Author Archives: Scott D.
MT. CHARLESTON IN MOTION…
Just a quick post as I’m in the middle of a project and have been working 3 weeks straight without a day off. Oof.
Today I received my personalized video from the REVEL Mt. Charleston Half Marathon, one of the many cool perks REVEL offers its participants. It features several photos of me during the race and the video snippet as I clomp across the finish line.
Enjoy…
Click to see the video
A cool course and a fun run. And registration just opened for next year’s REVEL Mt. Charleston Marathon/Half Marathon (April 29, 2017). Check out www.runrevel.com and sign-up.
Now back to the grind… and Run on!
REVIEW: REVEL MT. CHARLESTON HALF MARATHON
RACE: REVEL Mt. Charleston
DATE: May 7, 2016
DISTANCES: Marathon/Half Marathon
LOCATION: Mt. Charleston (Las Vegas)
START TIME: 6:30am
WEATHER AT START: 55 degrees (Half)
FINISHERS:
- Half Marathon- 1158
- Full Marathon- 610
Viva Las Vegas! Welcome to the first event of the 2016 REVEL Race Series, the inaugural running of the REVEL Mt. Charleston Marathon/Half Marathon. Read the rest of this entry
RANDOM ACT OF RACE HELPFULNESS…
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. -Aesop
Honda Helping.
For those of you who live in SoCal, the radio waves (if you still listen to regular radio) have been swamped the last few months with Honda’s latest marketing campaign, entitled “Random Acts of Helpfulness.”
In the ads, a Honda representative speaks to a random stranger and offers to help them by paying for something they need. Examples include: airline tickets to visit family, a new garage door, college application fees, a work wardrobe and even an automatic softball pitching machine. Like I said, random. Read the rest of this entry
BRAND SPANKING NEW (RACE)…
Yay for “new.”
I’ve been doing marathons/halfs/10Ks consistently for seven years now and during that time I’ve run several races multiple times. I’ve completed a septet of LA Marathons. This year I’ll have finished a 6-pack of Peachtree Road Races (since 2009). And last month I collected my fifth consecutive finisher’s medal from the Hollywood Half Marathon.
There is something uniquely enjoyable and comforting about running a race you’ve done before. You know the course and are most likely prepared for any race-specific idiosyncrasies. And you also can use a familiar race as a benchmark to see how you’re progressing from year to to year.
At the same time, running a race you’ve never run before presents an exciting challenge. You’re not sure what to expect as everything is utterly new to you. The course, the expo, the race support… even the T-shirt and bling… all new experiences. Very cool. Read the rest of this entry
HUSH HUSH WRITING…
Hooray for you know what.
One of the cool things about the entertainment industry (aka Hollywood) is being able to work on what could be “high profile” projects. But one of the caveats that goes hand in hand with that coolness is keeping things “hush hush.”
Whether its signing “non-disclosure agreements” (NDAs) to be able to work on a project in the first place, or just keeping things close to the vest until the perfect time, I often spend a lot of time working on things I just can’t talk about right now.
The last few weeks I’ve been tucked away on one such project (this is of the “close to the vest” variety) which has filled the majority of my waking hours and put TTK on a bit of the back burner. Now that it’s done (finally), I’m going to be diving into another close-vester straight away. No rest for the weary, right.
So for today, just a quick running tidbit. Two weeks ago I ran the Hollywood Half Marathon and had a fun time clomping up and down the “walk of fame” and getting to say “hi” to several running friends of mine, including some Team to End AIDS (T2) teammates. And I recently got my “free” (what a wonderful word) race photos, courtesy of the race and Buzz Feed, which I thought I’d share.
Next up on my race schedule is the inaugural running of the REVEL Mt. Charleston marathon/half marathon outside of Las Vegas on May 7th. It’s a downhill race, so I’ve been doing some hill runs on the weekends to make sure that my quads won’t want to kill me the day after the race. I plan to get a post up about the joy of “inaugural” races prior to heading off to Vegas.
Have a good week… and now back to the vest.
Run on!
LIVING THE LEGACY…
Is that a pledge pin on your uniform?
Whenever I hear the term “legacy” I immediately think back to the classic comedy ANIMAL HOUSE where Kent “Flounder” Dorfman tells the gang at Delta house that he’s a legacy and that they’re usually asked to pledge automatically. That is unless of course the pledge in question was a closet-case.
And now I’m reciting quotes from the film rapid fire in my head.
“Toga! Toga!”
When running races, however, being a “legacy” has a much different meaning. It’s not something you’re given, but rather something you earn by running a race every year (without fail) from its inaugural year up to the present.
Races that have been run for decades, like the LA Marathon or Peachtree Road Race, have their own legacy clubs. The Peachtree’s group is called the “Original 110” (guess how many members) and the LA Marathon has around 177 legacy runners who have pounded the pavement for all 31 marathons dating back to 1986.
Each year when I run the LA Marathon, I always see a few legacy runners (they have special bibs) and I’m sure to shout out some respect. They’ve earned it. Read the rest of this entry
PUPPY RUN…
My running coach told me about the advantages of adding speed training to my running regimen. Last week, however, I got a speed workout I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
That was the plan.
Here’s the set-up.
Lindy and I have a great rescue puppy named Sasha. She is our happy fur daughter. Well, even though she is barely two years old, Sasha is already a mom (courtesy of growing up on the streets of Compton before being rescued).
One of Sasha’s puppies, “Wasabi” (great name isn’t it), belongs to a friend of ours who is going through a rough patch. And she asked us to care for Wasabi for a few weeks. Wasabi is rather skittish right now and in need of some serious TLC.
So last Thursday morning I was outside walking Sasha and Wasabi prior to my run (so I was already decked out in my running garb). Whilst the puppies were “taking care of business” I paused to talk to one of our neighbors and their puppy. Needless to say, our collective dogs became one big tangled playful mess around our legs. After a few seconds I looked down to commence “Operation Untangle-ment.”
I saw Sasha, but when I looked at the end of Wasabi’s leash, her harness was sitting there …empty.
She had wiggled out of her harness (turns out her owner had accidentally given us one for a bigger dog) and was sitting 5 feet away… totally loose. Read the rest of this entry
LAMB TO LION…
There’s an old saying about March weather: “In like a lion, out like a lamb.”
The lion is like: Who do I eat first?
It means that the nasty winter weather at the start of the month will be replaced with favorable spring weather when it leaves. Basically, things will go from “wild to mild.”
And having weathered many winters growing up in New Jersey and Wisconsin, I’ve witnessed this firsthand.
Of course I’ve also seen March come in like a lamb and go out like a lion… sometimes Mother Nature has a few more winter zingers to throw your way before spring finally takes hold.
Maybe we should just wait and see if the Leprechaun spies his shadow come St. Patrick’s Day (nobody tell the groundhog). Read the rest of this entry
SOLO OCHO…
After a several day hiatus following the Los Angeles Marathon to let my sore muscles and equally sore ego heal, I finally hit the pavement this past Saturday.
Back at it!
No lofty goals, just a simple 8-miler (an “ocho”) to get my legs moving again and let my body know “we’re back.”
But the first run after the Los Angeles Marathon is always a bit of bittersweet experience.
Basically every weekend since September I’ve been running with the Team to End AIDS (T2) crew. And last weekend that number exploded as I was pounding the pavement alongside 24,999 other crazy marathoners trying to get from “point A” all the way to the ocean and “point B.”
This past Saturday, however, I was running alone. Just me, myself and I.
And while my iPod shuffle is great at playing music, it’s not much of a conversationalist or motivational running buddy. Read the rest of this entry
“EMBRACE THE SUCK.”
While running the 2016 Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday I caught sight of a very fitting sign.
Nobody walks in LA, but they do run.
It said: “Embrace the suck.”
That perfectly summed up my race.
Now I originally had some reason to be optimistic going into my 10th full marathon. I was in pretty good shape physically, having just completed a 23-mile training run 3 weeks prior. And mentally I was raring to pound the pavement with my fabulous charity group Team To End AIDS (T2). Also I had reached my fundraising goal just 3 days before the race, so that was an added boost.
But to every yin, there has to be some yang.
On the downside I had been dealing with some issues with my right foot. A lingering blood blister on my arch kinda sucked. As did the growing callus on my right small toe. I also had developed a cough and headache in the days leading up to the race. Was it allergies, the start of a cold or just my nerves getting the better of me?
I guess we’d find out. Read the rest of this entry
DOUBLE DIGITS…
Woo hoo!
I remember way back when I was 9 years old (you know, when dinosaurs roamed the earth) and my 10th birthday was just around the corner.
I felt that reaching “double digits” was going to be a monumental feat. I had finally earned that “big boy” status. And I got to eat a stupid amount of birthday cake to celebrate that milestone.
This Sunday I will hit the double digits in a different way. This Sunday at the Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon I will run my 10th full marathon.
Now to many of my running “brethren” and “sistren” (okay I know it’s not a word, but you still understood it), 10 full marathons is just a drop in the racing bucket. I’ve got personal friends of mine who have run dozens, even hundreds of full marathons (they impress the hell out of me). However, that 26.2 mile trek still humbles this boy. Read the rest of this entry
OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES…
Leave it to a child to speak their mind… and make you work yours in the process.
Thumbs up runnin’.
This past Saturday I was out with the T2 crew doing a 10-mile taper run (we’re just two weeks away from the LA Marathon). My pace group “Team Roadkill” (10 of us) was running down a street in Burbank when we happened up a family (mom, dad and three small children) out for a walk.
As we approached this future Brady bunch, all of us waived and said “hi” (Team Roadkill is polite in addition to being sweaty). The parents returned our salutation, but what got our attention was what one of the kids uttered as we rumbled past.
“Why are all those people running?”
We all immediately broke out laughing and commented on how we should change our name to “Team Why are we Running?” After a few moments, the subject changed back to whatever we were gabbing about before the oh-so-cute encounter.
But the words of that innocent and curious cutie stuck with me.
Why do I run? Read the rest of this entry
TWENTY WAS PLENTY…
This past Saturday I did my first proper run of 2016… and it was a bit of a doozie.
20 miles or 20 meters? Not much difference, right?
Let me backtrack for a minute first. For the past two and half weeks, I was out of town with Lindy for an extended Christmas/New Years holiday.
We spent time visiting my family in Atlanta and then drove up to Nashville for a week visiting friends of hers and checking out the sights.
During our time in the South we were alternating between lounging around, hanging out with friends and running around like crazy checking out museums and live music. Good stuff.
Both types of activities resulted in me placing my normal dietary considerations on hold… okay, more like tying up my considerations with a rope and throwing them off a cliff screaming… but why split hairs. Read the rest of this entry
2016 RUNNING RESOLUTIONS
Here’s hoping everyone has been enjoying the holiday season, spending quality time with family and friends and looking forward to 2016.
Okay 2016, let’s bring it!
Of course the upcoming arrival of “baby new year” also means it’s time to start thinking about those annual aspirations… the dreaded New Year’s resolution.
As I ponder how I can better myself during the calendar’s next go-round (such as laying off the french fries… ooh, they are my kryptonite), I’m also considering my proposed pavement pounding plan for 2016.
To put it simply, my race strategy for 2016 is to “take it as it comes” (anyone else now humming Steve Winwood in their head). I’m going to work hard, but at the same time not get too bent out of shape if things occasionally go awry. And definitely listen to my body if it needs some rest. Read the rest of this entry
…’TIS THE SEASON.
NOTE: Coming next week, my overdue look ahead for 2016 (and yes, there is a reason why it’s a little delayed).
Tripping The Kenyans 