPED!

The mat my foot finally chose.

It was so cool of them to do that. And I gotta say, this mat is like night and day compared to my old one…or is it like day and night, IDK. What I do know is the quality of this mat is top notch. No slipping when I sweat, good padding, solid construction – just incredible.

And bonus, my looooooong time friend (you can see her in a couple group run pics above) has been at these yoga seshes because the studio she goes to and teaches at is putting on the classes!

Meet Virginia. She never compromises. Loves babies and surprises. Wears high heels when she exercises. Ain’t it beautiful?

Other than that it’s been sweaty doggy walks. And seeing as I’m an fashion expert, I made a quick tutorial on how to look good as you walk the hound.

Of course there’s lots of other stuff goings on, but I’ll save it for the next post…I don’t want to tire your pretty little heads too much today. Have a great weekend, hombres y mujeres!

How bout you? Ever get to run someone else’s “hood”? Ever been rewarded by a business you regular (other than the corner pub)? Ever Meet Virginia?

-Scott

PS – Best of luck to everyone running Grandma Marathon this weekend! I have a few Dallas friends there – Look for them – They’ll probably be in tops with “WRRC” on the front and “Run Free” on the back. Slap em on the backside for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!