Earlier this morning, I met with The Body Firm's owner, Dave Fannin (that's him on the left), for a fitness assessment as we gear up for The Quad.* It's always a bit awkward having someone pinch your fat and measure your arms, chest, stomach, and calves. And it's even more humbling to discover that, despite running many, many miles, I have 20% body fat. Too much pizza and beer, I guess.

Next up, we tweak my crosstraining to maximize my running potential.

* For those of you who happened to stumble upon the blog and have no idea what The Quad is, welcome. The Quad is a series of four ultramarathons that I will be attempting to complete between November 2008 and February 2009. Specifically, The Quad consists of the 12-hour Ultracentric, the Sumart 50 mile run, the Bandera 100 km run, and the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile run. And yes, I may be certifiably insane.

It was a fun weekend.

Saturday morning, I put in 28 miles around west Fort Worth. Jballs joined me for about 10 miles or so. Nice to see him. He works too much.

28 miles in the bank and still smiling.

After the run, I enjoyed* an ice bath. With a rubber ducky (courtesy of Ezra).

Yeah, it's friggin' cold.

Sunday morning, Nell and I headed to Waco so she could run the Miracle Match 1/2 Marathon. I was there for support (and maybe to run a few miles). Getting ready to run 13.1 miles.

Nell and I hooked up a few miles into her 1/2 marathon, and we ran 10 miles together, taking a couple pictures of each other along the way.

Oh, and of utmost importance, the Texas Longhorns escaped in Austin to hang onto their #1 ranking!!!

*Hated and persevered.

Good times at the Friends of the River run last night. I left the house about 45 minutes before the beginning of the race for a 4.6 mile jog to the starting line, where I met up with Nell and Ezra. Although we've run together many times, this was our first "family race." Ezra was restless at the start--he wanted to be on the move. We let him walk around a little bit, but we limited his distance in light of the decent crowd of runners milling about. It was a fun evening and the food at the post-race party was top notch. We had some pizza, pulled pork sandwiches, catfish, hush puppies, empenadas, smoked sausage, banana pudding, fish tacos, quesadillas, hummus--hmmm... maybe that's why I went to bed so full. They trick you with bite-size portions; if you eat enough of them, you'll stuff yourself (as I definetly did).I haven't run in a race less than marathon distance in years. I kind of have an issue with value and cost per mile--hard to justify spending $20+ on a 5 km or 10 km when I can just head out my door and run 20 miles for free. Plus, I don't like the huge crowds at smaller races. I think part of what has drawn me more and more toward ultras is the low key nature of the events.

But Friends of the River was a fun run with the family, and it supports the Trinity Trails, where I've logged hundreds and hundreds of miles since moving to Fort Worth. I will probably do it again next year.

I'm participating in the Party in the Village 3.4 run this evening. My plan is to leave the house a bit early and jog to the start to get 8 miles total for the day. I'll be heading down Lancaster Avenue to the Trinity Trails under the University bridge and coming into race headquarters from the back. The plan is to meet up with Nell and Ezra and run the official race as a family. I'll be wearing a shirt from The Body Firm, so feel free to say hello.

I came across this bumper sticker recently and it made me smile, especially in light of my upcoming 28 mile training run.

I love the fall. Winter, not so much. Cool is good; cold is, well, cold. What can I say. I'm a Texas guy.

I met up with Jballs around 6 am for a 10 km up and down 7th Street and once around El Scorcho's loop.

It was dark the entire time, and as much as I enjoyed running before daybreak, I am looking forward to rolling the clock back an hour in a few weeks.

I am stoked, amigos.

I have a sponsor!!!

As I prepare for "The Quad" (12-hour Ultracentric, 50 mile Sunmart, 100 km Bandera, 100 mile Rocky Raccoon), I will be working with Dave Fannin and the folks at The Body Firm on a nutrition/cross-training program to complement the miles and miles I put in every week around Fort Worth.

If you happen to see me running along the Trinity Trails, feel free to stop by and chat. I'll let you know how things are going.

And I'll be out there a lot. I ran 26.2 miles before work on Friday and another 8 miles this afternoon. I've got long runs the next month going up to 30+ miles, so you can pretty much guarantee I'll be out there for several hours.

Life is good, my friends.

p.p.s. I ran a 5K in 21:38 (6:58 per mile) today. Considering I don't really do any speed training, I was pleasantly surprised.

p.p.p.s. My hamstrings are a bit tight now.

Nothing much to post. Still enjoying the post-Red River Rivalry high and Texas' #1 ranking.

Lots of running on the agenda.

Keep smiling, friends.

p.s. Thanks for the TX-OU tickets, Pappy!

Texas knocks off zero U!!!!!!

Poolie (my little sister) and I spent yesterday at the State Fair of Texas watching our beloved #5-ranked Longhorns take down the #1-ranked Sooners in the best TX-OU matchup in recent memory. Great day, my friends. Great day.

Enjoying an 8 a.m. corny dog and beer breakfast with Big Tex:

Amongst the sea of burnt orange:

Relishing the Horns 35-45 victory over zero U:

No long runs today, amigos. Instead, I'll be having a beer and a corny dog for breakfast as I prepare myself, mentally and physically, for the 11 a.m. kickoff of the Texas-OU game. Priorities are important. Look for me on the 12th row in the corner of the end zone. I'll be the guy wearing burnt orange. Go Horns!!!!

David Goggins is a machine.

An absolute endurance beast.

Last year, he won the 48-hour Ultracentric, and his "base camp" was just a few yards from mine (I was running the 12-hour race). Every few laps, I noticed his wife rubbing a block of ice on one of his quads. I later learned that Goggins had torn a muscle, and he was using the ice to completely numb his thigh so he could continue to run.

Earlier this year, the dude won McNaughton, a 150 mile race, by nearly 3 hours.

Now, I hear he is going to parachute to the start of the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii this Saturday. The dude is the definition of hardcore.

But, hey, I'm no slouch, either. I got up at 3:45 a.m. this morning to get in a 20 mile run before work. So there, Goggins.*

*Mr. Goggins, if you happen to come across this post and read my concluding paragraph, I am expressly noting my self-deprecating sarcasm. Please do not crush me.

Interesting weekend. Sunday morning, I ran a marathon. Nothing official, just 26.2 miles around west Fort Worth. Miles 11-20 were spent pushing Ezra in the jogging stroller. He napped for about an hour, which didn't really seem fair. After the run, I hopped in an ice bath and headed to brunch with the family at Mac's on 7th. Very, very good. Later that day, I played 9 holes of golf and split 1/2 a pizza with my bride before collapsing in exhaustion. A good, full day.

Good morning, Fort Worth. A few nice things happened to me yesterday.

First, I benched pressed 205 pounds a few times, which was surprising because I had not used a bench press in several months.

Second, the Longhorns routed the Buffs, setting up a huge game next week against Oklahoma.

Third, and most importantly, Ezra loved chowing down on one of my homemade burgers for dinner.