Marathon Girl Brings Home The Gold

Sylvia left me home alone all weekend to run in the Dallas Rock & Roll Marathon.
She did the half-marathon (13.1 miles) and scored her 5th medal.
That's all three R&Rs in SA and 2 in Dallas.




The headliner for the after-concert was Bret Michaels.
I'm proud as hell of Sylvia's accomplishments. No effing way I could run 10% of a marathon, but maintain that I could beat her in the 50 yard dash any day of the week.
Even at 9AM!


While she was gone I raked leaves and branches with a rake that I rescued from the middle of a street in Selma, fixed a leaking hose, and watched the Spurs lose twice.
Made some killer hashbrowns one night for the next day's breakfast tacos.
Washed her car.
Vacuumed my truck.

More Marathon

The people on the far side of the metal barricade are about to finish the half-marathon. The guy with wheels on this side just rolled for over 26 miles!

A familiar face in the crowd. Yay, Meredith!

I was a little surprised that Sylvia spotted me in the crowd, but we've been together for so long that our ESP is synched-up very well.
We even finish each other's sandwiches.
Sentences.
Whatever.

We're all very proud of Sylvia, but a bunch of fake Elvii make for a more interesting picture than one of Selma trying to get her to eat a banana and some chips at the same time.



The medal is much nicer this year, if you can overlook the font size error.

Syl's recovery was much better this year--a short nap and we made it to the concert, unlike last year.
Always wanted to see Grand Funk Railroad, and even without Mark Farner they were solid and fun. Drummer Don Brewer was amazing--I guess all the years he's played with Bob Seger haven't turned him into a pussy.
Bruce Kulik, who usually wears Ace Frehley's makeup in KISS these days, played lead guitar.
Mel Shacher was as cool as could be on bass.

Los Lonely Boys were terrific until they started taking long jams with some random harmonica player, then trotted out cover tunes.
The best moment of the show was during a long intro to their 3rd song.
The drummer turned to the local crew's monitor mixer and asked for some bass guitar--his request was clearly audible out front.
I guess he didn't get any bass, because 20 seconds later we all heard "You ever done this before?!?!"
Hilarious!

I feel bad for monitor mixers because it's the hardest job in rock.
They get a lot of abuse, including beer bottles thrown at them by weak lead singers.
(Cough cough Don Dokken cough!)
Whenever I've been on a big show I always play dumb and "confess" to having no clue how to run a monitor board, which bumps me up to the main house mix.
It works out for the best, since I usually have the best ears on the crew.

Sylvia is a running machine!
13.1 miles would kill me.
And so would the dirty looks from the other runners when I stopped for a smoke break.

SA R&R Marathon '09

Sylvia did the half-marathon again this year.
Running 13.1 miles through downtown San Antonio seems insane to me, let alone the full 26.2 of the full marathon.
Before training to do such a thing, I would want to know where I'm running to, or what I'm running from.
A million dollars?
Opera singers are behind me?

It was an overcast morning, with mild temps.
Humid, but better than running in the summer.

Many of the signs people held up were clever and funny.
Some were dorky.
Made the day more interesting.

I finally found a spot along the barricades at the final turn before the finish line. Practiced shooting some of the more interesting faces.

This is a copy of a shot from last year, only that little girl was crying.
I like how this one is so serene and comfy on papa's shoulder.

The weird stuff some runners wear is amusing and also functional.
At the Nike Human Race in Austin (Aug. '08) nearly all of the runners wore the same red shirt and I was only able to recognize and locate the girls with kitty ears and Lance Armstrong's yellow shirt.
There were twice as many people in this marathon--30 thousand or so--so a purple wig makes it easy for friends and family to spot you.

Lessons learned last year went a long way towards making this event easier for all concerned. I appreciated that, having worked late the night before.
2 hours of sleep is better than nothing, I guess.

More Views Coming Soon

Skeese Greets Women's Trialthlon

Sylvia's 2nd triathlon, May 3, 2009.

Goggles on.

Swim!

In transition.

Cruz selling his good lemonade.

I think this was the youngest competitor.

Sylvia at the end of 11 miles.

I was shooting everyone in a blue Texas Tri-Dogs jersey.

Sylvia about to finish.

Meredith's not far behind.





Tri-Dog trainer Mel (left) finishes third in her age group.

Most of the group.

Time to go...

Syl beat her time from last year by 5 minutes or so.
I'm very proud of her.

The Rest Of The Marathon

Finish Line Action.

The coveted Media Pass means you get to sit on top of a ladder for 8 hours. I would have loved it but climbed down after 30 minutes.

Part of the centerpiece on our table in the VIP area.

Car dealer Rick Cavender's band plays on the main stage.

Makes me glad I cut my long hair in the '90s. Beyond a certain age it just looks dumb on most men.

A tear-stained face in the crowd.