Half marathon (quick update)

Today's run went as well as could be expected. Since I really wasn't ready for this run, I decided to enjoy the run. So I took the camera with me and snapped photos along the way. I also stopped and chatted with people along the way.

Margo and Viv were along the course making hoopla on Montrose. Good Egg Neighbor Mike was on the course. Montrose Ken 'n Rick were out there cheering.

Working on editing the photos and hope to have those out here on Monday with a narrative.

Are you ready to run?

Many things going on today and not enough time to go into detail. In a nutshell:

• Sister and brother-in-law are in town. Haven't seen them today.


• Worked on my costume for the Krewe Ball with Stuart & Daniel. Measurements didn't match up. Good thing I hadn't started to cut the big stuff.


• Beautiful weather outside. Have already taken The Calvinator out 3 times.


• Delivered a set of invitations that I designed for someone. I was REALLY happy with the way that they look but more important is that HE really likes them. Make the customer happy, right?


• Mardi Gras Party tonight but can't stay too long or too late because of the run tomorrow.


• Spoke with a friend who is running his first marathon tomorrow. I either calmed him down or made him more anxious. Todd, just think, tomorrow when you cross the finish line, you will officially be a marathoner.


• Lots of anticipation in the air about tomorrow. Temperature will be in the low 40s but it will warm up a bit before most of the runners are finished. Dress appropriately. I've always said that you can gauge the temperature by what the spectators are wearing and the runners should be wearing less than them. Looking forward to seeing Margo & Viv at Montrose & Westheimer. If you see two women with mylar balloons, give them a shout out.


• To all of the runners...good luck! See you out on the course.

Today I went downtown the George R. Brown (GRB to us Houstonians) to pick up my race number and packet at the Expo. Until today I didn't realize that the GRB was celebrating its 20th Annivesary. I remember the first time I saw the building I thought it looked like a landlocked ship.
The marathon will bring $30 million to the city. Not bad for a weekend event.

The expo has all kinds of stuff! Free stuff and stuff you can buy. There are people from other marathons there promoting their events. Hummer, Best Buy (The Geek Squad), Michelob Ultra were just a few of the major exhibitors. The Roger Clemens Institute at Memorial Hermann was the major sponsor.

This is where they divide the show offs from the slackers. Us slackers had to go to the right to get out packets. The show offs went to the left.
After I got my packet I had to get my chip activated. This chip will track our splits and also make sure that people don't cheat...like Rosie Ruiz.So after the chip was activated, it was time to hunt down my shirt.
I walked to the other side of the exhibit hall in search of my participant shirt and this is what I see! They're only going to give me half a shirt because I'm only running 13.1 miles? How rude.

As you can see, there's all kinds of stuff going on at the expo. I tried a new energy bar...well it's new to me. LÄRABAR According to their website:

LÄRABAR is a delicious blend of unsweetened fruits, nuts and spices - energy in its purest form. Made from 100% whole food, each flavor contains no more than six ingredients. Pure and simple, just as nature intended. 1 SERVING OF FRUIT * NO ADDED SUGAR * UNPROCESSEDRAW * NON- GMO * GLUTEN FREE * DAIRY FREE * SOY FREEVEGAN * KOSHER

The other cool thing that I found is a towel for The Cal Mobile. Well the driver's seat. It is an oversized white towel with an adjustable elastic band to keep it secure so that the towel isn't sliding down the seat while you drive. You can see a picture of it here.

It was time to mosey back to NoRO. The weather was really nice again and I would like to have enjoyed some time outside but I have some out of town visitors arriving tomorrow so I had to str8en things up back at the house.

Oh...I wondered about my 1/2 shirt. I opened up my blue bag that they gave me at the expo and it is a full shirt...not a midrif.

Some additional running advice

The weather went from being beautiful yesterday to being icky this morning. Icky to the point that I didn't want to run outside.

And in case you were wondering, my butt went from hurting yesterday to not hurting this morning.

So with all of that, I went to LeFittes this morning for a treadmill run. I wanted to get one last run in today before the 1/2 marathon on Sunday. So I did my incline/decline run.

While I was on the treadmill, I realized how many commercials there are during the Today Show. It was getting frustrating so I turned on the trusty iPod nano and finished the run.

During yesterday's run and during this morning's run I realized I have not given ALL of the advice that is stored in my head. So here is some more and it is aimed at the people running the marathon on Sunday.

Give yourself plenty of time to get the George R. Brown Convention Center and find parking. Last year I parked in the Toyota Center garage and didn't have a problem. Be sure to take plenty of dollar bills with you in case you decide to park on a surface lot and have to put the money in a slot.

If you have people who will be waiting for you to complete the run be sure that they know where to meet when it is over. There will a designated reunion area.


If you have a crew along the route, be sure to do the electronic tracking notification. It can be found on the marathon website.

If you have a crew, be sure that they have whatever supplies you anticipate you might need (i.e. Gu, Vaseline, Body Glide, orange slices, Clif Bars, Power Bars, Ibuprofen, Gatorade, Water). It's better to get these on Saturday than to have them your crew running around on Sunday.

At the packet pick-up on Friday & Saturday you will see all types of vendors and all different types of great deals on shoes and running attire. If you buy something new, don't wear it on Sunday. Surely you have your lucky outfit. (On Sunday I will be wearing my duck socks.)

Run your own race. Don't change your race strategy on Sunday morning. You have trained all of these months to prepare for Sunday. You know what to do. Unless you are an elite runner there is a distinct possibility you may have to walk at some point during the 26.2 miles. That's ok. Don't worry about it. When I went to run Big Sur I Knew it wouldn't be a record performance for me because of all of the hills. When I had to walk, I was fine with it. When else would I have the chance to run on the Pacific Coast Highway? I enjoyed the scenery and took pictures along the way.

Drink plenty of water & sports drinks along the way but don't over hydrate.

I'll say it once again, have fun! See you out on the course on Sunday.

EDIT: Things I forgot to tell you. 1. Before you go to bed on Saturday night, get your gear together and lay it out. 2. Dress for the end of the run and/or layer with throw away clothes. It may feel good to be all bundled up while it is 42 degrees Fahrenheit but if it gets to 58 degrees Fahrenheit toward the end of the run, you gonna be hot. 3. Don't eat a bunch of fiber and roughage on Saturday. You will pay for that on Sunday.

The Accidental Runner

My butt hurts today. Just thought I would share that with you. You see...

Last night I went to spin class. Kelly was the instructor. She is sorta new but not really. You see...

This is the class that Connie used to teach. Connie is gone. Kelly was tough but not as tough (yet) as Connie.

Last night when I was relaxing, my legs started to twitch and cramp.

Today's Houston Chronicle profiles a guy who is running the marathon this Sunday. I would name him The Accidental Runner. Sort of like me.

My dad ran his first marathon sometime after he turned 50. Can't remember the exact year but I do remember him saying that he was going to run it and I thought, "How nice." I had no idea what it entailed.

So my sister and I went down to the start line and clapped and cheered and waited for him to cross the finish line. We clapped and cheered and that was that. I do remember thinking that many of those people running were older than me and didn't look like they should be running and a showtune entered my mind. Go figure. The song is from A Chorus Line it is...I Can Do That.

It wasn't until I moved to Houston that it even occurred to me to take up running as a hobby. You see...when I was a kid, I was fat and pale and couldn't run. If I did run, my cheeks would get all red and I would sweat and people would laugh at me. I was also the slowest.

Prior to moving to Houston in 1992, I was an aerobics freak. So much to the point that I had injuries from doing aerobics too much. So when I got here I couldn't find an aerobics studio that I liked AND I realized that with running all you needed was a pair of running shoes and you're off. It also helped that I fell in love with Memorial Park.

As time progressed, I started running more and more. A former friend of mine was an avid runner and very serious about it. So one day we were talking and I casually mentioned that I wanted to do a marathon one day. With a condescending tone in his voice he said, "You will never finish a marathon."

Never? Rut-ro. Wrong thing to say. Now if he had said, "You will never win a marathon." that would have been a different story.

So several years AFTER the friendship ended and after 6 months of training, I crossed the finish line in the 1998 Houston Marathon. It was painful but I did it. I fell down around mile 22 and they wanted to put me in an ambulance but I was stubborn enough to argue and finish. Yep. The last few miles were a run/walk but I did it. And that was the first of several marathon completions for me. At one point I realized that the 1/2 marathon was my friend. :-)

Many of my friends don't comprehend why I run. Part of it has to do with my childhood. If I didn't run, I'd be as big as a house. There is some amount of freedom that you feel when you run. There is always a sense of accomplishment when you finish...even IF it is a bad run. Training for long runs draws upon self-discipline. In the past, I used running events to feed my passion for travel. Runs in San Diego, Big Sur, Victoria (Canada) are on the list...not to forget little fun runs in places like New Orleans and New York.

On occasion, I have used running to raise money. Those two runs are what pushed me to the finish line.

So today, even though my butt was hurting (and still is), I went for a jaunt around Memorial Park around noontime. Annie had tried calling and guessed that I was outside. The weather was WAY TOO NICE not to go for a run.

While I was out there, I saw a gaggle of reporters, cameramen, runners and Steven Karpas from the Houston Marathon. It was a press frenzy of some sort and it was all in preparation for the marathon on Sunday.

It took me back to a few years ago when I was interviewed by Bob Boudreaux who was a reporter for Channel 13. They were looking for human interest stories and I was selected. You see...

That was one of the years I raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Bob and I ran around the park, he interviewed me and I was featured on the evening news and then again on race day. The Houston Chronicle picked up the story and featured me one day. I received a few inquiries as to who I had hired as my press agent. LOL The following year, one of the Spanish stations interviewed me and did a feature about me. They even had a camerawoman waiting for me to cross the finish line the day of marathon.

So there ya have it folks. That's my The Accidental Runner story and I'm sticking to it!

Jimmy Kimmel on the cover of The Advocate?

Jimmy Kimmel isn't on my list of shows to watch. Thanks to Towleroad for putting this out there.

Monday night on Jimmy Kimmel, Kathy Griffin showed off a recent photo shoot she did for The Advocate.

GRIFFIN: This is what's called a "cover try". Being on the D-List, they won't just put me on the cover, so they told me I was a "cover try" so I may or may not end up on the cover but I love this photo shoot because it's airbrushed beyond belief, which is key, but it's me also just hugging a hot gay guy. And, uh...

KIMMEL: Is he gay, the guy?

GRIFFIN: I think so! The only straight guy who has that body is in prison and not at a photo shoot. But the photographer...has hooked me up with this gorgeous guy who coincidentally had this tattoo, and you know, me, shaking it up with the Jesus people is perfect. Now would you ever do the cover of The Advocate?

KIMMEL: Yeah sure, not that they'd ask me but...

GRIFFIN: I was gonna say I don't know if the gays want you but, I'm going to be honest.

KIMMEL: I don't think they probably do, but I'd do it with my shirt off for sure.

GRIFFIN: You would have to not eat for like 45 days in a row.

KIMMEL: Oh forget about it.

GRIFFIN: What? It's hard to be gay.

KIMMEL: The not eating thing is no good for me. I'd be just a fat gay, that's all.

GRIFFIN: They don't call themselves fat gays. You have to pick a category.

KIMMEL: I'd be a Vilanch.

GRIFFIN: He's a bear! You could be a cub! The bears like to mix it up with the cubs in the woods.

KIMMEL: We're gonna take a break . If you are a bear or a cub or a twink or even just a normal schlub, this Saturday at the Kodak Theater Kathy Griffin is there...

Tequila & Salt

I received this the other day and thought I would put it out here for you. I'm not a big believer in chain letters/chain emails so I didn't send it back to the person who sent it to me. However, knowing that some things have not been too good for him in his personal life I did get in touch with him.

This should probably be taped to your bathroom mirror where one could read it every day. You may not realize it, but it's 100% true.

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.

2.. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has turned its back on you take another look.

11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

So........... If you are a loving friend, send this to everyone, including the one that sent it to you. If you get it back, then they really do love you.

And always remember.... when life hands you Lemons, ask for Tequila and Salt and call me over!

Good friends are like stars........ You don't always see them, But you know they are always there.

"Whenever God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another, Even Though Sometimes It's Hell in the Hallway"

I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend while I'm here than a whole truck load when I'm gone.

Forward to all your friends. And don't tell me you're too busy for this..

Don't you know the phrase "stop and smell the flowers"? See how many "bouquets" you end up with!

Happiness keeps You Sweet, Trials keep You Strong, Sorrows keep You Human, Failures keeps You Humble, Success keeps You Glowing, But Only God keeps You Going