Cowtown Half Marathon

On February 27, 2011 I did the half marathon at the Cowtown. I wrestled with the idea for a long time, but registered at the last minute

I still do not consider myself a runner, but I believe this was my 5th half marathon. I do admit that this was my first one I ran with the goal beyond just finishing. My weight loss had motivated me to want to get below two hours. My PR was for a half is 1:50:29, set in 2007 at The Dallas Whiterock Half, so I know that I could get there.

One of the signs that I was motivated was that I actually looked at the course map. I noted that mile nine was going to be a very long uphill up Main Street, so I even planned to make that an eleven minute mile.

This was the first time I had run the Cowtown, so the fact that it was a new course did not matter to me. It was a neat course that started at Will Rodgers, took us through the stockyards, up Main Street, through downtown, down Lancaster (by Carol’s work) and back to Will Rodgers.

Mile nine did suck. I took an informal vote of all those around me at the time and it was unanimous. As I was recovering and checking my watch to make sure I could make my goal, two of my long time cycling friends Mark and Liz Wessels were at the Mile 10 marker. They had come out on their bikes to cheer on everyone they knew that was riding. The picture above was taken by Liz and I was going to “give five” to them.

It helped me stay motivated and finish with a 1:58:16

Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast

The weekend that I went to Houston is getting farther away, but the blog deserves me finishing it.

One of the reasons I had to cut the trip to Houston short was the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast. Kiwanis is the Chartering Organization for Little Troop 5 and it is their one fund raiser. The scouts of Troop 5 work the pancake breakfast by serving juice, coffee, cleaning tables, etc.  The adults of Troop 5 stand around and visit with the Kiwanians and those coming to eat pancakes. It is what I call “marketing”

What I really look forward to now is when Carol and Aedan come for breakfast. (Nolan stayed home with his parents.) There is no greater venue to show off one of your grandsons than Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast.

Brandon Brooks

Last week little Troop 5 had its 24th Scout pass its Eagle Board. Brandon Brooks became the 19th Eagle Scout under my watch as Scoutmaster. (These numbers are starting to get staggering to me)

I tend to wax poetically bout how I have watched my Eagles Scouts grown from eleven year old first year campers to fine young men. This is true about all them; however Brandon Brooks will always have a special place in my scoutmastering history. He is my karma being balanced.

Brandon and I butted heads the whole time he was a boy in Little Troop 5. Tthis was due to the fact that he is more like than me than not like me. Brandon challenged and stretched “boy led” in the Troop to the levels that I tried to do as a boy.

Strangely, this became an asset to the troop as he got to be an older boy. He encourages the younger scouts to take ownership in the troop, take charge, and run the troop. This is particularly true when the troop straps on Backpacks. Brandon always proves to be a steady hand on these trips.

Congratulations Brandon! Welcome to being a Troop 5 Eagle Scout.

Houston Rodeo Cook-off/Heidelberg Reunion.

I cannot do my whirlwind tour of the Houston Rodeo Cook-off/Heidelberg Reunion justice this blog post, but I going to give it try.

Back in fall small group of Heidelberg High Schoolers met in Mansfield and Chip Whitley hatched this grand plan. I have to admit I was skeptical and it if it was not for one last minute prodding from Chip, I probably would have passed on the whole event.

Chip and Lisa

I know now that would have been a huge mistake. If you ever getting invited to a party that Chip and Lisa Whitley are coordinating/hosting, go. Don’t question yourself, clear your schedule and go. They know how to throw a party and know how to make it easy on everyone that attends.



Nick, Me, Fran

 My trip to back to High School began by knocking on the hotel room of Francisco Hamm and Nick Sands. Nick reacted like everyone else that has not seen me since high school. “Holy $#!#, who is the big guy?” Besides my girth, I am about 8 inches taller than I was when I walked across the stage at graduation in 1984.

We did a lot of catching up before we headed up to meet Lisa and Chip in the hospitality suite. Again I cannot stress how organized Chip was as he was handing us our passes and T-shirts for the cook-off. I must admit of having admiration for Chip’s cleverness of combining something he is going to do anyway with a chance to see old friends.

Back in the fall Chip tried to explain the vastness of what I was going to expect when I got into the World's Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. I did not grasp it. You cannot scale it. After a very confusing cab ride, Chip led us to his booth. I use the term booth because I do not really have another word. But the crew of Whitley Construction Services built a building that housed a full kitchen, bar, storage area, stage for the band, dance floor and of course plenty of seating. I apparently kept over using the word amazing all night long.

The following morning was spent reorienting myself to the real world. Francisco and I hunted down breakfast at the local Taco Cabana. (Nick had to go teach a class) We had a wonderful visit about life, family, relationships, work, etc. I actually got sunburn on my legs in February because we spent the morning outside on the patio.

Chip,Melinda, Mellisa, Chris, Fran, Leanne, Cathy, me

About lunch time the next wave of Heidlebergers came into town. A wonderful time was spent in the hospitality suite getting reconnected and making new friends with a common background. I had committed only one day to this event and was regretting that I did. It took a lot of self discipline not go get on the bus back to the cook-off when I said good bye. All the reports from the Heidielbergers I got from the rest of the weekend also over used the word amazing.

Chip says he is doing this again next year. I am clearing my schedule to make it the whole weekend.

Randy Lutz

Last week I went down to Houston to go to a Heidelberg American High School Reunion function. The magic of Facebook has really made me want to reconnect with old friends. With everything that I do, I tend to try to put as much on my plate as possible. That being the case, I also let an old college fraternity brother/housemate from college know I was in town.

So after my visit with Big Sam, I headed to Infinity Guitars and Houston to meet up with Randy Lutz. Besides picking his brain of what it took to start a business, Randy and I caught up with over 20 years of our lives.

It seemed like yesterday Randy and I were sitting on the roof of the house in Lubbock discussing the problems and issues of the world or watching Thunder Cats instead of going to class. I think that is why it was so easy to visit last Thursday.