From the Inside Out

I just completed my 32-mile Tour de Cure cycling journey so what’s next? Well, I’m seriously considering participation in the annual City of Richardson Corporate Challenge. It’s an 8-week Olympic style competition involving 22 athletic and non-athletic events. Participants are comprised of employees, spouses, managers, retirees and volunteers from the Richardson-area business community. The Corporate Challenge kicks-off with an opening ceremony and then continues with competitions in physical events ranging from softball, cycling, basketball and flag football, to the more sedentary events including darts, billiards and miniature golf. The Challenge wraps up with a closing ceremony in October.

I’m thinking about participating in the 9-mile bike race in September. This would be unlike anything I’ve ever done before. Instead of focusing on distance, this competition focuses on speed. The cycling teams work together to help their lead riders get the fastest course times, and then the top two male and female riders combine their times for ranking among companies. In past years, the Cisco team has medaled in this event. It would be really fun to participate.

Gary and I are going to try the qualifying route this weekend to see if our speeds are up to par. The good news for me is that they desperately need female riders, especially competitive ones. I’m not sure how fast I am, but I think I might be able to do it. Besides, I still have a few weeks to train and get faster. It’ll be fun to try, and if I can’t do it, I can still participate in the recreational ride to help support the team and give them more points.

I’ll keep everyone posted and let you know how it goes. In the mean time, here are a few more pictures from our Tour de Cure ride this weekend.

The “early” riders from the Cisco Team. I’m the short one in the back waving.

The 32, 15, and 5-milers from the Cisco team posing with our banner.

Now for the crazy fun shot!

Me and Gary with a couple of Team Cisco riders at the first rest stop.

After work on Friday, Gary and I traveled to Ft. Worth to begin our “Tour de Cure” weekend. Tour de Cure is a series of cycling events held in 43 states nationwide to benefit the American Diabetes Association. The North Texas cycling event was being held this year at the Texas Motor Speedway. We decided to spend the night nearby at the Marriott Hotel & Golf Club at Champions Circle so we wouldn’t have a long drive early in the morning. Tour de Cure registration started at 6 am, and our ride was scheduled to begin at 7 am.

After getting a few hours of sleep, we got up around 5:30 am and made our way to the track a few minutes after 6:00. Riders were already there getting prepped for their journey. We joined them and met up with the rest of our group in the “Team Cisco” tent near the starting line. Team Cisco was comprised of 18 riders — each riding various distances. Routes ranged from a minimum of 5 miles and a maximum of 100 miles. I rode the 32-mile course, and Gary rode the 64-mile course.

At 7 am, our team lined up at the start of the course. All riders began with a lap on the Texas Motor Speedway track with a pace car leading the way. It was a blast being able to ride on the actual Speedway track. Below is a picture of the starting line.

Ready for the ride to start!

The first rest stop was at the 10-mile mark. It’s a great place to take a quick break and stock up on snacks or water/gatorade.

A look back at the route we traveled to arrive at the first rest stop. After leaving the speedway, most of the course was comprised of small country roads.

A quick picture of me and Gary before starting the next leg of the course.

We came across the second rest stop about six miles later. It was a nice, shady area with more water, healthy snacks, and mechanics (in case you needed assistance with your bike). This was the turn around point for riders following the 32-mile route.

Gary got ready to depart for the 60-mile course as I turned back to follow the 32-mile path.

I finished the 32-mile course a little after 10 am. Volunteers were cheering for everyone at the finish line. It felt great to be done! At the end of the ride, I joined back up with other Team Cisco riders at the tent to share ride stories and get some much needed rest. Also, because Cisco raised over 13K, we were eligible for free massages. After resting, I journeyed over to the massage tent and took advantage of a nice chair massage — just what my aching muscles needed after a long ride!

The Tour de Cure event also had a number of other fun activities at the finish line — live band, free pizza, sponsor tents with give aways, free GMC test drives, Humane Society exhibit, and various snacks/drinks. It was a fun, festive atmosphere. It also provided some good entertainment while I was waiting for Gary to finish his long ride.

The Cisco team hung out together, cheered riders crossing the finish line and took some group pictures towards the end of the event. I’ll share those later when I get copies. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. I was using my iPhone so I didn’t take a large number of pics today.

All in all, it was a fantastic day! I had a great time at the event. It was well organized and benefited a fantastic cause. I hope to be able to do it again next year. For now though, I’m recuperating — and resting my sore, tired body!

We held our first writer’s meeting for Saturday Night Life this evening. Each year, we gather a small team of brilliant writers that make the magic (and the laughs) happen. This year is no exception.

Kick-off meetings always start with the writers pitching out sketch ideas, which in turn spawns other ideas, and eventually we find ourselves with a good number of potential sketches for the show. The most popular ideas are assigned to writers who work them into fully developed outlines. The outlines are then presented during the next meeting, and that’s when the fun really begins. We have to select the sketch outlines that are good enough to make it into the show. Narrowing down all of the options into a list of 12-13 sketches and 4-5 videos is not an easy process!

Once we have a final schedule, the script writing process begins. Our writers have about two weeks to finish their scripts before going into casting and rehearsals. It’s an aggressive schedule, but it works flawlessly.

I won’t give away any of the ideas at this early stage, but I will share the dates/times of when you can see the results of our efforts. This year’s Saturday Night Life show will be held on Friday and Saturday, October 8-9 at 7:30 pm at Abundant Life Church. Mark your calendar now, so you don’t miss the fun!

Gary’s company hosted a private party for employees (and their families) at Main Event tonight. The evening included dinner and full run of the house — games, laser tag, bowling and pool. All for free!

The most interesting (and fun) part of the evening; however, was the Gravity Ropes Course. It’s something that’s available only at the Main Event in Frisco, TX, and it’s definitely worth trying. Main Event says to think of the gravity ropes course as simply walking through the park. Well, walking through the park over rope bridges, narrow beams and planks while suspended from a lanyard that holds you high over the crowd below. It’s an “obstacle course on steroids.”

They place a harness on you, attach a rope, and connect it to their overhead safety system (which will catch you if you fall). You then climb stairs at the back of the course and arrive at the first platform. From there, you have many options from which to choose. There is a variety of rope courses, each one with varying levels of difficulty. You can traverse a few or try them all.

We had only 15 minutes so I wasn’t able to do it all, but I had a blast trying. The only thing that would’ve made it better would have been a zip line at the end. Now that would have been cool!

If you haven’t tried a ropes course before, stop by the Frisco location, and give it a whirl. It was free at the party, but if you go on the weekend, the price ranges from $5-$7. Not bad for a bit of defying gravity fun.

No, I haven’t been abducted by aliens, locked in jail, or banned from blogging. If you are wondering where I’ve been lately, I’ve been busy working on the Summer drama production at ALC (in addition to being overworked on my day job and helping with my dad).

Johnny Unforgettable premiered this weekend at ALC. It’s a film noir murder mystery set in the 1940s, and it features detective Johnny Howland who is trying to unravel a mystery while dealing with an untimely case of amnesia. It’s an entertaining and family friendly play — and we had great fun performing it.

The audiences were amazing; they made it worth all of the effort. I can’t even begin to tell you how many hours we invest into these productions, but by the end of the show, I’m always happy we did it, even though I feel like I need a vacation.

Here are a few highlights from the show:

Putting the final touches on the set

Sid finds a confused Johnny in the park

Vivian and Laura explain the details of the case…again.

Laura confronts Johnny

Veronica sings at the Skullking Rooster Cafe

Johnny questions Veronica about her husband’s death

Laura and Johnny find themselves in a little bit of trouble

The action begins…

And here’s my favorite detective with his New Jersey waitress