Tag Archives: Running

Beware of Lawnmowers

I found this very interesting image this morning after looking through Joe Rogan’s Twitter posts (I swear I’m not a stalker). I decided to post it here and discuss.

3020280-slide-s-3-world-things

My observations:

1. Who can’t love Canada… Maple Syrup is delicious.

2. If we ever, as the USA, are threatened by Brazil, I demand the whole country to stand up, point at them, laugh in their face and say, “Soccer?! Really???”

3. Note to self: Always wear sunscreen in Australia.

4. Since penguins are my favorite animals, a trip to Antarctica may be in my future.

5. If you ever want to see lighting strike twice, just head south of the border, to Mexico…

 

Ok, well besides that, this is my running blog, and today is the start of a 4 day, 35 mile running adventure as my Dopey training really starts to ramp up. 3 today, 3 tomorrow, 8.5 Saturday, and 20 on Sunday will make for a long weekend. I love training though, so I am actually very excited about it. I told you yesterday that I am vowing to post more, and this is a great weekend to do so…

Disneyland Half Marathon Wrap Up

Well I made it through another half marathon!

Overall, I feel great about my body, great about my finish, and loved every minute of this race. One unusual thing about this race was that I got very nervous prior to the race. It was hot, crowded, and there were lots of other runners all trying to funnel through a small area. My brother came to cheer me on and be my pit crew, which was very helpful but not quite as comforting as when my mom is there to take care of me.

The Disneyland Half was the best I have run so far, proving to myself that I can run for time and can continue to PR if I push myself. In fact, I am finding it hard NOT to push myself for time. While I would like to take my time and enjoy the festivities on the course, I can’t seem to get over the fact that I am running fast and keeping a good pace.

Throughout the race, my per mile pace hovered right around 11:31 per mile, and my finish time was almost exactly 15 minutes faster than my last half. I finished at 2:30:56, and am sure that I could finish in under 2:30 in my next one.

it was really a great race, and a great course. I am excited to do more half in the near future, as well as this race again. I just can’t explain how special Disney races are. I wouldn’t be a runner if I hadn’t run my first marathon at Disney.

 

So Close, Yet So Far Away

Well it is the last day of August, and since my disappointing 4th of July showing, lots of things have changed in my life.

1. I got engaged!!!! It only took 6.5 years.
2. My brother moved into me. It is just till December, but it is quite a change, since I am so used to living by myself.
3. I have been training my butt off for a half marathon that I am running first thing tomorrow morning. Again my passion for Disney and running collide as I run the Disneyland Half Marathon.
4. My workload has nearly quadrupled. I’ve always been busy, but this is a different kind of busy.

Is that enough for you?

Anyway, I am sitting in my hotel, just waiting for my alarm to go off tomorrow morning. I am so excited to run a race again, and I am convinced that I have to run more, which shouldn’t be a problems since I have the Dopey coming up in January.

Hoping to post again this weekend, after the race with my results. Attempting to beat my PR of 2:43:05. Keep your fingers crossed!

Disappointment

6aabc67294ffc8340787ba5e8ca77022Well, 2 days ago was supposed to be my big Swagtastic Half Marathon. I was so excited about it. I ate very well the 2 days before the race. I hydrated. I laid out my clothing the night before and placed my gels in my running belt. I was ready to go.

Wednesday morning the alarm went off at 5:00 am, and the coffee maker started running. I got all ready, had a small cup of coffee and an english muffin with peanut butter, and while I didn’t feel great, I was still excited to get moving. I started out fast, keeping my miles under 12 minutes, which is a record for me. Mile one went by, mile two was ok, but by the time I got to mile three, I felt extremely winded, exhausted and started chilled. By 3.5 miles, I was shaking so back that I wasn’t running in a straight line. I stopped at mile four.

I am so disappointed in myself, but the truth of the matter is that I have been very sick. I had a fever most of the 4th of July, lots of chest congestion and a bad cough. The worst part is that I was on pace to beat my half marathon PR by 10 minutes.

Oh well… Life goes on, and so does my training. I hope to get back on the road by the first of the week, and we will try again on Labor Day.

A Good End to a Challenging Week

I had a rough week. You could probably tell by my last post. But fortunately it has ended better than it began. I feel like I have really gotten my running on track this week, which is good, because I have a half marathon on Thursday. I am very excited about it actually, and I am working on my game plan to make sure I am prepared. I am hoping to finish in under 2:42:15, as that was my time at the Disney World Marathon… I finished in 2:45:05 for the Half Marathon, and then ran faster the next day… oddly enough.

I’ll keep you updated on this week’s progress…

Podcasts, Plants, Parental Control

Well, I am three podcasts in now, and I am pretty sure that I am the only one that has downloaded them… But then again, I don’t think anyone reads this blog either, which is perfectly fine with me. I have a lot of things to say about myself and my life, and just saying them out loud helps me as much as saying them to a live human person. I always look weird recording on my runs, but it helps me maintain a good pace. Recording in my car is the most fun. It takes my mind off the awful traffic, and I seem to be able to get into deep thought better when I am driving. I love recording, and talking about my goals as a woman, marketing director and runner. I am going to keep moving forward, keep getting better, and hopefully keep recording and writing, because it seems like a good outlet for me.

Item number 2 on the agenda tonight is that I am considering getting a plant. Big step, right?

So I take these 2 little girls to school every morning. They live right around the corner from me. I go to their house every morning at 7, pack their lunches, get them dressed, do their hair, feed them breakfast, and walk them to school. Many days when I arrive, I am frustrated to find that much of the work is already done, and so I spend an hour sitting there just waiting, when I know I could be at home getting other things done. Today, the 5 year old got smart with me while the mom was standing there, and the mom just laughed. I was in complete shock. If I had acted like that when I was her age, my parents would have beaten my behind. So I am now to the point where I don’t feel like being harassed by a 5 year old, especially when the parents allow it. If I am lucky enough to able to have children some day, I PROMISE they will be more respectful and well behaved than these children…

Ok, enough for now, but I am updating my racing page, so check that out to see what I have coming up…

Walt Disney World Half Marathon Review

Half Marathon CourseI am super excited, because I have been waiting for almost 2 months now to give you a review of the Disney World Marathon and Half Marathon. The reason for the delay is that I have been waiting to get my marathon photos. The CD arrived today, and I am happy to share them with my blog readers.

After a 2 am wake up call, we arrived at Epcot  just before 3. When a race starts at 5:35 am, you have to get going pretty early to be ready to run 13.1 miles. After weaving my way through a very congested pre-race area, I walked the near mile trail to the start line to wait in a corral for another hour. The pre-race process at Disney is very taxing! I finally crossed the start line about 6:05 am, and the congested feeling that had been present all morning continued on the race course.

I have posted a map of the course. From the start of the race, we head straight on Epcot Center Drive, and then proceed on the ramp to World Dr. The course was so congested here that I was ready to scream. The combination of a very full race (27,000+people) and a narrowing course caused me some major problems. While I used the Galloway method to complete the Goofy Challenge over this weekend, I run quite a bit faster than many of the folks I was 725161_1015_0002corralled with. I was walking because I simply couldn’t get by people, not because I wanted to. By mile 5, we were in the Magic Kingdom, where I dropped off my tech shirt to my mom near the castle, and moved along the course.

I finished this race strong, but disappointed and frustrated that I felt stifled by the crowd. My finish time was 2:45:05, which was my goal actually. I was excited and frustrated to think that I could have easily run that race a lot faster had I not been held back by the thick crowd of runners.

The rest of the day was spent sleeping, relaxing and refueling for the big day that was coming. My body felt pretty good for having run 13 miles, but my feet were a bit sore. Mom ordered us Outback, steaks and vegetables for dinner, and we took them back to the resort, sat by the pool and ate. After dinner that evening, I jumped in the hot tub for about 20 minutes to recover a bit. It was all the perfect combination, because the next day went splendidly…

More on the full marathon soon…

 

Mission: Accomplished

I am back home, back home after 39.3 miles on the roads of the Walt Disney World resort. I made it. The Goofy Challenge is complete, and I (excuse my language, but after almost 40 miles I think it is warranted) FUCKING ROCKED IT!!!! Thought I would give all my readers… if there are any… a summary of my race. So here it goes.

I have never really cared about my time when I run. It’s about completing a distance. Well that magically changed at WDW. I started the half marathon with 27,000 others on a crazy crowded course. It was jam packed with people who thought a half would be easy… very few serious runners. It was a very frustrating run, because of the crowds, and I ended up finishing in 2:45:05. My goal was 2:45:00, so I was very happy with that. I definitely thought that I could have run it 5-15 minutes faster without the mass of people I had to weed through.

I felt good the morning of the marathon, and was ready for a very hot day… A heat advisory was in effect due to the combination of temperature and humidity. As I crossed the start line, I felt amazing. Upon approaching the 5 mile mark, I realized that I was really doing great. My time was at exactly an hour, and I felt awesome. By mile 10, I was cruising. At the half way point, I realized that I had PRed from the day before, decreasing my time by 3+ minutes. It got very hot very fast on the course, and by mile 17 I started to worry a bit when I was getting the chills. I immediately made sure that my mind set was all about fluid, and I stopped at every water station there after. It continued to happen, but I was doing ok. I started really feeling the heat between mile 20 and 21, but I just slowed down a bit, and made it into Hollywood Studios with few problems. As Epcot approached, I was again cruising. It wasn’t hard, it was just a matter of continuing to move. I was nearly brain dead by the finish line, as I just couldn’t even comprehend what I had just done, but was overwhelmed with joy. I got a PR on my marathon by about 21 minutes.

So happy… I missed this amazing feeling that running give you. I am so happy to have it back, and I am not going to lose it again. More races are in my near future. Thanks for everyone’s support, kind words, and help over the past year of training. I am excited to re-evaluate my plan and continue to grow as a runner.

In the Words of Bruce Buffer…

Here We Go! I am currently sitting in the parking lot at Epcot. It is 3:14 am, and I am so ready to run this half marathon, it’s not even funny! I am so proud if myself for pushing hard enough to make the dream or running the Goofy a reality. When you work so hard for something, it makes the final experience so rewarding. But there are 2 things that are overwhelming me at the moment. The first is actually finishing all 39.9 miles with my body still intact, and the other is what I’m going to do when I get home from this. Training becomes such a huge part of your life, that’s it is super hard to be prepared for what to do next when it is finally finished.

As for now, I am going to go run…

Butterflies

Ok, it is really starting to set in. The self-doubt, the nervousness, and the tiny voice saying, “WTF am I doing?!?” I am really gonna run 2 very big races this weekend, and I am really starting to get nervous. I have been living on East Coast time over the last few days, getting up at 3:00 am, going to be at like 6 or 7 pm. I am going to finally pack tonight… which should have been done this weekend, but was put off because I didn’t want to feel this way any longer than I had to.

Gonna try to get a short run in tonight, then finalize stuff at work tomorrow before the big trip on Thursday. SO much to worry about, but I know it will all be fine. Heck, worst case scenario I walk, right??