My Last Race Ever!!!*

Yup, it’s true. This weekend is my I’ll be running my last.race.evah.*

*In my current age group.

Yup, I have a birthday coming up, which is going to catapult me into a brand spankin new age group. So this weekend’s race will be my last in the 35-39 division. Hopefully I can go out with a bang!

Sadly tho, I won’t be running any of the St. Patrick’s Day themed races in Dallas. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some St. Patty’s Day fun, but me no likey the huge crowds at those races.

I’d be a giant in leprechaun village.

Instead I’m running the Chain Reaction 5k.

I chose this race for a few reasons: 1. I live nearby. 2. Registration was affordable. 3. All proceeds go to a good charity. 4. A couple times per week I run the trails this race is utilizing, so I’m familiar. 5. It looks to be a small race.**

**With small races, odds go up of placing…even in my super competitive current age group!

That all said, even though I run in this park all the time, I’m not sure how they’re going to host a 5k there. I know for a fact that the main trail is only about 1 mile around. I reached out to them for the course map, which they very kindly sent me. But to be honest, the map cornfuses me.

I can’t make heads or tails of this route.

They say it’s a two lap race, but I don’t get which directions it goes. And also, the map clearly shows that we go off pavement to dirt mud trails for a section. That’s not good because it’s been raining non-stop here in North Texas.

This is what I kept telling myself all week.

I again reached out to the race folks, who assured me the race is all on pavement. If that’s the case, then the map is wrong, so I’m even more cornfused.

Anyways, I’m probably over-thinking it. I need to just go to the race and have fun trying to run fast. But what would runners do if we weren’t obsessing over running details. Am I right?

And those who know me know I also obsess over tacos. So now I’m off for some pre-race veggie ones!

This will help me run fast, right?

Stay tuned for the recap where all the mysteries will be solved!

How bout you? Can you figure out that course map? Are you celebrating St. Pat’s? Do you have a prediction for my performance?

-Scott

St. Patrick’s Day Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I love Ireland and the Irish.  I love Guinness.  I love Irish music and food.  My favorite color is green.  So needless to say, I love this holiday.

I’d be a giant in leprechaun village.

I have been to Ireland thrice, twice of which was on St. Pat’s Day.  Those are some good times, my friend.

My St. Pat’s weekend this year kicked off with a 5am run.  I met some friends and we cruised to an easy 7-8 miles, followed by a mimosa 1 mile fun walk – it was St. Pat’s after all.

I’m checking my watch, and yup, it is 6ish AM.

I was on daddy daycare duty (and doodie) this weekend, so I wasn’t able to go to the big shindig with all my peeps.

Playing firefighter selfie.

I was however, able to make it to one of the big St. Pat concerts – Graceland Ninjaz.  It’s basically Elvis singing cover songs.  It’s fun.  I was actually in one of their music videos last year.  I played a ninja, coincidentally.

In between takes with some “Felvis” dancers (female Elvis).

We had some wicked storms blow in the early evening that day, and I thought the show might be cancelled, but then we got a St. Patrick’s Day miracle.  The skies cleared and delivered us a double rainbow!

Turns out I was the pot o’ gold at the end of the double rainbow after all.  But what does it mean?!?!

The show was on!  It was a fun time!  I’m friends with most of the people in the band, and so they brought me on stage for a bit so I could perform some of my sweet dance moves to titillate the crowd.

On stage open mouth selfie.

Back up for Elvis!

The next morn we were supposed to do a trail run, but it was too muddy.  So I met my runnin buds for power yoga at Lululemon.  Afterwards we went across the street to Starbucks.

Starbux selfie! Why am I always in back?

Now I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my entire life.  So I don’t make it to Starbucks much.  But I wanted to try the turkey bacon egg sammich that Run Salt Run goes on and on about.

Salt Gal made be do it. I’m a sucker to peer pressure.

It was purdy tasty!  Thanks Salt!  However I think I pissed off the line of coffee zombies behind me when I ordered my sandwich and tea.  I’m sorry I held you up, but their system of cup sizes cornfuzed me!  Sheesh!  Like I said, it had been years since I’ve been in one of those shops.

Anyways, it was a nice lil weekend there.  And today is the actual St. Patrick’s Day, so I will celebrate with a pint o’ the black stuff in my custom etched Guinness glass that I’ve been saving for today.

Now nobody can steal my Guinness!

Another thing to love about this holiday – it doubles as my birthday eve.   Yay me!

How bout you?  How was your weekend?  Do anything special for St. Pats?  Ever been to Ireland?  Did I take too many selfies this weekend?

Pretty Good Lil Sports Weekend

The weekend was a pretty happy one for the Ole Scott-O. First up, you should know that besides running, I’m also a fan of all sports. And this weekend was big for some of ‘my’ teams.

As we creep into March Madness, my Ohio University men’s basketball Bobcats won a big game against our arch rival in overtime. #Excellent

I had to look up to make sure I was balancing her correctly.

My Dallas Mavericks won two big games to keep them in the NBA playoff hunt. #Dope

Pic I took when getting Dirk Nowitzki’s autograph a little while back.

My FC Dallas won their season opener. #Sweet

FC Dallas dancers. We granted their request to have a photo taken with us.

And my Dallas Stars won a very exciting comeback on a night when the team was honoring Mike Modano by retiring his jersey number. #Radical

Me and Mo as I call him. We go way back (to our two run-ins)

It’s rare when all of my teams win all of their games on the same weekend. #Booyah

Other than that…I had a good 7.5 mile run. Went to yoga with some friends. Had some nice doggy walks. And met the whole family at a park for a photo session. #Awesome

My mom always complains that I ruin photos, I think I make them funny. So does the boy.

And it gets even better, because the weekend also kicked off my birthday/St. Pat’s week! #Cheers

I’d be a giant in leprechaun village.

How bout you? Did you have a good weekend? Do you follow sports? Will you be celebrating St. Pat’s Day? What are you getting me for my birthday?

Running Sick and Elite Help

So apparently I’m still sick, not so that I have to take of of work, but so that I’m having a hard time being myself.  I’m tired, sore, and gots no energy.  But I’m still trying to fight through it as the Rock n Roll Half Marathon is next week.  Problem is, every time I try to run, it really saps my strength.  And I definitely am more sore and take longer to recover.  It’s crazy.  I’ve had a hard time finishing my last couple long runs all together.  But I’ll keep on carrying on.

St. Pats is coming up and maybe some Guinness will do me good.  It always has before.

But other than that, the peeps we’ve been training for the half marathon have been doing great.  However we wanted to offer them some extra info, and to our luck, local elite runner Logan Sherman agreed to speak to our group.

Some of these folks are training for a race. Some are training for St. Pats Day!

Whenever I see Logan at a race, no matter the distance, I know pretty much everyone else is running for second place. Just the other week he won the Cowtown Ultra Marathon.  But he is also about to graduate as a chiropractor.  He’s very in tune with athlete’s bodies and has certifications in all sorts of treatments like ART.  So it was very cool that he came to talk to us.  He shared lots of tips about nutrition, proper warm ups, general health, and injury prevention.  He also took the next couple hours to answer any questions we had.  Very interesting and informative.

Getting some Q&A time in. Also, when I look at people, I don’t see color.

Why do I tell you this?  Cause I think we all need to take advantage of educational opportunities that are around us.  If you’re interested in something, seek out some experts and pick their brain marbles.  You never know what you might learn and how it may help you in your endeavors.

Sláinte!