The Hollywood Half and prepping for St Louis!!

Another plane ride. This time I off to st Louis with a change over in Phoenix. That was not. My original flight but I took advantage of them overbooking my original flight and got a $300 voucher! With all my flying every little bit helps and and it only gets me in st Louis maybe 2 hours later. I had nothing to do there today anyway.

Which brings me to how screwed up things got before I got there. But I digress, I wanted to start with last weeks Hollywood Half Marathon run.

It all started back in December when I went to Zabs holiday party and saw a bunch of awesome improv folks I haven't seen in a while. 2 being Dave park and Dave Holmes. (btw Zabs is short for zabeth, I never asked her if she was ok with being called Zabs. I should ask her). Dave Holmes pointed at me and said "we are doing the Hollywood Half and you're doing it too!" are you kidding me!? I'm not running enough this year? It immediately seemed like a horrible idea for me. Extra exhaustion, extra chances of me getting hurt, I'd have to find a guide to run with... Ok I'll think about it.

When I got home I mentioned it to Deborah, my love. She looked at me like I was out of my fucking mind. But that's sort of what this year is all about right? It seemed overwhelmingly tough and I wrote to Dave and said I couldn't do it. And then the haunting "what if..." starting nagging at me. What if I did it? Maybe that would produce extra publicity? Extra donations? Extra footage for my maybe doc I'd like to put together at some point after all this? I checked to see when it was, one week before the St Louis marathon I was all signed on for already. 8 days before actually. What does the course look like? What does my training say I should be running that weekend? Things started lining up pretty good. It was going to start and end at the Universal City Walk and go through Hollywod blvd and for the most part be pretty flat. I signed up!!

After telling deborah, she gave it some thought and decided to run it too! Little did I know that all my running had been getting her thinking about trying it herself. But we were only about 6 weeks away from the race and according to Hal higdon he has a 12 week program for novice runners for half marathons.

But deb jumped right in and even with changing around the set routine and even a week in bed sick she ran a 10 mile run for her training about a week before the race. And she said it went ok. I was totally impressed and very jealous that she got to run outdoors and enjoy the sights. Not only that but I trained for 7 months or so before my first half marathon in 2010 and the race nearly killed me. My time was just shy of 3 hours. A month later I ran another half and shaved over 20 min off my time and enjoyed it much more.

She was running a little slower than me which meant I would still need a guide, here comes David to the rescue again. Yup another Dave. Mr wright ran the LA with me and is set to run a lot more with me this year. Since this run is only a week from a marathon run I had to treat it like a training run. So even though deb and I were running the same race we would likely run it separate.

Wright is a personal trainer when he isn't getting acting gigs so he came to my house a couple of times and trained me, the latest was a training run on the treadmill, where he taught me about intervals and speeding up my pace here and there to spike my heart rate. Ok sure. It felt good but was hard to run 8mph on the treadmill without feeling like I would fall over or off. It gave me some confidence though. And secretly I was going to try to run the whole half marathon without stopping. I usually take walking breaks each mile.

The two Dave's (park, Holmes) along with friend Brian and guy I don't know so well, Matt, were all signed up. They asked if they could guide me. Take turns and so forth. Which was really great of them. I had already asked david and had gotten him signed up with a comp. but I was hoping to run the race with the guys at least around. I also didn't want to be a hindrance if they were trying to break any personal records at anything like that.

I forgot to mention Greg, my PT at LA fitness. A young 20 something guy who has never run before, long distance. I told him about the run and he and a few friends signed up. I wouldn't see him the whole day though. Wasn't even sure he ran it until I texted him after.

Deborah and I met up with wright at the expo the day before the race. The expo was designed like a Hollywood movie premiere, complete with red carpet and wax statue of Marilyn Monroe (or maybe Michelle Williams? :) At the Hilton by where the start of the race would be. Apparently we got there at a good time because I had a couple people tell me it became a mad house later. And it was already pretty packed and busy. But the Hollywood half released a tweet apologizing for the chaos.

As deb and I were on our way to the car I sawa NBC news van and a camera guy and reporter. I thought I'd approach them and see if I could get my story told. But I was seen by Kenneth who was helping organize the marathon. Turns out he was looking for me. What luck! They wanted to interview me. I don't know what happened to the interview but I'll try googling it, maybe it'll pop up.

I think I got up at 345 am. Had a decent sleep. Deb and I slept in separate rooms so we could each get our necessary sleep. I think she was nervous. So was I really. I hate running blindfolded. It's one of my least favorite things to do.

Because of the chaos that goes along with a 6am start time and the fact that it's so dark and I wasn't wearing my glasses, meeting up with my trainer or the friends that originally talked me into doing this thing, was not going to happen. And before I knew it it was go time. It started with a steep run down the hill at universal, it would lead to cahunga pass also down hill and highland blvd, also downhill. The downhill would go on for about 2 miles but that meant running up 2 miles at the end. I needed to pee right away and I swear the peeing will be my ultimate downfall with all these races. I had already gone 3 times that morning before even setting foot on the course. Wtf?! The wait was at least 5 minutes I think. And who would come yelling by me and saying hi? My friends dave, Dave and Brian, Matt too I'm sure. They blew passed me and I was antsy to get back to running.

When I got back to it, it went well. The weather was good and as we turned east onto Hollywood blvd the sun was there to greet us. No matter I had my blindfold. We did have to stop and walk a handful of times due to congestion. What a pain. A bigger pain? How bout noise makers? The bane of my existence. I'm only slightly exaggerating. I've said it before, I appreciate the volunteers and support on the side lines. I good "you're doing great" is all I need. No need for screeching screams and cow bells. In fact one guy ran the marathon with a cowbell. I told my guide david, in my best, most exhausted, Christopher Walkmen impression "less cowbell.". It's just so annoying and I'm not the only annoyed my sighted guide was annoyed too. I would love to run these races with an iPod and free eyes. I'm sure that would be a different experience for me. What would I listen to? Howard stern on Sirius XM of course! Can't get enough Howard. No music? Well, my girlfriend actually ran while listening to a Dan brown audio book.

I forget how far we had gone before the water stops were saying they were all out of cups. Really.?! It was only 90 minutes or so in. Rookie mistake. This was the very first Hollywood half apparently. People had to take water into their hands or they were ncouraged to save the cups they had. Or fill a water bottle if you thought to bring one.

But I was feeling pretty good. We got to the half way point which was a turn around on sunset blvd. I was going to try to keep running til at least the turn back onto highland which I thought may be mile 10 or 11. And that's what I did. I even was running for a part of that until a force stop by walkers in front. And by the time that happened it ended up being a welcomed stop.

I did some run/ walk action. And when we hit cahunga pass out of nowhere was a huge wind. Making it colder and almost pointless to try to run against. We ran into a cousin of my guides and he said we were almost done and over this hill is a downhill to the finish. That gave me enough juice to get me to the finish. I did well. My finish was2:23, a personal best for a half for me.

I got my medal and looked around. The finish line was an unorganized mess! I'd never seen it like this in any of. My races. It was so clogged and lots of people waiting for other runners. We're all these people runners themselves? I wasn't sure. After 10 minutes or so I got nervous about Deborah. We hadn't seen her at all since the start. I called her and she picked up! She sounded great and said she was between miles 11 and 12. Awesome! I waited for her. And as she came over the finish my heart swelled with pride. She was so nervous about not finishing before the allotted 3.5 hours. When in Fact she finished in 2:52 minutes! Faster than my first half marathon in Chicago!

She was happy and proud of herself and I was grilled for her. I wanted to get a professional pic of all of us, but they only had one photographer with the Hollywood half banner background. The line for it had to have a hundred people on it. It was unbelieveable! Usually there are several photographers and spots to get your pic taken. I've never waited more than one or two people. we skipped it and just pics with my phone.

My eyes were starting To bother me. I was out in the sun too long. And even though I had my dark shads on, it didn't matter. That's why I can't run with just glasses. It's the pain I get from the sun and damage it does to my vision. Time to go. On our way to what would become a very long way to the car, my friend Brian stopped me. I was thrilled to see him and ask how he was. He got slowed down by one or two injuries during the race. He had lost the other Dave's but was going to meet them.we parted ways and we continued to the car. Due to all the congestion and steets to cross, there were big, no, HUGE lines with huge waits. I couldn't believe how long it took. My body was now catching up with what I had just run, my back was tightening up and my eye pain was turning into a migraine. From the time I crossed the finish line it took over an hour to get to the car. An hour in the southern California sun. We said good bye to mr wright at our car. I got in the car and felt immediately nauseus. Like I might throw up. I still had my blindfold draped around my neck like a scarf and I had my medal in. It felt like they were strangling me. I couldn't get them off soon enough.

We started driving and now we were left with traffice to contend with. After the race was the only time I had regretted doing it. It took another hour to get home, even though it could've taken 15 minutes. But we live south of the race course so we had to go around it (we did it in the morning too). Adding time to our trip back.

I was in bad shape for that car ride the sun plus all the stuff I had burned off during the race had taken a toll. A nice shower, excedrin and a bagel was helping a lot. We went to my favorite burger joint and I had a great meal. I think deb did too.

She was pretty sore a fees days after wards. I was sore in spots but it wasn't that bad. I've had worse and will have worse.

So here I am. On my way to st Louis Missouri. I have a bad feeling this will be the hardest of all my races all year. I hear the course is crazy hilly and according to weather reports it going to rain all weekend. Great.

Who's dumb idea was this again?..... Oh yeah :)-




I'm running 12 marathons in 2012 blindfolded.
Check out my www.crowdrise.com/ejcurechm
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3 down 9 to go
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Second City Fundraiser! From March 30th 2012

I held a fundraiser at second city on march 30th. It went well overall. A few hiccups but nothing crazy. Putting these things together is always so stressful. a lot of work and you don't know if people will show. And of course there are the people who say they're coming and don't. With no explanation or apology. I get it. I accept it. One guy I was sure was one of those people was dr drew pinsky. It was over a month earlier on his show that he said he would be there. I kinda didn't believe him, but shame on me. He was there! With his wife in tow! Really good of him to come. Good of everybody who came really.

The show had the great Dave hill, a teacher at io west and performer. He's one of my favorites. Great guy and has participated in at least 2 benefits I've had in the past. He did a 2 person improv show with Matt jones. I've known Matt for a while. Hes a great improvisor and great guy as well. He is also on one of my favorite shows ever, breaking bad. He plays "Badger".

We started the show late due to a tech issue. My sideshow wasn't playing on the DVD player and the tech guy, Mikey, was getting frustrated, I sensed, by that. We had to be off stage by 920, and what I was planning didn't have much wiggle room. So we opened the doors regardless of the sideshow, which pics of me running. But low and behold it started working. It wasn't going to get much play though. We had to start. I knew we lost time so I skipped my intro I had planed and did a quick introduction of Hill/Jones.

In the greenroom was Andy st Clair. I knew Andy from Chicago and he was a pretty big deal out there. Second city Mainstage, improv rockstar, and he moved to LA several months ago. You may know him from Treasure Hunters Roadshow. He's the funny one. Andy did my favorite forms to do, 'Shootin' the Shit', in Chicago with me a few times. So fun! It was always fun to play with him. My other guest was the great david koechner! I know a lot of Dave and David's. Koechner is on the Office. He plays 'Packer'. Was also in naked trucker and t-bones show as t-bone. Was in anchorman, I forget his characters name, but I think he was a cowboy. He's hilarious and crazy and I thought it'd be fun if he could do shootin e shit with me. I asked him early on in the planning of the fundraiser if he could do it. AT the time he couldnt. So I asked several others and mentioned to him I hadn't found anybody yet. His schedule had cleared up and he could do it!! Hizzah! Dave helped me years earlier get me on the Adam corolla show, the radio show, before the podcast adam does now. Koechner volunteered himself to help me and he got me on Adams show and Greg fitzsimmons Sirius show on the same day. It was pretty amazing of him. At the time me and my brother in laws were going on a month long bike trip across country. I didn't bike but I video recorded everything. Still hope to make a doc of it. Koechner was also one of my favorite guys on one of my favorite improv teams ever! Beer shark mice! They were the greatest and sadly kind of retired. What a shame.

Anyway the show went well. I didn't exactly get to say everything I wanted to the way I wanted to because of the time constraint. And I didn't improvise the way I wouldve liked to, due to my improv rustiness and clogged mind of stress.

I thought the theater was going to be at capacity but it wasn't. It was a good crowd, maybe 40 or 50, but I think everybody had a good time. Afterwards deb and I got my friend Heidi popp and her catering company 'meow meowz' to cater for an amazing rate. She was so great and her helper Jess. We had lots of left over food and drink and ate cupcakes for a week. People came to the after gathering which was cool and some of the True Blood people came too. It was a nice breather.

Planning the st Louis fundraiser seemed like it was going great. I had a bunch of great folks in st Louis helping me output it all went awry. Which was a real shame. I'll write about that later. Stay tuned. :)

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I'm running 12 marathons in 2012 blindfolded.
Check out my www.crowdrise.com/ejcurechm
Twitter...
@12marathons2012
@ejscott
3 down 9 to go
www.ejcurechm.blogspot.com

Los Angeles Marathon DONE!! 3 down 9 to go! (it might kill me)

I'm laying in bed the day after. I have my legs propped up and I'm anxious to watch the new Justice League : Doom animated movie I just bought on blu ray. But there's a lot to talk about.

I heard the first weather report earlier in the week. Maybe monday. And the forecast was for rain. I thought there's a probability for change since weather is so unpredictable. It's also a lot of me not wanting to run in the rain. It rained last year for the LA marathon, my guide this time was David Wright, who rait last year and said it was miserable.

Saturday night I was keeping a close eye on the weather and it all said rain. No 2 ways around it. We were going to get wet. Damn. Well I thought at least I'd be prepared. Luckily Deborah, my lady love, was going to be leap frogging to catch glimpses of me. So I thought I'd give her a bag with extra socks, running sneakers and shirts. So at least I can change out every 7 or 8 miles. Plus she got me a bunch of rain gear like ponchos and even a rain suit which had plastic pants a zip up jacket and a hood. Maybe my biggest concern was losing toe nails and getting blisters.

Debs parents came for a visit on Saturday and were going to be able to attend at least some of the race. Their first time doing something like this I think, at least for me anyway.

David and I went to the expo Saturday, it was pouring pretty much and most of the expo was outdoors, a new experience for me. We got out of there pretty quick. Then went to Big 5 sporting goods. I got pants and gloves, he got a jacket and gloves. All to be used the next day.

David, his wife, des parents an Patrick my camera guy were all coming over for pasta dinner. I wanted everyone out by 6pm so I could get some sleep. I haven't gotten decent sleep the night before a marathon yet. This past week I've been getting up earlier and earlier and going to bed earlier and earlier so I would be prepared to wake up at 330am Sunday morning.

We had a great feast of a meal and I rushed everybody out at 630. My girlfriend was going to sleep in another room so I could sleep without her disturbing me or vice versa. Which worked out great because I was falling asleep by 730 or so. Unfortunately I woke up at 130am. From there I was in and out of sleep until 4am when my girlfriend woke me up. 4am? I set my alarm for 330. I guess I set it wrong. It's a new alarm clock. I could've sworn I set it right.

Deb, Patrick and I were on out way by 435. Some confusion in the parking lot, apparently the guys in the parking lot didn't have the right info for where we needed to park. No big deal.

We figured that early because traffic would be crazy. Luckily my Facebook friend cat, sent me VIP passes for the dugout club in dodger stadium. That's where the race begins. The clubhouse was great. Real bathrooms to use, not porta potties. An assortment of breads and fruits. And just some place warm to hang out.

After hanging out for a long time and after my stretching, I started to dress in my rain gear. Shortly after the pants went on I heard Patrick say "Gordon, old you come over here?" I look over and it is non other than chef Gordon Ramsay of hells kitchen, kitchen nightmares, master chef and the oon to be hotel hell. I'm a huge fann. He's making his way over to me, my mouth drops I think I actually said "whoa!!". He shook my hand said hello and mentioned that the upcoming master chef season 3 has a visually disabled person. I was still in such shock I dont know what I said if anything. He took a pic with me and wished me luck. I couldn't believe it. That was great. I went back to changing and put on my plastic rain jacket and the hood and turned to Gordon and said do I look ready? He said I did, he came over again, I think he saw my sign on my back about what I'm doing this year because he said "3rd of 12, where's the next one?" I said st Louis. "not London?" I wanted to keep the 12 in the states this year. "well if you run London next year I'll run it with you" he said. (I don't think he knows I run with guides). Well, if that's true I will definitely run it. "you and I London marathon 2013 and I'll cook afterwards". I hope he's telling the truth. People say things a lot, but I will for sure follow up on this. He was very nice.

We get the boot from the clubhouse around 7. As I'm walking out a guy holds the door open for me and it's Sean Astin of goonies, Rudy and lord of the rings fame!! I tell him I'm a big fan and he inquired about how I'm going to run. I told him about my guides and my 12 in 12. He seemed impressed and said really encouraging things to me and what a nice guy! I was really excited to meet him. I wanted to be Mikey in goonies :)

we work our way through the 23,000 other runners to take our spot on line. I put my blindfold on and wait to hear david say we can start running.

It was too crowded. A lot of starting and stopping and bumping into people, needless walking when I'd rather be running. I was going too slow and I felt it. About a mile or two in I was over heating from the plastic rain gear. I had to get it off. David helped. I was covered in sweat. Now just because I was sweating didn't mean it was hot out. Oh no. It was cold and breezy, making me very very cold because now I'm wet!

Those first 8 miles were the worst maybe. My attitude was shitty and my muscles were already bothering me. I met with Deborah in the 8th mile somewhere. I was able to change a shirt get rid of the unnecessary rain gear and get going. I was trying not to listen to times. I don't want to know how I'm doing during the race. David let it slip that I was at over 2 hours for the 8 plus miles. That bummed me out. It was far slower than I'm use to. And at this rate it was going to take a very long time. I'm not concerned with breaking records but I've prepared myself for running just over 5 1/2 hours and it was looking like much longer at that rate.

We couldn't find a rhythm. No consistency. For the first time I tried the holding on to a towel thing. Where we each grab an end while running. I tried thus once with deb in training for Chicago in 2010 and i didn't feel connected to my guide. So I would hold on to my guides forearm.

This new way took some getting use to but I think I like it. It takes a lot of pain away from my shoulders and neck. I still had to grab his arm sometimes if It got congested or something. But it worked out ok.

One of the hardest things for me still during a race are the sounds. Having encouragement is great, but so many people have noise makers and there's a ton of screeching and screaming it does the opposite of encourage for me. It's just too much.

Then there are the weird runners that I can hear. Two from yesterday are a guy wearing cowbells and a guy literally making zombie noises. Not because tired or anything he's maybe just crazy? David was calling the walking runners "walkers" which, I mentioned is what the zombies are called on the walking dead, a favorite show of mine. So we would now refer to the walking runners as zombies.

I finished in 6:13:12. My worst time yet by 32 minutes. Ouch. Oh well, fuck it. I finished! I was so thrilled to be done and to have avoided the rain at least a little longer.

Liz from dr drew show was there to interview me and david. Maybe I'll get on his show again.

I got to Deborah and her parents, I got my medal and some pictures. A bagel and some water. Get me out of here.

Traffic getting out of Santa Monica was crazy(that's where th marathon ended. I think I forgot to mention that). Took a long time to get home, but the shower felt great. We went to a burger joint wher I had a beef burger (I usually get turkey) and 2 blue moons. It hit the spot alright.

I had heard the best thing after a race is an ice bath. I didn't like the sound of it but I tried it. I screamed and yelped the first 3 minutes. They say it takes only 30 seconds to get use to. That's a lie. I don't know how much good it did. I actually think I needed more ice in it. Maybe I'll try again next time.

I went home watched the season finale of the Walking Dead and Talking Dead got into bed and was asleep by 8pm I think. I had some solid sleep. Nothing like marathon sleep. It feels great. The soreness in the morning? Not so great.

Well, there it is. Thanks for reading and the support. Still looking for publicity for the year. Help if you can. Here are some links...

Www.crowdrise.com/ejcurechm

Www.facebook.com/ejscottpage

Www.facebook.com/12marthons2012

Www.curechm.org

Twitter...

@ejscott

@12marathons2012

Much love

Ej

Austin, TX marathon DONE!! 2 down 10 to go!!!

Sitting on the plane listening to jay - z blueprint 3 album. I just got it. I met jay once when i was working at virgin megastore in Hollywood. He was doing a signing and the employees got to meet him first. I made some silly joke about the marker he used to sign my cd being out of ink ( I asked if it was invisible ink?) he took a beat about to explain the marker was simply dried up, but realized I was kidding and started laughing. He said I was funny. That was pretty cool. I've been a fan of his ever since :) I like my rap with cursing, sorry Will Smith.

Friday

I had a rough flight in on Friday. In fact it was a rough few days leading up to it sleep wise. The anxiousness and stress of what I'm doing and trying to do may be taking a small toll on me. I'm having difficulty winding down at night and find myself waking up several times a night. My girlfriends been doing the same since I've known her, maybe she's just rubbing off on me. (that sounds dirty).

Deb had to drive me early in the morning and she had a long night at work the night before, so the two of us were zombied out. Before we left she wrote on my hats the state, city and date of my race. The hats are for me and for my guide. Or in this case guides.

At my gate before I boarded I got a great phone call from Liz telling me she was able to get me a meeting with lance Armstrong right before the marathon. I got pretty excited about that and I thought that was a good start to the weekend.

I took off On time but had an almost 2 hour lay over in el paso which turned into closer to 4 hours due to heavy winds in LA? Well that's what I heard. I was afraid of it getting worse because I had set up a fundraiser that night at an improv theater where I was going to perform for the first time in 8 months.

The last half of the short flight from el paso to Austin was turbulent. Thick dark saturated clouds made me feel how fast we were really going and hitting pockets on the way. Pockets of what? It feels like running over mini speed bumps.

It was raining alright. Soaked. And from what I hear the city needed it. Well that's fine but I didn't need it.

I got my checked Marlboro bag which I still mean to get rid of but I keep using it and it stands out on a carousel. (I use to smoke). Went out to find my ride. Two cars pulled up and out of one came my dad my cousin Katie, the other my mom and Katie's husband Jim. Katie and Jim moved to Austin about a year ago and Katie , by coincidence, was running the same marathon as me but just the first half with her friend, Alice from Canada. My parents have been traveling/vacationing for the last 6 weeks in Florida and south padre island, tx. Austin was there last stop before hopping a plane back to long island.

We didn't have too much time before my show. I needed some form of food and something to drink during my show, "shootin' the shit', a single scene long form improv show that takes place in a bar and I've been doing it on and off for about 8 years. Its a form I can easily invite guests to play in. And that's what I was doing this time.

After a quick soup and salad at chik fil a we headed over to the Institution Theater owned and run by Tom Booker. Tom was my first teacher at Second city almost 9 years ago in LA. He moved to Austin a few years back. And I knew Irene White from iO West in LA. She moved to Austin 2 years ago and is a fantastic improvisor and person. So those two were my guests for the show.

Liz works for CNN and was in touch with me about last months dr drew appearAnce. She was planning on having a crew at the Austin run and even being at my show. And sure enough there she was with her man Marcus. Really sweet couple.

My camera guys Patrick and John came into town the day before for other stuff and were able to get some root beers for the show that we were going to pretend was real beer. I got there plenty early and said hi to tom and Irene and Liz and whoever else I needed to say hi to. It was going to be a mild audience. The rain was probably going to keep some people away if they were planning on coming out. Didn't matter. I was pretty delirious and was really looking forward to sleeping.

We did a quick 25 min ish show for about 15 people. I had fun and Tom and Irene were great. Afterwards we said our goodbyes although I didn't get a pic with the three of us together and I've been kicking myself ever since.

I stayed with Katie and jim in driftwood where they have an outstanding house. My parents, and the guys got their own hotel rooms. Katie picked up Alice from the airport but by that time I was trying to wind down. It was about 1am or so Austin time that I got to sleep.

Saturday

Up around 7 I think. Maybe 730. Katie was making breakfast for everybody. So everybody came over at 8am. I spent three hours a couple of nights earlier on the computer looking for Austin press to contact about my story. I sent out dozens of Emails and they were starting to pay off. I had two interviews that morning. One with a local school radio station and the other is a big newspaper called the Statesman. I was meeting both at the expo. The expo is where you go to get your bib number and there's hundreds or thousands of people shopping for running stuff.

I met with Erika. She was waiting for me with an intern named autumin. Both ladies were very sweet and fun to talk with. It was the radio interview. Erika talked with me for about 30 min but only about less than 2 minutes made it to the airwaves. I mentioned that I was going to meet lance Armstrong and she brought up apparent charges that had recently been dropped against him for enhancement performing drugs. I said that was the first I was hearing about it, but I don't think she believed me. But I didn't have enough info to give an accurate answer so that's what I told her and it was true. Don't harsh my buzz Erika.

Heres a link to that interview.....

http://bit.ly/y7psvq

My "entourage". Was huddled around a small table in the expo waiting for me. I felt bad because all this stuff took hours. Because my next interview was with Ciara with the statesman. She came with a photographer (jay). They brought me to an empty hallway of the expo, took some pics and Ciara talked with me on the floor of the hallway for a good while. She didn't have a recorder of any kind just her pad and pen. I was impressed by her quick shorthand.

Heres the Statesman interview....

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/blind-runner-competing-in-austin-marathon-for-retinal-2185081.html

Afterwards I went back to my group and Katie took me to get my bib and some clif bloks for the next days race. We had some time before Ryan and Maureen, his girlfriend, would get to the expo from the airport. They just landed and were renting a car. Ryan had hurt his foot, I forget the name, miniscus? Anyway he was originally going to run the whole thing with me. He ran my very first half marathon with me in August 2010 in Chicago. He's the one on a lot of the tv and even press I've gotten he's the one with me. But he was concerned about doing a full marathon with how his foot was feeling and we had already booked flight and registered under his name for the race, so Maureen was kind enough to volunteer to relay guide me.

When they showed up we talked about his foot. He said it still hurt a lot and was real concerned with it. Minutes earlier katie came up to me and volunteered herself for a future full marathon as long as I gave her time to train. Cut back, I turned to Katie and asked her if she could run with me the first half. Or more accurately the first 11 miles. That's where the halfers split off in the course. Without hesitation, she was on board. Great. So how it was going to work was Katie the first 11 miles, Maureen the next 11 and Ryan to swing in for the final 4.2 and "take all the glory" as he said. So this was going to be interesting. But I was excited for the support and love from everybody.

So everything was set and it was time to split off. I went with Katie to her house and we got ready for a big pasta filled meal that she was making that night. A couple hours later everybody was there. 10 people in total scarfing down pasta and garlic bread like there's no tomorrow. But there is a tomorrow. There most certainly is. And tomorrow was going to be a big deal.

Sunday

Dammit! Another night of no sleep. Okay no sleep is an exaggeration but I only got about 4-5 hours. Took forever to settle my mind after I packed And set up just hours earlier. 3 am I woke up. And I was already slightly panicked.

Did I mention the rain hadn't stopped from the time I landed Friday til sometime during this past night? The weather report said no rain so I was fairly confident that wouldn't be an issue. Here's to hoping for an accurate weather report.

I layed in bed for a while and checked up on my social networking. Eventually I got up and just started to try to get my head straight. I decided not to tell anyone how little sleep I got so I wouldn't worry them and so they would cause me any extra worry.

We needed to meet lance Armstrong at 615 in a parking lot. Since Katie lives a bit far out we left her place at 530am. It was pitch black outside and DRY! The plan was that my three guides were going to meet lance as well. We got to the parking lot early and I was excited. Liz met with us with her camera crew and said he would show between 615 and 640. Uh... Ok... But I need to stretch! And all that's around is either concrete road or wet grass. Ok not as dry as I said earlier. I usually stretch on the ground and I was not quite sure what to do. It was cold out for sure. While getting dressed I wisely put on a long sleeve shirt under my short sleeve. Man did I need it. Probably in the 40s at that time.

I got word that only Katie and I were going to meet lance. I felt bad getting Ryan and Maureen's hopes up to meet him. That was a bit of a downer. But a van pulled up about ten yards away or so and two figures started jogging over my way. It was pretty dark out and without the light from the camera crew it would've been tough to make out lance. He shook hands and did greetings with Liz and the crew and then myself and Katie. It was a very pleasant exchange until the awkward silence. Was I suppose to say something? Or him? Actually I was waiting for questions to be asked to either lance or myself. And finally they started coming from the cameraman. Lance was talking about the livestrong foundation and run and was saying some really nice things about me. He had read my story and said he even tried to walk around his kitchen with his eyes closed. I'd like to believe that's true. But he was a real nice guy and I think it's really impressive the things he's done and I'm sure I don't know even half of what good he's done in the world. I wonder how much responsibility or pressure he feels. I wonder if he still wakes up two hours before his alarm goes off from a restless mind. I would've Like to ask him these questions but I didn't want to cross a line. But I was able to get a few jokes in there and make him laugh a bit. That was cool. He was going to run about 15 miles of the race. Turns out the course passes by his neighborhood so he was going to run home.

I got a couple pics with him and off we all went towards the starting line. I was trying to meet up with a guy that was trying to do a quick interview with me for tv and it was too chaotic and I ended up in a place I did'nt think I would be at so I missed that guy. I was brought to the beginning of the race line with my camera guy and Katie. I handed off my stuff to Ryan and said I'll see ya later. Lance went to make an announcement and say hi to the runners on mic. While I was brought to a spot on the course. I was suppose to wait for my coral. No problem because I still haven't stretched! And the race was about 2 minutes away from starting. I dropped to the ground and stretched as best as I could with limited room and even more limited comfort. Katie, alice and Patrick tried to block the runners that were heading toward the start from stepping all over me.

After as adequate a stretch as I could get I put my blindfold on and asked Katie to put suntan lotion on my exposed areas. Cuz I forgot about that too!! And the sun was coming up, even though there were some clouds still hanging out from the previous days.

Ok ready not it's time to run. And here go....

I heard 18,000 people were running that day. I knew it would be crowded the first 11 miles until the split. The majority of the people were running only half. And it's a really windy , crazy course from the map. So the first couple hours were going to be tricky. Little did I know how hilly the course was. Man!! That shit was murder on my calves and my butt. Alice voluntarily became my scout. Much like my cousin Jenny did for my full marathon Chicago, 10/10/10. She went ahead of us and asked people to move out of the way. That was invaluable.

It wasnt raining but I was freezing. It was windy and the sweat on my long sleeve shirt was cold against my body. That was making nervous. I needed less cold and less hills. We did the exchange at mile 11 and Maureen joined me. We had maybe the biggest hill yet after she started running with me. How I like to run the marathons is a light stride to the mile maker and then walk for a minute or so and take off to the next marker. Usually around mile 20 I need to take more walking breaks. well I kept that up until about mile 14, then we did run for 5 min and walking break, run for 5 min and walking break. I was afraid the whole course was going to be hilly, lucky most of the second half was flat or going down. Going down is better than going up but it has it's own discomfort. I'm landing on my feet harder and I can feel that on my joints. But I was making it. And it was getting warmer.

I could hear my family as I would pass cheering and others cheered along the way too. Some runners even ran up to me to talk about seeing me on tv or reading about me in the statesman that morning. Some really kind words were said and that was really great.

I had no idea how I was doing time wise. I figured pretty bad because of the hills and extra walking breaks. But I didn't care. My focus was to finish. That's it.

Mile 22 came up and the final exchange of the day with Ryan. 4.2 miles to go. I was going to make it. I knew it. No turning back. I can smell the finish line which was impressive considered how badly I smelled.

I ran almost the whole last mile without a break. I wanted that finish line and I wanted it now. I could hear the crowd and the announcer at the finish. In front of me was a woman who ran the whole thing in firemans garb. She was running for fallen firefighters I think. That's pretty crazy too. Lucky for her it wasn't hot out that day. She would've been in trouble I think. But look who's talking.

The announcer said something about me as I crossed the finish, I have no idea what he said. Ryan confirmed my finish and I gave him a big hug.

I was met at the finish by Liz and the dr drew crew. My parents were there too, but I couldn't see anybody still because I had my eyes closed even though I took off the blindfold. My mom gave me a big crying hug and she could barely get out any words through her sobs. And as Liz asked me questions I started getting pretty emotional myself. That'll make for good tv. :). And then Sara from fox 7 news was there too. We had set up trying to meet all weekend. I talked with her real brief but i was excited to be interviewed by her.

Heres that interview...

Livestrong Austin Marathon: MyFoxAUSTIN.com

So that was it. After taking some pictures scarfing down a bagel and some water it was time to take a walk to the car. Oh great a walk.

Another guy wanted to interview me at my hotel. That night and the next I stayed at a hotel. I was brought to the hotel and John got me a subway sandwich. I showered finally after my brief interview and my meal. And after I put bags of ice on my thighs and knees.

I didn't really want to go out anywhere so I stayed in, Ryan and Maureen got me some ice cream and said their goodbyes. THey had an early flight the next morning. I was tired and really just wanted to go to sleep. I was able to catch myself on fox at 5pm and taped it on my phone. Maybe theres one online thats better.

Later I watched Celebrity Apprentice. Im rooting for Adam Corolla and Lisa Lampanelli. Lisa did my very first benefit show in 2004 in LA and Adam had me on his radio show when I was promoting the bike trip across country that my brother in law did and I went with him.

my final time was 5hrs 41min 12sec. Not bad. way better than i thought i would do. But i only had 2 pee breaks during the race and that probably helped my time.

The next day my parents and I went to the LBJ Library and swung by the capital so I could take a closer look at that. And had a nice dinner with Katie, Jim and Alice.

Tuesday morning was my flight and I squeezed in a quick interview with Texas University tv station. If I find the link I'll put it up here.

I would end up leaving some stuff in Patricks rental van and he would check it with a bag of his, which southwest then LOST! So im missing a camera and some clothes which SUCKS!!! Hopefully theyll pop up.

Im now finishing this blog at my house in LA. I taped the Dr Drew show yesterday and just watched it air today. Nice guy that Dr Drew and a great crew that works at the show. Everybodys really nice there. i like it there. :)

I guess thats it for now. I really need some more press for this year. My next marathon is Los Angeles. I have a fundraiser on MARCH 30th at 8pm at SECOND CITY on Hollywood Blvd. Im trying to get a celeb guest to improvise with.

Also i just signed up for the Hollywood Half Marathon April 7th. Yes Im crazy. But you may be crazier for reading this whole blog. Good on you!!

Please help spread the word and reTweet and rePost and donate and do whatever you can. Thanks so much!!! St Louis Marathon in APRIL!!!!

best

EJ

@ejscott

@12marathons2012