Run long enough in the woods and the flowers that were budding on the way out will be in full bloom on the way home. When you study the trail map, follow the arrows and let Siri help, a 20K is a real 20K. But after the runners spread out and you are alone in the woods, you will still doubt yourself, although you can hear the birds much better. RunKeeper will tell you the elevations of all four hills you climbed, but it’s best to not know such details until after the race is done. Sand is for horses. But a Bob Ross tattoo on a man’s calf kind of works. Two years of trail racing with RunnerSusan and that jar of honey and organic bamboo shirt still makes excellent swag.

This beauty is just down the road.

WPA bridge over the Brazos River, Graford, Texas, April 12, 2014

And while we were there taking pictures, a guy caught an excellent bass.

We came. We ate pink, praline-filled macaroons and pink pan dulce. And cheered the pink coffin.

Denton’s Day of the Dead Festival 2013. (Click on phwolfeDRC to see more short videos from the races on Tout)

The first order of business for the Puzzle Scuttle is to cheer the 1K fun-runners, some of whom have autism, at the finish line. On a cold morning, you can warm up for the race like Michael by taking a quick jog around the parking lot and shedding your warm up suit. Or, as I prefer, by sitting in the pick-up with a downy vest over your knees. When the TCU track star helps guide the crowd in some stretching exercises at the starting line, you must try to look like the elite runner and not the Chick-Fil-A cow doing the same routine next to him. A 5K loop around Amon Carter Stadium has five uphill climbs and two downhill runs, proving that you can go to and from school uphill both ways. The race may have been big, but Fort Worth is small, so you will see other runners having a big French breakfast at La Madeleine afterwards just like you. Always say yes when your son finds a challenge because you may find a new personal best. Oh yeah. Came in at 9:25 pace, ranked 1st in age group, 2nd for runners age 40+, and 25th out of 121. Michael ran a 7:13 pace. Come to think of it, maybe his warm-up way is the right idea after all.

A boy pulling his fishing net from White Rock Lake is such a joyful sight it will make you crash into your running buddy. A woman running with her dogs behind you is less scary than a pack of schoolteachers running behind you.

You have to add some outs-and-backs to a run around the lake to get the miles in. If you don’t get the out-and-backs lurking around the lovely Lakewood neighborhood, just drive the neighborhood when the race is over instead.

You aren’t wasting your time wishing for good weather in Texas if she dishes up sunny, dry and 65 degrees. Weed-whacking the lake’s edge waits for no one.

Two years of training for long races makes for a deeper level of mental toughness, but you gotta stop and look at the pumpkin houses anyways.