Retirement Hiatus: Tinker Bell Half Marathon Recap

Ohhhhh, hi.

On Sunday, I ran Tink at the Disneyland Resort for the third straight year- I'm a legacy runner, and intend to run this event every year, for ever and ever. And ever. (Even next year, when they move the even to May. Honestly, this is a change I LOVE - people keep yapping about how hooooooootttttttttt it will be, but I feel like they are wrong. Our May mornings are cool and almost always foggy and overcast, and that is my most favorite running weather. And, PS, DID YOU KNOW the last three years, the January date has been HOT in the afternoon?).

Saturday, Becka and I volunteered at the runDisney Kid's Races, along with Sheila. We were lucky enough to get tasked with handing out medals - which was pretty much the funnest thing I've ever done. Do you know that kids are SUPER PSYCHED about getting medals?

Here's another Did You Know - dyk every medal is individually wrapped, and has to be unwrapped by volunteers?

If you've been watching national news lately, you might know that SoCal (and all of California, really) has been experiencing a crazy drought - January is supposed to be our rainiest month of the year, but it's been dry all month. Additionally, last week was HOT HOT HOT, and windy. It was not ideal running weather, which is the excuse I'd like to use for my 0 mileage lately (in reality, that's chalked up to sheer laziness). So I was really excited that the weather race morning looked cool and comfortable - and, if we were really fast, it would stay that way for the duration of the race, thanks to the super duper early start time of 5am.

We actually had some goals going into the race this time....
A Goal: Beat Becka's Baker's Dozen time of 2:48ish
B Goal: Sub-3
C Goal: Disney PR, sub 3:08

As always, we planned to stop for pictures, and always walking aid stations. Because I'm an excellent planner (more accurately, "excellent planner"), I made a point to charge my camera the night before - I carried a dead camera around during some race Disneyland weekend, and didn't want to repeat my mistake, so I made SURE that bish was charged.

Unfortunately for meeeeeeee, it never occurred to me to make sure there was a memory card in the camera. so... oops.

We (deservingly, duh) started in corral A, which I really think made all the difference in the world for us. We went out at a comfortable pace, stopped at about a dozen character pictures, and experienced NONE of the normal bottle necking and frustration we normally find through the parks.

Crazy, right? Who knew that running was the key.

Caption all: WE ARE THE FUNNEST.

Around mile 5, the course leaves the parks, heads through Downtown Disney, and past the Red Hat Ladies, who are SO great. They are for sure my favorite part of this race, they are so energetic and encouraging and loud and FUN.

And then mile 6, you're out in Anaheim, and the course is just the city from there. I don't love the rest of the course, I think it's FINE, but it's certainly not the same as running through Disney World. This year, I would have SWORN the course was changed, because I for real didn't recognize any of it.... but it wasn't changed. It was the same. I have run-nesia.

Anyway. I warned Becka pretty soon after leaving the park that I was not sure I would be able to maintain whatever pace we were at, because I was not feeling great. Nothing felt bad, nothing felt broken, I just know I haven't been putting in the miles, and was preparing us both for the eventual brain breakage.

I kind of implemented the same strategy I used at Holiday Half - just keep running (that isht is trademarked, don't steal it) - and SHOCKINGLY, it worked. Our splits, stolen from Becka:

Official Time - 2:41:23
Official 5k - 38:20
Official 10k - 1:29:27
Official 15k - 2:02:29
Garmin Time - 2:41:23
Garmin Pace - 11:48
Garmin Moving Time - 2:19:58
Garmin Moving Pace - 10:14
Mile 1 - 10:21
Mile 2 - 12:43
Mile 3 - 13:01
Mile 4 - 21:39 (This obviously, was the bulk of the pictures)
Mile 5 - 13:37
Mile 6 - 11:15
Mile 7 - 10:47
Mile 8 - 10:35
Mile 9 - 10:33
Mile 10 - 10:37
Mile 11 - 10:25
Mile 12 - 10:19
Mile 13 - 8:57 (!!?!)
Mile 13.68 - 9:39

Huh! When I realized what our time was coming in as, I was SHOCKED. I didn't wear my Garmin, so I was listening to B call out our pace at the mile markers, but didn't really put it all together. 

we are SHOCKED

 

Soooooo, we killed our goal, and obviously we were the Fastest People Ever, AND now for real I might retire?

Adventures in Tri - iTRYathlon training, week 5

Week 1 HERE
Week 2 HERE
Week 3 HERE
Week 4 HERE

Oh, hi.

When last we wrote (read?), I was unemployed, and training for a new-to-me event, a sprint tri.

So, nothing has changed there. Exciting, am I right?

I've been enjoying my time at home with the kids, and The H, who has been super fun and joined me for a lot of my training this week.

I have some things (hopefully) playing out on the job front, but... I'm not rushing things. Where I am today, is very different than where I was when I last hunted down a job, and I don't really want to jump back in to a field that was not making me happy, or take something with a company that isn't a good fit. I mean, if it becomes critical, obviously eating food and providing shelter is a bigger priority than whatever gratuitous job-fulfillment I'm seeking, but until then, I'm biding my time, making some connections, and feeling things out.

(I do have an interview today, at the *second* happiest place on earth, which would be part time and my "this sounds REALLY fun" plan....)

Anyway.

It was a really great week!

Monday: Swim
600m in the pool, 40 min.

Tuesday: XT, 6 mi speed work
Tank top arms and core videos, 6 miles with 3x1600

Wednesday: Bike and swim
12.85 mi bike ride - lollipop loop from our house up to the iTRY course, one loop of the hills, and back home. Followed that by a 600m swim in 28 minutes.... vast improvement over Monday!

Thursday: Babysitting
6 month old, which reminded me that I really only like babies in the context of their parents - if mom/dad are around to hand it back to, they are SO GREAT. This was a full day event, so I made Thursday my rest day. Because it exhausted me.

Friday: XT, run
Tank top arms and core, 2.3 miles with runDisney #D23EXPO funrun + 3.7 solo lonely LAME miles.

Saturday: BRICK - run/bike
3 miles on the iTRY course (HILLS), followed by quick transition and 3 loops on the bike course for 8.22 miles.

Sunday: Long run
12 miles, easy pace


Totals
Running - 27 miles
Swim - 1200m
Bike - 21ish miles

7:59 training time


Running:
27 miles - the 1600's were right on goal pace for me (goal was 9:28-9:13, actual was 9:27, 9:19, and 9:10). I've been kind of concerned about the iTRY course, because it's basically a loop of a ginormous hill...

Okay, so it's not as tragic as I might have said, but since I'm The Worst at hills, I've been concerned. When Coach Martha asked who could run a 30 minute 5k on that loop, I hesitated. Turns out, I didn't need to - it was TOTALLY fine, and I did it with no problem. Surprise! Overall, I'm feeling good about the running - I still don't think I'm quite as fast as I was a year ago, but it's getting there.

Swimming:
There is ACTUAL FOR REAL improvement being made, which is exciting. I am having a LOT of trouble kind of getting into a groove with the swim - the pool I have close by is short, so it takes a billion laps to make it a respectable distance, and it's not really.... smooth. Because it's so short, it's very choppy getting stopped by the wall all the time. I need to hunt down a longer pool this week. Swimming is still helping loosen up the muscles, which after this week, I REALLY appreciate.

Bike:
2 good rides this week. The long ride was done at a moderate pace, and did one loop of the iTRY course. I wanted to DIE on that loop. The H said that biking hills is harder than running them, and I did not believe him, but he was 100% correct. So I was a little devastated when I found out our bike training with Tri la Vie this weekend was HILL REPEATS.

What that looks like:

So that was pretty awful.

The iTRY course is only two loops, with some out and back to make 9 miles. I guess I'm glad I'm practicing now so I know what to expect, because holy crap, that was HARD.


Notes:

• We practiced transition this week between run/bike. I am confident that I'm pretty efficient at this, but.... we'll see?

• Training is exhausting, and I have no idea how I'd be doing this level of training if I were working full time. People who do that, are incredibly dedicated.
• It's really nice to see some measurable improvement in the swim - I'm still not good at it, but I'm getting better.
• BIKING UP HILL IS SO HARD. I never, ever would have imagined that running uphill would be easier, but it sure is.
• Salted caramel GU is amazing.

• I had a lot of FUN with training this week - I'm sure part of it was the runDisney fun, and the salted caramel GU, but in general... I kind of like the varied training that triathlon necessitates.
• It would be CRAZY to consider a half IM now..... right?

This week:
Monday: Swim, XT
Tuesday: 5-6 miles easy, 1 hour bike on hills, easy swim
Wednesday: 800m swim, XT
Thursday: 7 miles, 5x800
Friday: easy swim/XT/rest
Saturday: Brick - run/bike
Sunday: Long (12-14)


*****************************************************************************

Friday, I ran a 2.3 mile fun run with runDisney! As part of the D23 Expo this weekend, they hosted a meetup running a quick loop through California Adventure.

I love Disneyland.

I'll tell you a secret. I landed the Disneyland interview early last week, but I wasn't positive I wanted to pursue it until I saw these pictures. Anything that makes me THAT happy, may be somewhere I want to spend my time.

It was a ton of fun, as always - I just love that runDisney does these events. At the end of the run, they gave each of us this Runner Mickey Vinylmation, with a limited edition D23 medal!

Thanks, runDisney!!

Goofy Weekend - Goofy Recap

First, are you ready for this???

Last week:
Monday: Gluttony
Tuesday: Recovery
Wednesday: felt good, thought about running, then declined
Thursday: considered running. Watched tv.
Friday: Made pizza instead.
Saturday: Catfish marathon
Sunday: Tink Half!

Plan for the week...
Monday: Yoga/Cross train
Tuesday: 5 miles, 4x800 (rude)
Wednesday: Cross train
Thursday: 5 miles strides
Friday: Cross train/yoga/rest
Saturday: 3 miles
Sunday: 10 miles

It's been awhile since I paid any attention to my plan. I ran 5 terrible miles on January 1st, and was sick for almost 2 weeks after. I ran Goofy. I ran zero steps last week. And then I ran Tink Half yesterday.

So basically, all of my January running has been runDisney.

I'm kind of worried that I won't know how to run without someone handing me water or finding a character stop. Risky business I'm embarking on!

Anyway, it's been real, laziness, and I'll miss you.

********************************************************************************

Goofy Recap - notes for people considering running Goofy

This is just kind of a random collection of thoughts on my Goofy experience. If you have any specific questions - about Goofy or runDisney events - please feel free to leave them, and I can do a separate post for them.

First, I need to add the disclaimer that I LOVE Disney. I grew up close to the parks, and I remember going when the parks were CHEAP. I remember almost losing a jelly shoe on my first trip through Space Mountain. I remember when the characters roamed the parks freely, and it was a treat to find them. I remember Epcot being edgy and new.

Still my favorite.

Not everyone feels the same way about Disney, and that's cool. If you don't LOVE Disney, Goofy probably isn't the race for you.

If you want to PR, (IMO) Goofy probably isn't the race for you. I know it's been done (ahem, this lady), but I don't think this is a good place to go for a PR - for one, you probably wouldn't be stopping for character pictures, and that would make me sad. Second, unless you are FAST and RIGHT UP FRONT, it is a large race, it's crowded, and a LOT of the race is narrow. IF you won't be sad running past lost picture opps, and start right up front, it is, in theory, a good PR course - a lot of energy, a lot of spectators, and flat.

If this is your first marathon, Goofy probably isn't the race for you, IN MY OPINION. First, if it IS your first marathon, it's pretty intense to take on a half and immediately followed by your first full. Second, the full distance is a tricky thing - you never know what to expect until you're doing it. I know, with experience, how tricky things can play out in your mind, and it's good knowledge to have. My first marathon, my brain broke at mile 16, and I barely moved after that. My second marathon, my brain broke at mile 12, but that time, I knew it was just my brain being dumb, and kept going, and ended up PR'ing by 20 minutes. The experience in the distance helped me get through the tougher miles without freaking out. I would not have wanted to have my brain break at Disney.

As I said in my other recaps, I would probably not run either the half or the full independently - but I'm taking into account the time investment in getting to Florida and other expenses tied to me traveling there. I WOULD do the challenge again, but neither race was so amazing that I would do just one of them. (Interestingly, I WOULD repeat Princess, and want to do Wine and Dine - Princess because it was my first race, and I want a do-over).

If you want to run the races FOR FUN and stop for pictures, be prepared to be incredibly frustrated when it's time for you to actually move. We for real ran ALL of the half, and almost all of the full outside of picture stops, aid stations, and breaking for a real bathroom. But it was somewhat difficult in the narrow roads to maneuver between the groups walking, without them thinking we were assholes. One chick commented that we shouldn't even bother running because we were all moving so slow, as she walked leisurely, three abreast. I'm assuming it didn't occur to her that we were running slowly precisely because of people like her.

ALL THE PEOPLE.

JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE AT THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN DISMISS ALL RUNNER ETIQUETTE. Honestly, there were a LOT of rude people. I DO understand that a lot of people at these events are NOT runners normally, and do not really train, they just want to be a part of the Magic. And that is GREAT - they are still out there, they are still participating. There was a LOT of weaving, and that's to be expected with all of the stops we made for pictures. The weaving is not what was frustrating. But if people are running past you, and announcing that they are on your left, don't be a dick. They aren't disparaging YOU, they are just being polite.

Have a plan for the races, be flexible, and be prepared to modify your plans. We initially planned to stop for all pictures, both days. After the first day took us 3:32 (remember, we ran everything but pictures and aid stations!), we reconsidered day two. We knew it was going to get HOT when the sun came up, so we decided to run as far as we could before the sun came up, stopping for pictures we had not gotten done the day before - no repeats. That helped us a ton.

Read the course map, and know what you're getting into. Because I read the maps, I knew there were no aid stations from after the Speedway, until we got to Animal Kingdom - if I hadn't known, that would have been a long stretch of time with no aid. But I knew, so it wasn't a huge deal.
That said, I knew the course map really well, but was still super sad at the not-in-the-parks parts. It just seemed like SUCH a long time between parks, that it was kind of discouraging to my marathon-brain. Obviously you KNOW you can't really run ONLY in parks for 26.2 miles - they are far apart, you have to get there somehow - but the stretch between AK and Hollywood Studios seemed like AGES. Once we hit Hollywood Studios, though, the energy from the spectators was great. Epcot is my favorite place on earth, so running through the entire park was probably my most favorite race experience, ever - even more than running through my favorite castle.

If you are running for fun, actually run for FUN. Stop and do fun things - like ride a roller coaster. Want a coke? Buy one. Take silly pictures. If you're not in it for time, relax and just enjoy it.

Like I said in the marathon recap, my parents live semi-close, and we arranged to meet up at Epcot after. They were there early and watching for me. And, having spectators in my FAVORITE place, waiting just for me! was the best. I have never had someone come out to a race just to watch meeeeee, and it honestly doesn't bother me (with three kids, I'm just grateful my husband doesn't discourage my racing, I wouldn't ask him to drag them out with him). But it sure was FUN!

Overall, it was a great experience. runDisney puts on the most well organized races that I've seen. For ME, it is worth the money to do Goofy - there are characters out that aren't normally out, you get to see some behind the scenes backstage stuff that's normally hidden, and I love that stuff (someone else mentioned that it kind of ruined the "magic" for them, so YMMV).

I said at mile 17 that I wouldn't do Goofy again, but I say that every time I run anything. I would probably not run it just any old year - I'll likely stick to anniversary years. It is EXPENSIVE and incredibly time consuming for me to get to Florida for a race, so I have to prioritize - a regular year Goofy isn't as interesting to me as an anniversary year (luckily, Goofy anniversary is 2015!).

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After the half, we did Tour de Cupcake, but this post was already really long, so I'll cover that separately tomorrow. Plus Tink Half recap. That too. #runALLtheDisney

Walt Disney World Marathon - Recap

We woke up for round two at the luxuriously LATE time of 3:11am. I know, we live on the edge. Somehow, it took us a billion minutes to get ready, and we got on to one of the last buses to leave, at 3:59 am. Danger is our middle name!

I finally got to see Dee (@deefsu) just before we headed over to the corrals. Dee and I went to high school together our freshman year, and did a lot of bonding while we skipped PE. TWENTY (oh my GOD) years later, we run marathons. HILARIOUS. Dee pretty much saved our bums and gave us awesome cooling towels for the hot hot hot day ahead (THANK YOU again!!).

We headed over to the corrals, and had our FIRST picture opp with the Fairy Godmother.

She was super, duper chatty.

Our goals for the day were:

• Don't get swept.
• Run as far as we can before the sun comes up.
• Stop for new pictures only.
• Have all the fun.

The race started on time (of course, because it's runDisney), and we managed to maneuver all the way into the Ticket and Transportation Center before stopping (for the bathrooms). We didn't hit our first character stop until we were in the Magic Kingdom, where we stopped for Buzz, since we missed him the day before. We saw Fruit Fly and her MF in MK, and leapfrogged through the pictures.

The first 7ish miles are the same as the half course, and they had ALL of the same characters out for the first 7 miles, with the exception of Royal Minnie and Mickey at the back of the castle. Kind of disappointing.

Holiday lights still up, and on when we came into the park!

After that, we split off from the half course, and headed into the Speedway.

I'm not a fan of cars, or banked roads, or the weird ramps we had to go down and up to get there. Frankly, this part of the course was blaaaahhhhh for me.

We saw this car (don't shun me, but I've never seen Cars)....

We headed out of the Speedway around mile 9.25, then shortly after hit an aid station. I knew there was a LONG way to go before the next one, because I'm a map obsessor. Considering the road we were on - open, hot, exposed, and empty - and the weather, I'm kind of surprised there was no supplemental station added here. We went from mile 9.5 to mile 12 before the next station.

Coming into the back of Animal Kingdom, we finally had more character opportunities!

And then we rode Expedition Everest. BEST RACE EXPERIENCE EVER.

Ever wondered what a roller coaster looks like on Garmin maps??

Exiting the ride, we bought some drinks (Coke! Best idea ever, thanks B!), and ran into Fruit Fly again!!

Saw a few more charaters, then headed out of AK around mile 14, and looped through the parking lot and down Osceola Parkway. The Clif station at mile 15.5ish was out of product, AGAIN. Luckily, I had a giant bag of candy that was working juuuuust fine.

There were a couple of character spots, a couple more aid stations, before we arrived at ESPN at mile 16.5.

Okay. ESPN? LAME. I was not a fan. It was boring, it was monotonous, it was hot (not Disney's fault, but it was), and it was LAME. Maybe if I had some desire to look at empty fields, I guess this would have been more interesting? Meh. There was a sponge station at mile 17, that was pretty great, and bananas at 18 that were DELICIOUS. There was a second Clif station around 19.5 that had two flavors left, but again, I had my candy. We ran through some sort of baseball field sometime in here, too, but compared to running through Angels Stadium at Disneyland, it was kind of boring.

The only thing moving us through ESPN was the Mile 20 SPECTACULAR. We FINALLY turned the corner at mile 19, and it WAS spectacular!!

I wish I had taken more pictures, they had maybe 6? 8? giant puppet things lining the road.

We stopped for this super awesome picture - what a happy coincidence that the characters matched us!!

While we were running down the very, very hot road again, I mentioned to B that if there were still people coming into ESPN, we could take things a bit easier - until now, we were pretty much running a steady pace between characters and aid stations, but I was having some ankle situation, and B mentioned her IT band being cranky.

But when we came around the corner back onto Osceola, there was no one going into ESPN, and they were clearing the course. Dun dun DUN. So we started booking it through - we wanted to be able to stop for any potential character sightings!

Miles 20-22ish were HOT. SO hot and SO humid, and everyone around us was walking. We just kept running, and running.

Some point we headed into the backlot of Hollywood Studios (not my favorite park, so I don't know much about it), and a CANDY station at mile 22.5! DELICIOUS!

There were only a few characters out in the Studios, and then we headed around to the Boardwalk area - I LOVE the Boardwalk area!

It was pretty crowded, since everyone was walking, and obviously, at mile 24, people are just kind of hurting and out of it, but we tried to run as much as we could through them. Somewhere in here, someone (someone WALKING) made a snotty remark about how we shouldn't even bother at this point. Okay, then. Whiner.

At mile 25, we headed into my happiest place on Earth, EPCOT!! We also managed to run into Dee again (yay!) and stop for a couple more character shots, while running around World Showcase. My parents live sorta close, so they were out spectating (FIRST time someone has spectated a race I'm running!) in front of Mexico. After a super quick hello to them, B and I sprinted into the finish (despite what she says, we really did run fast - my Garmin showed 8:17 pace when we crossed the finish line!).

All the pictures.....

Having no fun at all. Clearly.

random...

Becka was SUPER EXCITED for Meeko

Wow, we are FUNNY.

Epcot makes me the happiest!

Hellooooo, mile almost the end!

Yeah. Better stop that Garmin.....

 
 


 
Overall....

I'm conflicted. I really, REALLY wanted to just LOVE this race. Obviously, I'm a giant fan of Disney. Obviously, you have to actually travel from one park to the other, the course can't ALL be in the parks. I did know the course, I saw the maps, and I knew what to expect, but I was just not a fan of the Speedway or ESPN. It's certainly not Disney's fault that I don't like cars, and I know that other people were enjoying the Speedway. Fine. But ESPN was just devoid of any entertainment. There could have been a lot more done here.

The shirt is unisex. I have a small, but it's GINORMOUS. For the billions of dollars runDisney charges for registration, I'm mildly surprised that they still don't offer gender specific shirts.

BRING YOUR OWN FUEL.

I am REALLY glad that this was not my first rodeo, and I knew sort of what to expect from the distance - I think I would have been a little devestated if I felt so crappy at mile 20, without KNOWING that it just feels crappy and to keep going. I would not do this as my first marathon!! I once considered doing it as my first, but I'm so glad I didn't, because I think it would have ruined the whole experience for me (draaaaamatic).

Riding Expedition Everest was SO much fun. We were let in to the fast pass line, and waited less than 5 minutes to get on. I'm pretty sure the chick at the register when we bought our drinks took longer to ring us up. If you have the opportunity to ride a roller coaster during a marathon, DO IT (hahahaahaa).

We found out after the race that there was a BACON CHALLENGE. WHAT. Eat three pieces of bacon, get a piggy medal. Three pieces is certainly no challenge. I wish we had known of this amazing offering beforehand.

Would I run this again? Like I said in the half recap, as a stand alone race, no, probably not. I WOULD do Goofy Challenge again (2015....), but not on its own. For me, it's just too expensive and time consuming to travel to Florida for a course I didn't love. I DO plan on Wine and Dine still (tentatively for 2014).