Staying Out of Trouble

I wasn't in Dallas an hour yet and things were already going "wrong." SQUEEEEEAAAALLLL Like A  Pig!

Sorta...

The plan was simple... the weekend before Leadville... get the hell out of dodge.  Get away from rocky and root covered trails, high altitude, and basically the overall temptation to go out and run something stupid in the mountains and risk getting hurt or overdoing it the weekend before Leadville. 

A while back one of my friends in Dallas was giving me grief about being a "delicate flower" when when gets hot.  We all sorta know this fact and the challenge was subtly put out there that I should come down to Dallas and run the Hottest Half Marathon some day.   I decided this year was a good time to do it.  I could get out of here... "stay out of trouble," get some runs in and just have fun and relax for the weekend as well.

I think that I successfully stayed out of trouble but plenty of mischief was afoot while I was in Texas...  If not mischief then plenty of eating... wow.  My friend Jenna that I was staying with took me to a BBQ joint that completely redefined my expectations for good BBQ probably for the rest of my life.  When I got out of the car at the North Main BBQ restaurant the smell of smoke and meat made me start salivating right there in parking lot.  And they don't mess around either... it's buffet style, all you can eat... ribs, pulled pork, chicken, brisket... and just a ton of other stuff that's good to eat but more than likely not good for you.

This was my second plate of BBQ Friday night.

Saturday... we didn't need breakfast, we were still full from the BBQ so we went and ran.  I decided to do a seven mile out and back and start off easy and slowly increase the tempo and hopefully finish up the last mile strong.  DAMN it was hot!  But I will say that I was comfortable so I suspsect some remnants of my heat training was still available for the run.  I was also extremely hydrated and that seemed to help a lot too.

The run went so well that when I was done I was contemplating "racing" the Hottest Half the next day.  I felt that I could get a PR and really have a good run.  Stupid!  That's when I decided that I needed to really goof off because racing was not part of the plan... racing is not taking it easy... Time for some selective self-sabotage!

In-and-Out burger was a good place to start... I got the Double-Double combo and though I wanted and extra cheeseburger after that I chose to have a vanilla shake instead. It was okay but NOTHING like the ones from the custard stand in Manitou...

Watched the newest Batman movie then it was off to dinner with some more friends and we met at this really great local Mexican joint called Mia's. If you ever get to go there then I suggest the Brisket Taco's... really.

We all hung out a bit that night then later Jenna and I went for another walk later just goofing off and I got hungry again.  By this time the only thing open was IHOP and Denny's.  We opted for IHOP.  Our waiter Michael was a  hoot and really took care of us and I don't know who in the hell ever thought up red velvet pancakes but damn those things are wrong... in the good way.  My goal this week now that I am home is to prevent myself from haunting every IHOP in the Pikes Peak region gorging on pancakes...

Continuing the downward spiral...

So... after all of that food and mirth we didn't get much sleep Saturday night.  Sunday morning when I woke up I'd say that I was at 50% of optimal... nice... no racing for me!  Just a nice gentle 13.1 mile run in the Dallas heat.  Perfect.

Jenna and Shawna and I all ran together during the race and had fun talking, making jokes, etc.  The course went around White Rock Lake which was part of the Marathon that I ran in Dallas in December when it rained the entire time.  It was nice to actually see things yesterday.  It was hot but not as hot as I was expecting really.  My biggest challenge was just my damned stomach... finally at mile ten or so I found the "facilities" and that made things a lot more comfortable.  Of course I had to hustle after that to catch the other two.

After our triumphant finish!  The photo is blurry because you can actually see the humidity!

We all stayed together... Shawna got a course PR and it was just a fun day. Afterwards we went to a place called Cafe Express and I got a fruit bowl with my roast beef sandwich and both were equally amazing.  I didn't want to eat anything heavy and had to start cutting back the calorie intake before I got as big as Texas.  I figured that I wouldn't eat again until I was home.  WRONG!

My flight out of Dallas was delayed two hours so I had to get something.  I opted for some airport Chinese food... just some rice and beef to keep it light.  Not bad.  Of course once our flight did leave, in First Class they did serve us dinner and damned if it wasn't some of the best cheese ravioli that I have ever had... along with the salad, the roll, and god... the cheesecake for dessert!

Well... I'm not going to say where my weight was this morning when I hopped on the scale but it's a bit north of where I would like it to be.  No more food-fests this week as I get ready for Leadville, especially since my activity level will be so minimal.  All in all it was so worth it to visit friends, have fun, laugh a lot and get to run and do something different and all things considered I believe that I successfully stayed out of trouble.

Sorta.