Gone Goofy: The Donald

Okay, Recap time.  I am not even going to try to recap 39.3 miles in two days in one post.  I am going to break it down by race, because that makes sense.   I'll also sum up the expo, etc, in this post where I cover the half marathon.

Race: Disney Half Marathon
Distance:  13.1 Miles
Date:  January 12, 2013, 5:30 am start time
Finish time:  2:19:57, 10:40 min/mile
What sets this race apart:  Running through the Disney parks, character pictures, crowds.

Crowded doesn't really cover it.

Disney Marathon weekend is INSANE.  67,000 runners in three races.  Crowded doesn't begin to cover it. The expo could have been awesome, but the first day we went, it was just too crowded to do anything other than walk through and look.  Although, I did manage to buy a 39.3 magnet for my car on the chance that I finished it all!  Almost all the Goofy merchandise was already sold out.  I did buy a long-sleeve cotton finisher shirt.

We picked up our packets, all the girls realized our shirts were too big and made plans to stop by on Saturday afternoon when the released the Goofy shirts that hadn't been picked up.  I was doing the Goofy Challenge, so I got three shirts in my packet, one for the half marathon, one for the full marathon and one for doing both.  Here they are with some extra stuff...

Three shirts, a button and shoelaces in the packet.  Plus, an early preview of all three medals.

I'd rented a house with some other people from my running group.

Posing sexy at the Expo entrance!

I cooked spaghetti for all of us the first night.  It was delicious!  Unfortunately the beds in most of the rooms were rather uncomfortable.  This made getting up at 2 am the first morning rather easy.  LOL.  I ate my normal pre-run cereal and packed up my fuel belt and second breakfast.  I put Lemon-Lime Gatorade in one bottle and water in the other.  I packed 3 GUs for on the course, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and orange slices for second breakfast.  We were out the door and on the road by 3 am.  Once we'd parked, we hung out in the Galloway tent pre-race before heading to the corrals.  We were able to use the port-a-potty a couple of times, drink water that was provided and eat our packed second breakfasts.

Oh, and we posed with Jeff Galloway

Then came the madhouse of getting to the corrals.  It was like a massive herd of cattle trying to squeeze it's way through a pin head.  Somehow, I ran into felllow blogger Leana in the mass of humanity and discovered that we were in the same corral, which was great because I was in a different corral than all of my housemates.  We hung out in the corral until race start. I don't have a copy of the picture we took together yet, but I do have one for my Marathon recap post, promise!

If you are not an elite and in the first corral, plan to go VERY slow for the first two miles in a Disney race. It was wall-to-wall people.  I'd intended to start slowish at an 11 min/mile pace, but it was impossible to even get to that pace, despite being in the corral assigned for those planning a sub2:30 half.  It was actually slow enough that my ankle started to hurt from the clipped strides.   I watched one runner yell at someone else that complained about the pace saying that "some people are here to have fun."  I actually couldn't resist saying to the yellee, "maybe we just have different definitions of fun."

The downside of the slower start?  Once I saw an opening after mile 2, I took it and tried to race ahead of the crowds.  I had my watch displaying average pace and didn't realize until post race how fast I took miles 3 and 4.  At which point, I got concerned that I sabotaged my marathon.  Silly I know.
Mile 1-11:36
Mile 2-11:11
Mile 3-10:06
Mile 4-10:05

Then we came into the magic kingdom and the castle.  It was still dark (my corral started at 5:56am), and the castle was all lit up.  It was amazing.  I had to pull over onto the sidewalk and have one of the volunteers take a picture of me in front of the castle.

And yes, did I forget to mention I dressed as Minnie?

The trumpeters were playing as we ran into the castle.  Awesome.

And then the entire race course came to a complete halt.  I mean.  We stopped.  Completely.  There was a line for one of the pictures that was holding up the entire race.  I finally pushed through on the side and got going.  For the line, they were taking pictures of each runner running alone in front of the castle.  Once I realized what the line was for, I kind of regretted not getting in the long line for a bit, but I was already past and kept going.
Mile 5 - 10:47
Mile 6 - 11:43

There were lines to take pictures with characters throughout the course, but most of the lines were long enough that I just didn't have the patience to wait.  Even if it wasn't mid-race, I am not a fan of lines.  I did manage to wait until the last mile to really just run without consciously holding back though!  (I had to save something for Marathon day!)
Mile 7 - 10:44
Mile 8  -10:38
Mile 9 - 10:22
Mile 10 - 10:18
Mile 11 - 10:14
Mile 12 - 10:18
Mile 13 -9:36
Last 0.28 -8:15

1 race down!

It was above average temperatures for Florida and fairly hot, but I finished the half early enough that I didn't really feel the effect of the heat until I was finished and waiting for the rest of my friends to finish.

In fact, this lovely sign was EVERYWHERE.

I did make sure to walk through each and every water/Powerade station though and took my GUs and hydration on a regular schedule.  I drank the entire bottle of water given to me at the end of the race before doing anything else.   All smart things.  Of course, then I called my husband at work (He doesn't work on Saturday) and left a message on his work phone that I was done.  Not so smart.  LOL.

I called my Dad and Stepmom while waiting for friends, and got lots of words of encouragement from them.  I'd had all my split times post to Facebook, they'd followed my progress that way, and were very proud.  That was a great moment for the day.

After the race, my housemates and I went out for burgers (perfect recovery food), then hung out by the house pool until we needed to go back to the expo.  Around 3:30pm, we went back to the expo to exchange our shirts, and I bought a couple of cool things.  A shirt made out of bamboo that is so stinking soft, I could wear it every single day (although that might get stinky), and a beautiful necklace.  I've wanted a running necklace for a while, but it wasn't something I wanted to buy online.  This one says "Run." and the little period is a tiny diamond.  They also engraved 39.3 on the back of it for me.   I love it.  This picture shows those items plus the magnet I bought the day before.  I got the cute sticker for free for wearing my One More Mile shirt when making a purchase at their booth (the magnet).

I know, the picture doesn't really show the necklace very well.

Once again we made Spaghetti for dinner and then had a surprise visit from a couple of running friends from home.  They flew in to spectate at the marathon.  So. Awesome.  Then, we all went to bed semi-early to prepare for a second day of the 2 am wake-up call!

The first race of  the Goofy Challenge was DONE!  One medal earned, the Donald.

Me, Amanda and Laurie posing with our medals and our 20th Disney Marathon temporary tattoos.

Gone Goofy

Just a quick update from Florida, I promise full recaps when I return home.  
Goofy was a success!

Disney Half Marathon

A pose mid-race in front of the castle all lit up!

Chip time- 2:19:57

Disney Marathon

Somewhere around mile 15 things got iffy...

Chip time - 4:58:54

39.3 official miles later... (Garmin is closer to 40!)

And yes, I'd ditched my shoes.  I did wear them for the race though!

Medal count: 3

Thank you for all your encouragement and support!  Now, food and rest!

If found, please return...

If you are out and about today and happy to find the rational side of my brain, I would really appreciated it being returned to me ASAP!

I went for what was supposed to be my last short and easy run pre-Goofy with my friend Lynne this morning.  A front is coming through which often throws my asthma and allergies out of whack, or that's the excuse I thought of later.  I woke up this morning sluggish.  This feeling continued throughout the 5K run.  Originally we were going to run 4 miles, and with how sluggish I was feeling....I began to panic.  OMG.  I didn't taper enough!

Seriously?  I mean, SERIOUSLY???

After my morning shower, I was brushing my hair and Avery was going through the bathroom drawers as usual.  I saw my makeup and thought - "I should put on makeup.  And I should pack some to bring with me. Do I have enough makeup?"

Seriously????  For those that don't know...I wear makeup MAYBE once a year.  I usually only have to buy new makeup because the old stuff is starting to smell funny.  In fact, I didn't even wear makeup for my husband's fancy work Christmas party this year, and that's the one time that I usually do wear it.

Then.  I decided to blow dry my hair straight.  And, while doing that, I thought, I should buy a new hairdryer.  I loved that one I had back in college that was a brush and a hairdryer all in one.  When I go to the store for my last minute trip items, I should look for it.

An older version of this sweet machinery.

Seriously???  I blow dry my hair MAYBE once a month these days.  More often than I wear makeup, but still, I normally am way too lazy to go to that much effort.  I know, by now, you're all thinking - wow, you're husband is a lucky man.  LOL

I don't think I've had this many completely irrational (but seemed rational for a split second) thoughts since I was pregnant with Avery.  And no, SARAH, I'm not pregnant.

Don't worry Mommy, I'll help take care of any new babies.

I'm already using a full sized suitcase for this 5 day trip, and for a moment wondered if I was using a BIG enough suitcase.

Someone, please take my keys.  I am not sane enough to drive.

Oh, and runner tracking is now up at Disney, for those interested.

When was the last time YOU lost your mind?

Would you like some memory loss with your taper?

As a runner, you hear all kinds of fun things about taper madness.  The folks at Runners World call it the taper tantrum.  I kind of like that.  According to them, the tantrum includes phantom pains and panic attacks.

Uh oh.  Mommy's tapering again.

Prior to running a marathon, I always thought taper madness was a myth.  It just sounded like something all the cools kids said because they were training for a marathon.  Last October, for my first marathon, I experienced it for the first time.  For me, taper madness equated to the feeling that anything anyone did was extremely annoying.  In addition, sugar in the form of candy and sweets was the only food group that counted for anything.

As Goofy got closer, I told friends that I dreaded how bad I would be for this taper, being that it was more miles.  Until today, I actually thought I was doing pretty well.  I mean, my child spent several hours in the middle of the night puking Saturday night, and I actually canceled my Sunday run rather than freak out and assume the world was out to get me and ruin my race(s).

I have noticed, though, that I am rather PMSy lately.  My husband bears the worst of it.  He might say something just wrong and I snap a bit in reply.  Many things that normally wouldn't phase me are really rather irritating.

The big thing I have definitely experienced is LOTS of phantom aches and pains.  It actually was freaking me out.  I have told several people that "my feet and legs hurt so much more after two days rest than they did during my 48 mile week!  Should I call the doctor?"   After reading a few blogs and articles mentioning the phantom ache thing though, I feel better.  Apparently it's normal and a sign of your body healing from training stresses or something.  Who knew?

But, today.  Today takes the cake.  Apparently, my taper madness comes with memory loss or something.  At least, that's the story.  I put the dog out to go potty before leaving for my moms group with my kiddo.  When I got home from moms group 3 hours later, I didn't even notice that my kiddo and I weren't experiencing the happy dog greetings when we first got home.  I started making the kiddo her lunch.  As I was putting her plate on the high chair, I noticed the dog standing outside on the back patio by the door.  I may have swore a bit in my head as I realized I had not put her out since coming home.  To top it off? My back door was left unlocked too.  Luckily, I have a lab that can tolerate cold, and today was a much warmer and sunnier day then it's been in a week.  Her coat was slightly cool, but she was completely fine and happy to see me.  It's possible I bribed her with a bone to forget the entire incident.

I knew she had a bone hidden somewhere!

The funnier part?  I'm not excited or nervous yet, and most everyone else I know that is going is.  I think I'm broken.  Or in denial.  Or both.   LOL.  The good sign is that when I talk about it, I do start to get a little flutter of excitement deep in my tummy, you know the one I'm talking about.  The one that says "Let's DO this."

I leave for Florida in 2.5 days.  Let's hope my family survives that long!  LOL!

Have you experienced taper madness?  What types of things did you experience?
Please tell me that I am not alone!

Vacation Smation

I know, I know, I disappeared.   I know many blogger friends that keep up with their blogs during the holidays.  Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.  With traveling half way across the country with a small human and driving back and forth between my parents and the in-laws, I was happy just to not lose anything.  LOL.  To add insult to injury, once I'm behind, my motivation to do anything suffers a quick death.

Don't worry mommy, I'll write the blog post for you.

How was my vacation?  I got to see a lot of family, which is always super nice.

Christmas Eve with the Still cousins.

I also ran 58.4 miles in my 10 day trip.  I can safely say that is the most mileage I have ever run on vacation.  Who needs a vacation??? I also learned a valuable lesson about the ability of steak and potatoes to full you through a 30 mile weekend.  Here's a hint - it makes the 20 mile day suck big time.  Or, that's my excuse for my feeling of lack of full and I'm sticking to it.

All I heard out of that was excuses, excuses, excuses.

That weekend of 10-20 in Texas signaled the last big weekend in my Goofy training.  Since then, I've been tapering.  My first week of taper, I skipped one of my scheduled 5 mile runs to make sure I got my back-to-back runs in before my return flight home and wound up with only 28.4 miles for the week.  Perspective.  There was a time not that long ago where 28.4 miles was a lot in one week to me.

We returned to an Ohio covered with snow and ice.  Rude welcome home Ohio!  This makes me nervous for how the weather in Florida is going to impact me.  I'm somewhat notorious for heat having a disastrous effect on my performance level.  Hopefully, the brief time in Texas helped remind me of warmer temperatures.

Just think of the awesomeness of flags, that'll get you through Mommy.

Despite the cold welcome, I did participate in Laura's 5 by the 5th virtual race.  Ran it with Lynne on the 2nd.  We actually ran 6 miles, but I'll just count 5 of them for a 50:55 virtual race time.

Today?  I've skipped my 5 mile run, despite already being snappy from lack of enough miles.  Why?  The kiddo woke up puking repeatedly last night.  We think it was something she ate, because despite 6x of puking wake-up last night, she was in an amazing mood all morning.  Got to love the resiliency of toddlers!

Maybe some day you'll be as tough as me Mommy.

So.  This time next week I will hopefully have completely the Goofy Challenge.  Holy moly, it's really next week???  More on that later.  Maybe.

How were your holidays?  Anyone else slack on the internet thing when traveling or am I the lone lazy person out there?

Anyone else participating in Laura's virtual 5 by 5 series?

Santa Hustle Recap

Race: Santa Hustle Half Marathon Cedar Pointe
Distance:  13.1 Miles
Date:  December 16, 2012, 9 am start
Finish time:  2:03:10, 9:26 min/mile*
What sets this race apart:  All the Santas, cookie stations 

*Official Stats.  
**Garmin distance and time: 12.88 miles, 2:03:11, 9:34 min/mile avg.

What a fun race and travel experience!  Drove up with Lynne, Laurie, and Leah on Saturday to make it in time for packet pick-up.  No picture of the goody bag because it would basically be a picture of an empty bag.  We got the shirts, but they were out of Santa hats and beards.  We did wind up scoring hats a bit later.

Lynne and I shmoozed with Snoopy during room check-in.

Then we met Melissa and Lynde at Olive Garden for a fun group pre-race meal.  We stopped at Meijer on the way back to the hotel for some pre-race essentials....Reese's Peanut Butter Trees, Brach's jelly bells and some milk for my granola cereal.

We chatted for a bit before bed.  The race started at the doorstep of our hotel, so there was no need to wake up extra early.  It was super nice.  We leisurely ate our pre-packed breakfasts, to which I added a Reese's Tree.  Best. Decision. Ever!  We got to do all our pre-race peeing in our hotel rooms with flush toilets and left our hotel room 15 minutes before the race start.  Awesome!

We still had time to pose for pictures with the Reindeer and with the rest of the gang before the start.

Leah, Laurie, Me and Lynne with the giant inflatable Reindeer.

Leah, Me, Laurie, Lynde, Lynne and Melissa in the starting corral

Lynne and I had decided pre-race to stay together for the first mile or so.  At the start we got caught up in the crowd and varied between 9:30 and 9:45 pace for the first mile, which was about a minute faster than we'd intended.  We both stripped and threw our Santa hats within the first half mile.  We both stripped off the Santa shirt within the first couple miles.  I wound up running this race in compression shorts and a short sleeve shirt.  In mid December.  In Ohio.  On Lake Erie.  Craziness!

Lynne and I stayed together for the first 6 miles.  We stayed round a 9:50 min/mile avg, and that was with me constantly trying to slow us down to match the original plan.  At the mile 6 aide station, Lynne said she needed to stop to switch shirts (she was wearing a turtleneck) and told me to keep going.  I intended to stay slower so that Lynne could catch up after stripping, but this is where I clocked my first 9:09 min/mile.  From there I tried to continue to hold back a bit, but still began stretching my legs a bit more.  I had to slow down because of course conditions a couple of times.  The first time was in a section of sand-covered path and a dirt road.  The second time was when I hit the 17mph headwinds about 4 miles from the end.

Regardless, splits were awesome.  For the first time EVER in a half marathon, I ran the second half of the race faster than the first half.  It only took me 6 half marathons to get that right!  HA!

Splits:
Mile 1: 9:43
Mile 2: 9:48
Mile 3: 9:49
Mile 4: 9:51
Mile 5: 10:08
Mile 6: 9:46
Mile 7: 9:09
Mile 8: 9:23
Mile 9: 9:35
Mile 10: 9:09
Mile 11: 9:15
Mile 12: 9:33
Mile 13: 9:05

Of course, we had to pose with Santa post-race!

Best comment during the race - in the 10th mile, a couple of guys just in front of me accused me of drafting on them from the crazy headwinds.  HA!  So, naturally, after laughing, I told them I'd take the lead spot for a bit, and left them in my dust.  :D

My A goal for this race in the middle of Goofy training was to finish under 2:15.  I smashed it!!!  Not only that, but I still felt great afterwards.  I have all kinds of new goals for Spring races now.  LOL!  To top it off, my husband's PR is 2:09.  Not that we are competitive or anything.  Muwahaha.

Weather was fantastic.  Running without crowds or signs actually wasn't a big deal.  Running through the amusement park with all the twists and turns actually kept things interesting.

We also had to pose with Snoopy post-race.

This was a Half Marathon PR by 23 minutes and 38 seconds.  Even with the 0.2 miles the course was arguably short, this would still have been a massive PR.  I'm still a bit giddy about it actually.

More fun stats: 324th out of 1069 overall, 19th out 62 in my age group!  Best ever in a half marathon effort!

I'm also ready to put a sub-2 hour half marathon on my goal list for 2013.  Is that completely insane?

Anyone else race this past weekend?

Have you ever run a holiday gimmick race that you're SUPPOSED to wear the race shirt for the race?

Would you have kept the Santa hat on?

Awesome Confusion

I have come to the conclusion that my child will some day have a very difficult time with the true meaning of the word awesome.  Either that, or she will have an excellent understanding of sarcasm.

Lately, whenever she does the kinds of things that just make you want to give up the mother of the year awards, I simply say "Awesome."  

For example, in context.

Yesterday, Avery crawled through the cat gate in the laundry...

Taken after the fact - she's too quick through the gate

...so that she could open the dog food storage container...

Nothing to see here...

...and chow down on some delicious Eukanuba Senior Large Breed dog food.

I'm carb loading Mommy.

Awesome.

While I was doing some dishes, Avery used her now-patented climb on the chair to get access to the things on the kitchen table method to grab my fuel belt.  She began drinking the water in the water bottles.  I saw no problem with that, and continued doing dishes. Amateur.  

Next thing I knew, she was having oh so much fun with water.  

If I fill up these bowls, I can play some awesome splashing games.

Awesome.

While I was prepping dinner, Avery decided to be helpful and CLIMB INSIDE the measuring cup drawer.  

Just making sure you don't use the WRONG cup mommy!

Awesome.  Now you all know why I wash each measuring cup before using it to make food that we are eating.  Again, awesome.

This morning, Avery was enjoying checking out the tree, kicking ornaments, whatever.  And broke an ornament that was previously thought to be unbreakable.  

Don't mind me, I'm just enjoying the window seat.

An ornament that I have had in my possession for at least 12 years.  

My kid killed Bambi!

Awesome.

Avery has also discovered that the who-knows-how-old-they-are-because-I-reuse-them-every-year candy canes on the tree can be snapped in two and peppermint goes flying everywhere.  

Awesome.  

Because I thought she'd gotten the candy cane she'd snapped from my box of new candy canes, I ate one of said candy canes after it was broken.

Duh Mommy.  That's why I went with the paci.  Years old candy canes are nasty.

Awesome.


My poor child will be forever confused.  On the other hand, here a couple of things from today that actually ARE awesome...

A $1 vanilla cone at McDonald's drive through after your child has done many of the previously mentioned "awesome things"

And it's all mine!

Lending your running wife money to use while at work because she forgot her purse at home.  (and I actually had cash to lend for the first time in ages).

She's becoming a real wife...taking my money.

Getting into the Nike Women's Marathon in DC via the lottery when I never thought I actually would.

I put in a good word for you mommy.

When your kid looks at you like that ^, and you realize that all this not-so-truly awesome stuff makes for good blog talk and isn't THAT bad.


Do you have any words like AWESOME that you use to mean something other than what Webster's Dictionary says they mean?

Any AWESOME things in your life lately?