Running Vampires, Throwin Shade, and More Blogger Shout-Outs!

Whew, thangs bean bizzay round hurrah. Trying to ketchup.

Firsty, I’ve had some good runs recently…specially the ones with friends.

My friend Josh totally did not photoshop this in any way. None of us have shadows because we’re vampires.

It’s always fun runnin with TNSR. If you’re ever in North Texas on a Thursday, you should join us!

What the sign says.

We run, and then hang out for a hot minute to talk (about running).

Fire can’t stop us from throwin shade.

I also re-incorporated track workouts into my routine. Most of the time I’m going these solo, buutttttt to my surprise, I had a run bud meet me for some 400’s! Makes the pukey feeling go by faster.

Sometimes in life it just feels like we’re running in circles.

Felt good to shake the legs out with some speed work. But it’s also fun to do some long slow runs. This week I met up again with WRRC to get the miles in.

Not trainin for anything specific, just trying to keep in shape.

And of course I’m still doing my cross training with weightlifting and yoga.

Males are in the minority apparently.

And I have to end with a shout out to the latest blogger friends who donated to my charity fundraiser for the Chicago Marathon.

Check out these dope people: LifeBetweenTheMiles, MarathonStateofMind, & VeryRach!

I’m very close to my goal amount and I couldn’t have gotten this far without everyone who has pitched in. Thank you so much you guys!!!!!

If you’d like to donate, you can do so HERE. To see a totally high tech special effects video I made of why you should dontate, click HERE.

How bout you? Doing any speed work? Do you prefer running alone or with others? Has anyone else heard if they got in Chicago yet?

-Scott

Cool Runnings, Doggy Walkings, & World Cup Withdrawaling

Holy guacamole! The weather gods gave us a break today from the stifling heat and humidity. I woke up to temps in the 60’s! I was so excited to go for my morning run. I hit up the track for some 400’s.

Hello old friend. Seems like we just saw each other a week ago.

Man, was it nice to be able to breath actual air and not vaporized liquid. And it was so great not being completely DRENCHED in sweat for once. I only wish I had more time so I could run all the miles.

And besides comfortable tolerable running conditions, it also makes for nice evening doggy/kiddy walks. Our walks only go about a mile usually, but normally we’re all soaked in sweat by the end. Nice not to be all swampy for wunce.

 

The boy offered to push the girl. That left me free to hold the leashes of the boy and girl dogs.

Other than that, the World Cup is over. It was a great month-long tourney. The best part was hanging out at watch parties with friends and families and friendilies.

My male model friend. We’ve actually played brothers in two separate movies. I guess that means I look like a male model too?

Some of my running buddies watching the final match.  Working on my side mouth smile.

Anyway, onward and upward (facing dog).  I just hope the weather is still slightly cool in the morning!  Cross your fingers, or legs, or whatever it is you do.

You get a break from the heat too? Did you take advantage? Missing the World Cup?

-Scott

Track Work Makes You Sexy (Except for the Gnats)

I got back on the track this morning for some lappage.  I did 400’s and 200’s.  It was fun to go short and fast.  Only problems were the clouds of gnats I had to plow through.

It was gross, but luckily I’ve been through this before and I was careful to keep my mouth closed and my eyes shielded with shades…Unlike my buddy Salt who had one burrow into her brain the other day.

Afterwards I was stretching and realized how hawt I must look.  So I snapped a pic…

My wife called this picture creepy and I’m pretty sure I weirded out the maintenance dudes who were mowing the grass near by.  Whatever haters!  Hahaha!

Go back and look at the photo closely – See the black dots on my face and neck – GNATS!  They were stuck to my sweaty glistening skin from head to ankle.

I really don’t get why they hover over sidewalks and tracks.  What’s the benefit…For them or me????  I’m sure it will go down in gnat lore as the ‘Great Massacre of 2014’.

Either way, I enjoyed the workout.  I’m trying to transition my track sessions to the mornings now due to the heat of day, and since school is out I had it all to myself!  Yuppers!  Hopefully gnat season will end soon!

How bout you?  Do your workouts make you foxy?  Ever been part of a gnat massacre?  Be honest, that photo is hawt, isn’t it?  😉

-Scott

 

Running in a Human Pack (or herd, or gaggle..?) & Seis de Mayo!

First off, I hope everyone had a festive Cinco De Mayo!  I certainly celebrated with some authentic cuisine…

I’m assuming that in Mexico they celebrate with a big plate of spaghetti. 

Today I continued the celebration with an early morning 5k+ run, a gym sesh, and a margarita at a local taco joint.

Feliz Seis De Mayo!

On my pre morning run, I got to thinking.  Dangerous, I know.  But seeing as how I dedicated this Spring to trying to get some of my speed back, I thought of how some of the faster runners I know run training runs in a sort of human pack….

…Or are human packs called something else, like herds, flocks, gaggles, swarm, school, pride…?  Or do we need to invent a word?  Like a ‘sapiencrew’ of humans.

Anyway, I see these fasties running in their tight little flocks and they seem to be on unit pushing each other along.

My super speedy friend Logan running in a pride of Kenyans at a recent race.

I thought about this when I ran with my friend Pepsi (yes, real name) the other day.  We pushed each other along at a decent pace.  We talked about this afterward and now I want to add some more people to our herd.  I have done this in the past, and it does help.  But it’s been a couple years.  I need to get the gang back together…or maybe start a new band.  I shall work on this!

How bout you?  Ever run in a sapiencrew?  Do you celebrate the days of May in Spanish? 

-Scott

Lunch with a Celebrifriend, Track Workout, & Fun Cornbread

Today was a decent day.  I got to have lunch with a longtime friend (and something of a celeb).  I’ve worked with Hilary Kennedy off and on over the years in TV.  She’s an amazing host, model, actress.  And she’s also a pretty successful Fashion Blogger.  Check her site out if you got a minute.  And ladies, she told me that soon she will be working with Adidas on her blog – so check it out for all your workout gear tips!  http://hilarykennedy.com/

We had to wear our shades because of the flashes from the paparazzi.

It was good to catch up, talk shop, and brainstorm future projects.  We went to a famous place in town that I had never been to before – Love and War in Texas.  I got the buffalo chili and Shiner beer beans.  It came with some Texas shaped cornbread.

The Texas shape gives it big flavor.

Looking back though, I probably should’ve ordered something else.  You see, I had a track workout planned for the afternoon.  And spicy chili, as it turns out, is not the best pre speed-work dish.  Regardless, I did some 400’s.  I ran into a friend at the track who was doing his speed-work for the day – 100 sprints.  Man, did I envy his planned distance each lap I churned out.

Two feet, One lane. The Sequel to Two Girls, One Cup.

I have a 5k on Saturday, and I hope the last few weeks of beginning speed work will help me out.  I have no idea what kind of race shape I’m in since I haven’t raced since the Dopey Challenge in January, and since I had to take a month off after falling on a run and jacking up my knee.

But when I wanted to quit when the 400’s hurt, I didn’t.  When the wind was strong, I fought through it.  When my legs burned, I added more fire.  I think that will pay off for me.

How bout you?    Seen any old friends lately?  Doing any track work?  Would you want to run behind me after I ate chili?

-Scott

 

Windy Track Work & N. Korea Marathon

I ran my 2nd track workout of the season yesterday.  This time I did 400’s with a 200 in between each.  It was tough, but good.  What made it extra tough was the wind.  The back straight away and a half turn, I was running directly in to the wind tunnel.

It’s that thing, when the forecast is ‘wind’.

It felt at times like I was running in place.  There’s not much I can do about it though.  This time of year, it’s pretty much windy like that every day.  And I do have a race next week that could have the same wind, so I might as well practice in it, right?

In other news, did y’all see the North Korean Marathon is open to tourists for the first time in history? You can read about it HERE.

Last one home gets sentenced to hard labor.

I’m all for destination races, but this would be crazy!  I’ve always been fascinated by places I’m not usually allowed to visit – aka, Cuba and N. Korea.  Call it a forbidden fruit sort of complex.

If you don’t know, most Americans are not allowed to visit Cuba – our two governments don’t play nice together.  And it’s usually not a good idea to visit N. Korea, because they can get kind of detainy-to-prison-campy with Americans tourists.

Still, I’d like to see these places someday, and I know how running is a great way to see new places.  Maybe they should put on something like the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge between the two countries???

I’m assuming this will be on the race shirts.

Run a race in Cuba, get a medal.  Run a race in N. Korea, get a medal.  Then get a bonus medal for completing the “Cross World Communist Dictator Race Challenge”!

How bout you?  Are you lucky enough to always have the wind at your back?  Would you run in the DPRK?  Up for the Commy Race Challenge?

PS – Don’t forget your daily vote for my video “C”!!!  Only a few days left to vote for “C”: http://www.heb.com/page/offers-contests/earth-day-video-contest

-Scott

 

 

 

 

Back on Track (literally)

If you want to get faster,  you need to do speed work.  Pretty simple, right?  Funny how life works like that.

I don’t currently have any up-coming races booked, but I am scanning the local running radar.  Once I do pick a race, I want to be ready – so I had my first track workout of the season yesterday.

I didn’t plan it, but the tech tee I packed matched the weather.  Spring took it’s own spring break, and so it was cold and blustery.

I’m not the kind of person who can run a race for “fun”.  When I show up for a race, I have to go for it.  Yes, I know it’s going to hurt.  And yes, I have run races where I wasn’t in top shape, and let me tell you that it hurts even more.  And more yes, speed workouts hurt, but they pay off.  So I’m starting to put in the hurt work now, so that it will hurt less later.

To prepare for the track, the past few weeks I’ve been running hilly courses and doing some hill repeats.  Hills are a good prelude for the track.

Anyways, it was a fairly easy session – I only did some 200’s, but it felt good.  It’s fun to run fast after spending so much time doing long slow training runs.  And I must be in better shape than I thought, because they didn’t hurt too bad (and yes, I was pushing my pace), so that’s good.  Can’t wait for the next session!

How bout you?  Any good speed workouts?  Do you do the track? 

-Scott

Running: Back on (the) Track!

So I’m driving home the other day and I pass a middle school track where I sometimes go to do track workouts (coincidentally enough).  But this day, I had already done my workouts, so no need to stop.  But then I noticed a friend of mine flying down the straight-a-way.  His name is Bob Smeby, he’s fast.  Here’s his Athlinks page.  Notice all the first place finishes.  He’s in his mid 50’s but still runs around a 6 minute mile.  Like I said, he’s fast…probably because he practices getting faster by doing track workouts.  Funny how that works – put in the time and effort, get the results.

The next day I messaged him to say I saw him on the track, and he invited me to run with him next time out.  I agreed.  I hadn’t been on the track since the fall, but I do enjoy it.  Training for long races like marathons can involve some loooong slow runs.  That’s why I like doing track workouts – it’s a chance to go a short distance, and go it fastly!  Plus, I was a 4 year letter winner in high school track.  So obviously, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed.

Smokin’ fools in the 400 in high school.

If you’re a runner and  you don’t do track workouts, you’re missing out.  They usually involve going almost all out for a determined distance, then “recovering” with a short jog.  Repeat.  Are they hard?  Yes, yes they are.  But they really can help increase your per mile pace. Not only that, but doing that sort of explosive burst interval work is the number one way to burn fat.  And who doesn’t want to burn fat?  Besides Manny Yarbrough, that is.

Smokin’ fools at a recent track workout. *Thanks Runner Girl Chels for the pic!

But then the day arrived for my first track workout in months.  I realized that I’m going to be running alone with a really fast person.  I didn’t want to be the only one puking on the infield, so I invited some other peeps.  Granted I didn’t give them much notice, but nobody else was able to make it.  My one friend even said, “Are you CRAZY?!?!  You’re doing a track workout with Smeby?!?!”

But it was all good.  We did a mile or so warm up, then Bob changed into his spikes…yes, he brought spikes!  We did 10 x 200 with a 200 jog in between.  If he hadn’t been there, I would’ve quit after 8…or 6.  Another advantage to running with others – accountability!  And our pace was pretty good too!  Bob had me start a little ahead of him and told me not to let him catch me.  He spent the whole workout trying to chase me down and I spent it trying to hold him off.  We both got a great workout.

Next time out, we hope to have some more peeps out there for a mid week fat burn/speed increase.  I don’t know what our workout will be, but it doesn’t matter cause I know it will be hard, but fun!

Holla if you want to come run in circles sometime!

Dallas Cup 5K #blog

This is the race that made me want to race…again.  For the past year I had been focusing on longer distances like full and half marathons.  My goal with those was to try to run fast, yes, but mostly to be in an upright position at the finish line.  After 3 halfs and 1 full in four months, I was ready for a break.  So I took one.  But then a month or two later, I ran the Dallas Cup 5K.

I ran it for a few reasons:  1) Some friends were. 2) It was close to my house.  3) It benefited a soccer organization (me heart soccer).  4) I don’t remember what 4) was.

But after months of mostly cruising along in my races, I was in for a shorter faster distance.  And there was a guy running who I find kind of creepy and I wanted to beat him.  And some of my elite friends (one of whom is going for the 2016 Olympics) were running, and that kind of inspired me.  And there were a TON of kids running.  OK, I don’t know how much they all really weighed, but there was a bunch, let’s say.  And the thing about kids, they don’t like to lose.  They take off like meatloaf out of hell at the start.  Can’t keep it up, so they walk.  But as soon as they hear your footsteps behind them they take off on a sprint….until they stop and walk.  Repeat.  I want to trip those little cuties.

But anywhoodle, all that inspiration made me push it.  I did not bad for not having done a lick of speed work.  22:28, 7th in age group.

I should have been holding up seven fingers.

With that little bit of limited success on limited training, the competitive bug re-bit me.  Since then I’ve been really getting into running.  I won’t ever be as fast as I was in high school.  And I won’t be elite.  But I can compete in my age group (and with creepy people from other age groups).  So it’s good to have that fire.

Peace out homeys!