It's Already 2012....

Hello blog, my old running adventures friend! I write more on Facebook than I do here, but I have such fond memories within the pages of this blog. And the adventures continue. So, perhaps I can come visit a little more often.

The picture above is after the 2012 Walt Disney World Marathon weekend. This year I ran the Inaugural Marathon Relay with my sister Tammy. A very different race indeed! Neither of us was really trained up for this one. After 6 weeks of physical therapy for a pulled calf muscle from back in October, I had just a 10 miler under my belt going into this one. The goal was to take it easy, enjoy the race, run 2 min and walk 1 min the entire way. We also had race retreat packages which made the time there very enjoyable. We had an incredible time! My time for the first half was 2:49. Our team time was 6:30. A marathon relay PR! :-)

Next year is the 20th Disney World Marathon - an event I am sure will be a big deal. As much as I enjoyed the relay, I think I might have to run the full. We shall see how well I can train for that! :-)

In the meanwhile, lots of running planned for this year. My "target" races will likely be the Winter Park Road Race and the OUC Half Marathon in terms of working on time. Jim and I will run the Wine and Dine for the third year in a row - this year in November. I hope to run a 5K race with my 12 year old daughter AND I am not sure but I would like to find a nice race to run for my 50th birthday this year. I am not sure it will be a full marathon, but I would like it to be at least a half or a relay with family!

So here is to 2012 - 5 years since I ran my first marathon, 10 years since I ran that first 5K, and the beginning of a lifetime of running adventures.

The 100 Days Challenge

It started out innocently enough. I started running on New Year's Eve - then started running with my husband, who decided he wanted to run every day to get back into shape. I wanted to join him mostly because I like running together and, as I found in those first couple of weeks, it was a great time to touch base and catch up on what was going on.

But I had never run more than 3 or 4 days in a row without a rest day. This would be a new challenge! I would start with running shorter runs and see where it goes from there.

A few days into our challenge I saw a Facebook post by John Bingham of the 100 Days Challenge. That sounded like a fun challenge to join - a goal to see just how far I could take my everyday running. After a week or so, my husband became ill and had to stop running - but I kept going. I even replaced 2 runs with 2 mile power walks on days when I was too tired or my husband's legs hurt too much - but outside of those two days - I have RUN every day in January. I have completed day 30 of the 100 Day Challenge - with my New Year's Eve run I have run 31 days in a row.

So, 1/3 into this challenge I have learned a few things:

- miles accumulate quickly when running every day. Even though my runs are shorter, and my long runs have been under 10 miles (except the Disney Half) I will break 120 miles for January. I usually never break 100 miles in a month unless I am in the height of training for a marathon with 20+ milers built in to the mix.

- it is VERY hard to miss a day. There were a few days I would have quickly bagged a run because of schedule conflicts - but I have stuck to these runs even if my run took place at 9 pm and I did it by running 3 laps around the block. I feel determined not to miss any runs until I complete the challenge.

- the best part of my run is logging it and crossing off another day in the challenge.



Next race

My next race is the Winter Park Road Race, a 10K race run toward the end of March. Last year I ran a PR, completing the race in 1:01:25. At this time last year I was running faster than I am now, but I am hoping to use February to begin to build my speed back up. Who knows, maybe I can PR again this year! :-)

The Disney World Marathon Weekend - From the Other Side

Since 2004 I have participated at some level with the Disney World Marathon weekend, with the exception of 2006 when I was too late to sign up for the half (and not ready to run a full). In 2010, after running my second Goofy (my first Dopey) I decided I would only run the full marathon for 2011, but I waited to sign up. As summer passed and a busy fall season took shape, I realized I didn't have the time to train for a full marathon. I signed up for the half marathon since I couldn't bring myself to completely skip the event. Then, after running the half yesterday, I talked my daughter into getting up at 2 am and driving down to Disney to watch our friends run the full marathon. And that is how I got to see the other side. But first, my race.

Day 1: The Half Marathon



Rather than a long narrative, here is a summmary with a few pics of my half marathon day:



Never saw anyone wear a tarp to the starting area before - it just struck me as different.









Waiting in my starting corral. I was in Corral C - which was Wave 3.






As is typical Disney, there were plenty of characters to see along the course. Maddy was the first just before mile 4. Since I was just taking it easy and having fun, I stopped, got a hug and a picture before moving on. Later I saw Maddy again at mile 7 or so after exiting the Magic Kingdom. Loved the sign.... #nocandyasses.

The race itself was sufficiently hard for my level of training. Having the "I am not trying for a PR" mentality really helped me keep it reasonable and enjoy the run.



Finished the race and met back up with Maddy. Got a quick picture with my Geneva College Tornado towel and headed home.


Day 2: The Full Marathon


I had the chance to meet quite a few runners who were heading out for the full 26.2 this morning. It was about 10 deg F colder than yesterday so everyone was bundled up. As a spectator, I had plenty of layers I knew I could keep along with a small thermos of hot cocoa. Maddy brought me the infamous sign to use for the day. At 4:45 am, most of the runners headed for the starting area, with the last couple heading over at 5 am.

Now the adventure begins....here are my observations as a spectator:

Observation 1: Lots of runners wait until the last second to head to the start. I always headed over at 4:30 like a good little runner. Lots of runners were still arriving at 5:30. One came up to me to find out where the starting area was.

Observation 2: The medals for the finishers come individually wrapped in plastic. At 5:30 am, volunteers are unwrapping each medal and putting it on the hooks to be awarded after the race.

Observation 3: The finish line area is quiet but there are a few folks who stake out their spot right next to the runner's path near the finishline - at 5:30am.

We got on the monorail at Epcot and headed to the Transportation Center outside of the Magic Kingdom. We were right before the mile 9 marker. Places up on the rail were going fast so we staked our place at about 5:45 am. We expected Maddy to run by around 7:30 am - now we wait....in the cold.

Observation 4: Seeing the first runners come through is very cool! We first saw the first wheel chair, then the first man, and a bit later the first woman runners! You could tell a runner was coming when the folks up ahead of us started to cheer.

Observation 5: Pace groups make it easier to find your runner. I knew Maddy was going for a 4:45 pace / finish, so I knew that she wouldn't show until after the 4:00 or 4:15 pace groups. I was able to spot her in the crowd and get some video of her running by.




Observation 6: Waiting for 2 hours to watch a friend run by in their best marathon ever.....priceless!

After catching Maddy again after mile 12, my daughter and I headed to IHOP for breakfast.


It was odd being the spectator and not the runner - but I got to see a very different side of a race. I saw dedicated family members waiting in the cold to watch for a loved one or friend - hours before they would come - to watch their 15 sec of glory running by. I saw race volunteers helping late runners get to the start, unwrapping thousands of medals for the runners, and setting up water stops in the dark. I saw volunteer band members beating their drums to warm up in the cold before the runners arrive and Disney cast members pointing the way to a lone vendor with coffee and hot cocoa.

As a runner - I have so appreciate these folks - and today I appreciate them so much more!

Disney's Inaugural Wine and Dine Half Marathon Race Report

When Disney decided to turn the Race for the Taste 10K into a half marathon with a relay, my husband and I saw this as the perfect chance to:

a) get in a race without too much training (since we were splitting the distance)
b) enjoy the Epcot Food and Wine festival
c) run a Disney race LATE at night (instead of in the wee hours of the day)
d) enjoy an Inaugural race and possibly become part of a crowd that will run it every year
e) be part of the first relay run locally (that I know of)

My husband would run the first 5.1 miles and I would run the last 8 miles. Start time was 10 pm so our projected finish was sometime around 12:30 to 12:45 (depending on how soon he got across the start line and how crowded the course was. I had a good feeling we could run the race together in 2:30.

We would party at the finish line festival in Epcot until 3 am and then crash at our hotel room at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort.

We treated this time away from the kids as a pre-20th anniversary weekend!

After ditching the kids (one was off marching elsewhere in the state, the other one off with friends to an Octoberfest event) we checked in at our hotel around 3 pm Saturday. We napped for a couple of hours since we were going to be up late, then walked over to Port Orleans Riverside for dinner before boarding a bus at 6:15 pm for the starting area at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. We were quite early, but we wanted to beat the crowds. The field where we waited to start would have been a nice place to picnic (note to self for next year).
Lots of porta potties and no lines - yet. There would be lines later.


This picture shows how empty it was around 7 pm.

We took some time to just rest up since my bus to the exchange point at Animal Kingdom didn't leave until 8:30 pm.


Arrived at the Animal Kingdom parking lot exchange area around 9 or 9:15 pm (how does it take 45 minutes for that drive - we can almost run it faster!). Again lots of sitting and relaxing before the race. As much as the DJ's tried to get everyone up and dancing around, we were resting!


I am usually not one to get character pictures but I decided to kill some wait time by getting a picture with Pluto.

The race started - there was an announcement at the exchange area that the start did happen, however I had been hoping that they would show a video of the start on the big screen (recommendation for next year) so we could see the fireworks and get excited at the race start!

Then we waited until the time we thought our relay partners would arrive and then got into the exchange corrals. My husband came in at 54:33 when I met him, took his flashlight baton, walked with him in the exchange area, then took off on my run. Our transition time was under 2 minutes.


I did stop for one other character pic because, amazingly, there was NO line next to Darth Vader!

For my portion of the race, most of the course was pretty unexciting, some places really dark, not much entertainment on the course like in the marathon, but we spent LOTS of time running around Hollywood Studios - and that was fun!


It was a bit warm and the breeze we had earlier was long gone, but I felt good and kept up a good pace. I was shooting for a team finish of 2:30. After Hollywood Studios it was like the end of the marathon, a trip down the sidewalk along the water along the Boardwalk, then into the back entrance of Disney, except that is where the race ended. My run of 8 miles (actually I ran slightly more than 8 miles and husband ran less than 5 miles - Garmin had me at 8.41 miles) took 1:33:40 giving us a total time of 2:30:09!


The finish area was a bit disappointing for a few reasons. First, they had the finisher medal picture area, but no way for a team picture to be taken since the area was cordoned off for the finishing runners only. Then we had to go through a tent to get our bag and get into Epcot and it was crowded and stiffling hot. Some folks were getting sick from standing in the heat after having run for the past 2.5 hours.

The next disappointment was the mob scene inside Epcot. Disney had sold tickets to the finish line party to anyone who wanted them. And folks took advantage of the $35 entry to the Food and Wine festival. The result was a way overcrowded Epcot with long lines to the food. Many runners left to get food at the hotel. We hung around and got food from about 6 countries with short lines in the 2 hours we were there. Late finishers got little or nothing. This will definitely have to be different.


Still, we enjoyed food, wine and even another character picture with Mulan.

The bling was great, as usual.

Finally, an update!

I have definitely been running since the end of March - which is the good news! But, like many of you, things have been busy and blogging has taken a back seat.

This is a quick update on what I have been up to.


April started out with some relaxing days out at Paynes Prairie Preserve - one of our favorite camp grounds. We got a chance to see some wild horses, deer and woodpeckers among other species. A campfire is usually just what the doctor ordered for relaxation! With Easter break, we got to spend an extended weekend!





The next big event was the local Corporate 5K. For the 8th year in a row I served as team captain for TeamSAIC. We had 70 employees, associates and family members come out and support the event at Orlando's Lake Eola. We had great weather - cooler with some clouds and a breeze - which made for a comfortable event. My older daughter and I ran-walked the race together for a 38 minute finish. Except for a little fender bender before the race, we survived without too much damage!

After a week attending a local technical conference an presenting a paper, I had a chance to attend the Kids House Gala held at UCF. There my husband and I had a chance to meet Roger Hodgson, the former lead singer for Supertramp who performed for the gala.

The very next afternoon we celebrated my older daughter's 15th birthday with a bowling party at Firk and Kelger's. A fun time was had by all!

Another week at a different local technical conference and yet another presentation, then a weekend of wedding festivities with some good family friends (local, thankfully). My husband was an usher for the wedding. The mother of the groom stayed with us and I made sure she got to the wedding on time! Everything went off with a hitch!

We got a week off from major events - only a soccer game to attend and time spent preparing our house for the following weekend - my husband's graduation from UCF - Summa Cum Laude - an endeavor that has been many years in the making!

We attended the ceremony with a live webcast playing back at our house for family and friends who couldn't go because we didn't have enough tickets. Then back to our place for the festivities!!

This past weekend was the Jim Payne Blue Ribbon Run for the Kids 5K which benefited Kids House. I have been part of the planning committee and spend the afternoon working the race! The weather was quite warm and some of our runners were pretty toasty when they reached the finish line, but the event was a great success, drawing over 1100 runners in its second year.

I think that catches me up! In the middle of all of this, I still managed to log 79 miles in April and so far 50 miles in May. I just passed 400 miles for the year. I have done so much better this year than previous years keeping my base mileage at a good level (15-25 miles a week). I am not training for any particular race right now - just adjusting to running in the heat again. Today is the first time in awhile I have needed to bring my full Fuel Belt on an 8 mile run.

Tomorrow I start summer school...Engineering Statistics. That should keep me from blogging too much this summer. Hope your running is going well this spring and into summer! I will be "seeing" you out there on the roads with more running adventures to come!