Generic Title: Year in Review

Last day of 2013.  I got one last run and weight session in.  It gave me time to think about the past year.  Here’s what had happened…

It started by running the 20th Anniversary of the Disney Marathon in Orlando…

Medals dang near big as yo head!

As part of that, the boy ran the Kid’s Race and won his heat!

I can’t believe he has better form than I do. He also has better race photos.

I also kept my streak alive of being undefeated against celebrities in races.  You can read about the others HERE, but this time I beat Joey Fatone….

It’s the guy from that boy band – I think it’s named – My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Explored the Orlando Theme Parks with…

Moms, Pops, Boy.

Celebrated the boy’s birthday at a fire station (his choice)…

Unfortunately, the did not serve us chili.

I then ran the Too Cold to Hold 5 miler.  You can see the recap HERE – A bunch of friends joined me…

We should’ve ordered brighter shirts for TNSR.

I ran the Dallas Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon.  You can see the recap HERE…

I know it looks like Brooks threw up on me, but don’t care cause it was cold! I needed more of that tin foil stuff to wrap me up like a baked potato.

I then got to produce a bunch more videos with the hilarious Flula…

Like our dope videos or we will fight you…in a non violent way.

I got to celebrate my birthday and St. Patty’s Day in a special way, which you can see HERE…

I’d be a giant in leprechaun village.

Then I won my age group in a very special 5k that you can see the recap HERE…

I’ll treasure this one fo shizzle.

I then got to meet up with my sis and sis from another miss in Raleigh, NC…

With my sis and sis from another miss.

After a few days of fun, we were off to the Outer Banks to run the Flying Pirate Half Marathon, which you can read my recap about HERE…

My sis and I after a recent 1/2 marathon in OBX, NC.

We had a bit of fun exploring the site of the Wright Bros first flight…

Gotcha!

And celebrated on the beach…

Here’s your typical beach photo of legs and feet.

Unfortunately, the next day was the bombing of the Boston Marathon.  I wrote my thoughts on it HERE, which I got a huge response from.  Apparently I wrote what others were feeling.

At Fenway Pahk watchin tha Red Sahx play the wicked Yankees a few years ago.

I then ran another 5k, you can read about it HERE…

Takin it to da bridge!

Then my soccer team finished in second place after losing in a shoot-out after double overtime…

No smiles for second place.

I continued running with Thursday Night Social Run...

We run. We socialize. It’s cool.

I ran another 5k, recap HERE…

Posing with a patriotic trash can.

I re-incorporated trail running into my repertoire…

It’s best to run in the back so the leaders are 1st to find snakes and spiderwebs.

Got to play a ninja in a music video…

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

I then ran in an unofficial 4×1 mile relay race, recap HERE…

At the Relay Race – We’re both rockin the Pure Flow 2 by Brooks.

I then ran my first Beer Mile race (4x 1/4 mile + 1 beer at each).  I finished 2nd overall.  Recap HERE…

A trophy, yay!

I became a part of a new run training group – Project Run 214…

Bright and early!

Got to see Mumford and Sons with family and friends…

Went to the local Oktoberfest so that I could drink free beer cheer my friends running the 5k…

My friend wore lederhosen during the race, so we decided to celebrate.

Enrolled the boy in his first hockey class…

He looks serious!

Went to the coast of Texas to teach a class on TV production and collect some awards…

Boats on the water.

I ran my first 15k race.  Recap HERE…

Say ahhhhhh!

Tested out a new mode of transportation…

Howdy pardner. You like my ride?

Went trick or treating with the rug rats…

I’m a ginja (ginger ninja).

Do not cross him.

Cowgirls are udderly cute.

I then went to the Alamo to look for my bike…

Alamo selfie!

Won two more Emmy’s for the mantle…

Emmy #6! I’d like to thank the Academy, etc. etc.

Hung out with Nitro from American Gladiators…

Right before we went through the gauntlet!

I then tweaked something in my knee…

My tape job.

Cheered for more friends running a Thanksgiving day race…

The turkey was probably sad because it was Thanksgiving – a sad day for flightless birds.

Survived a North Texas ice storm…

All that white stuff looks like fun snow, but is actually pure evil ice.

Which forced me to the dreadmill to continue my training…

That took forever.

Helped a friend run the final few of his 30 mile run for charity…

At the mile 27 station.

Celebrated the holidays with family and friends…

All our ornaments on the bottom half of the tree.

And ate a buttload of tacos…

Mmmmm, tacos.

BTW, my knee is feeling pretty great.  I’m almost done training for next week’s Dopey Challenge (5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2) at Disney World!  Can’t wait to get these 6 medals!

My neck feels heavy just looking at them.

In between we just kept on trying to keep on.  Hanging out at home with the fams and dogs.  Making videos.  Yoga-ing.  Working out.  Cooking.  Laughing.  Oh, and blogging.

 

How was your year?  Did you make the most of it?  How’s your 2014 looking?  Big plans?  Holla!

Too Cold to Hold (Part II)

Sorry for the delay in this blog sequel, but I was waiting to see if the race photographers got any good pics of me.  It took them a week to get them sorted out and here’s what awesome shots they sent me:

I never take running lying down!

Hello, mister cameraman, no need for artsy composition. Just frame me in the center please.

Kind of anti-climatic, eh?   They said it took ’em a week to get them to us cause they had to sort thru 25,000 pics.  But after a 5 mile race, that’s all they got of me.  Oh well, no matter.  But I must say that when race photographers charge upwards of $35 PER photo, they might want to check the quality.

I had a photog friend get on me about not buying all my race photos.  But I had to let him know that, as a professional TV person, I do know a thing or two about image quality.  And when the colors, framing, headroom, lead space, framing, etc. etc. etc. aren’t all that great, then why should I still have to pay so much skrilla?

Anyways, not hatin, just sayin.  If you want me to pay top dollar, then please give me decent quality.  Holla!

Haha, have a great day people!

 

Too Cold to Hold 5 Miler (part 1)

So on Sunday I ran the Too Cold to Hold 5 mile race.  They also had a 5k and 10 mile, but I stuck with the 5 miler as I had never run that distance in a race before – guaranteed PR, haha!  I wanted to run fast and race it as it was a relatively short distance and for the past several months all my races have been between 10 and 26.2 miles.  It felt good to go fast, even though I wasn’t in my best speed shape.

Too Cold to Hold, Too Blurry to See

I didn’t know how fast I could go since I hadn’t done any speedwork in months, but I had one goal – to run under 40 minutes.  I figured that was plenty doable, and I figured right.  I ended up going 37:25, around a 7:25 per mile pace I think.  It was good enough for a top 40 overall finish and placing 5th in my division.

The weather was good – though warmer than I expected.  And there was not the usual blustery winds coming off White Rock Lake.  There was a nasty hill about a mile into it, but I’m glad it was there and not at the finish.  Only major problem was the big cluster of people at the start.  Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big fan of corrals, but this race didn’t have ’em.  All three races had the same start time, so the first mile definitely included a lot of bobbing and weaving around walkers and people going slower.  Always frustrating, but I didn’t get their early enough to forge my way to the front of the start crowd.  So part of that’s on me.  My bad dawg.

Anyway, we had a group of friends and Thursday Night Social Runners out there.  Several of us either PR’d, won age group awards, or had a distance record.

We should’ve ordered brighter shirts for TNSR.

Afterwards the real party started (as opposed to the fake party).  They had lots of free food and drinks (incl. beervecas).  But as always, our group remained serious and committed to professionalism, as seen in this photo.

I decided I needed the duck-lipped-hand-on-hip-one-bent-legged pose that every female seems to have on facebook.

We moved the morning to brunch, where things got super fun.  But I won’t bore you with pics of scalloped risotto and drasians (drunk Asians).  Some things are better experienced than witnessed in social media pics.

Anyhoodle, as soon as they send out the race photos, I’ll try to share a few if I look good (aka duck lips).  Hence, that’s why this post is only part 1.

Peace out Internet!

New Race, Past Race

So I went ahead and regis-turd for the Too Cold to Hold race at White Rock Lake in Dallas.  I would’ve taken a screen shot of the online registration page, but it wasn’t very exciting to look at, and I assume you believe I registerd as I have no reason to lie about this.

They have a 5k, 5 Mile, and 10 Mile.  I decided to go for the 5 Mile.  Why?  Couple o’ reasons.  Firsty is that I’ve never run a 5 mile race and want to give it a go.  Sloppy seconds is that after all the long steady training runs I did leading up to the Disney Marathon, I really just want to run short and fast finally!  (And I know that 5 miles isn’t as short as the 5 kilometers, but to me it seems short after going 26.2, so back off!)  Thirsty thirds is that I’m still letting my body recover and so I figured I’d keep it to single digits mileage for now.

Speaking of which, can I just say that I see too many people not taking enough time to let their body recover after a big race.  There are some folks out there who can run a marathon every day, but most people can’t.  These races take a toll on the average person’s body, and it needs to heal itself.  Even if you don’t have an injury, there are still breakdowns in the body after races and long runs that go all the way to the cellular level.  But I see so many people jump right back into it right away.  Take a freakin break already.  There will still be races after your body is recovered and your legs are springy again!

Now that said, I feel pretty good after my race.  No significant injuries to speak of.  Still have good energy.  But I’m in this for the long haul, so figure it’s better to listen to my body.  It will tell me when it’s time to go long again.  I’ve still been running, lifting, yoga-ing, but also enjoying the relative break.  Of course, I still need to get ready for the Rock N Roll Half Marathon in two months, but I’ll be fine.  (Again, sorry for lack of this race’s registration screen shot, but see my reasons for not doing so in sentence two.)  I’ve partnered with a very exciting new training group, but that’s a story for another soon to come blog post.  But know that through this group, I’ll be more than ready for the Dal RnR 1/2.

Finally, I’m still working on collecting all my thoughts and pics and vids from the Disney Marathon, but I’ll get to it’s recap eventually.  I’ve got other stuff going on in my life, so you yahoos will have to wait.  In the mean time, here’s a recap video Run Disney made about the marathon.  Check it out when you got 4 minutes.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bdFXVDZzVQ&list=PL4C524BF1027443FA

It quickly shows a lot of what went down.  Man, Disney does it right!  They don’t do anything small, that’s fo shizzle.  Peace and running grease!