Archive for January, 2009

Marathon Numero 2

Monday, January 19th, 2009

I have officially decided to give the Marine Corps Marathon a try.  I looked over the route and it seems like it is one that will keep my interest and hopefully help me “beat the bridge”.  That means you have to cross the bridge after mile 19 while maintaining 14 minute miles.  That means I need to ensure the quality of my training leading up to it.  That training will include running a 10 miler, 3 half marathons and the American Odyssey Relay.

I believe the marathon will give my confidence a much needed boost to keep me on target for finishing the Goofy next year.  I am still working out my overall training plan for between now and and Goofy.  I know it is far off, but I think I am going to spend most of the year in some form of training or another so I need to have a plan laid out to keep me on track.

It’s About Time!

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

I fixed the images on the static pages I had on the site.  There are still some missing from the blogs but I fear some of them are gone and lost forever because K80K has not be diligent about backing up her hard drive. 

The new PC arrived just before I left for Disney World and I mean “just”.  My parents carried the boxes in the door while I carried my suit cases back out.  I didn’t get a chance to set up the new PC till last night and then I had to search my backup discs to see what exactly I had stored. 

I am loving having a new computer.  Who knew that you could hit a power button and just like the PC was available for your!?!  I had a 5-10 minute boot up on my old PC.  I have harvested various pieces from my old PC.  I snagged the video card, memory and wireless modem.  I have plans for them.  The rest will be going back to Dell for recycling.  🙂

Walt Disney Marathon Weekend 2010

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

I am suffering from what others might call Medal Envy.  I watched everyone walking around the parks with their medals on and I decided I wanted something more.  Wednesday morning before leaving for the airport I signed up for the Goofy Race and a Half challenge in 2010!  This happens to be the 5th anniversary of the race, so they plan to do something special for the race.

So that means I am now registered for Full Marathon number 2.  If you recall Full Marathon number 1 it wasn’t the best experience.  So I am looking into a Full Marathon to complete before the Goofy.  Top of my list right now is the Marine Corps Marathon.  I am still contemplating it because the MCM requires you to maintain a 14 min/mile pace through mile 19.  I know I am capable but I need me trainign between now and October 25th to go perfectly.  We shall see what I decide.  Luckily there are many DisneyRunning.com folks and a Blue Crab Running Club member planning on MCM for 2009.

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend – Marathon

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

No, I didn’t run the marathon this year, but I decided I couldn’t just stay in bed that Dad.  Dad headed out early to take Mr. Mike and Mr. Dave to the start of the marathon while Mom and I made plans to meet him later at the volunteer check in.  After signing in, eating our breakfast and adorning our official volunteer windbreakers we boarded a bus.

This year we opted to volunteer at a water stop during the full marathon.  We had tried to sign up for water stop 25, but were moved to water stop 15 instead.  This actually turned out to be a great move.  When we boarded the bus we thought that there were 2-3 water stops on board, but we were all just 1 water stop. 

As we exited the bus we quickly went to work.  Carrying tables, cups, cases of water and boards.  The tables were placed in pairs with 25 feet between each one.  We started setting out cups and filling them with water.  We stacked ours 3 layers high and then stopped and waited.

Our water stop was just outside the Animal Kingdom and was on the “Flashback to the 90s” area of the course.  Unfortunately that meant we were handing out water to the a loop of “That Don’t Impress Me Much” by Shania Twain and “Living La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin.  Luckily as the crowds grew the music was faded out by the cheers of the folks at the water stop.

Disney prints every participants name on their bibs so that people can easily cheer everyone on as they run by.  I had fun calling people’s names as they passed.  Some of them looked really down, but hearing their name perked them up as they passed by.  It also helped me put names to faces of the DisneyRunning.com folks I had’t met at the Forum Encounter. 

The time flew by as the runners came through.  Before we knew it the crowds started thinning and the runners started looking more and more haggard.  I knew it was even more important to cheer these folks on because their already long race was just a little over half way through.  I noticed as bikes started riding towards us and I knew this wasn’t a good sign.  Two of the bikers hopped off and held up red flags.  They stood with stop watches and started calling times to the people that were still trying to make it to mile 15.  People started pushing to make it past them.  Soon more bikers pulled up and created a barrier at the mile 15 mark.  Anyone that didn’t make it to the barrier were pushed off the ourse towards a bus.  I couldn’t look because it broke my heart to see these people who had faught so hard being swept.  After the bus pulled away we took our tables still covered in water cups and dumped then into the road.  We carried the extra water back to where we got it.  The tables were restacked.  We raked the cups into the street and an army of street sweepers came by and cleaned the cups up in a matter of minutes.

We were on the bus and headed back to the volunteer check in.  I realized that we still had time to make it to the finish before Andi crossed.  We hopped on the monorail and headed toward EPCOT.  We weren’t there more than 10 minutes when Andi crossed by.  I screamed for her as she closed in on the finish and she flashed us a big smile.  We headed to greet her in the reunion area.  She had not wanted to buy any Goofy merchandise for fear of jinxing herself so we had gone to the expo and gotten her a tech shirt with the Goofy logo on it. 

I made my way over to the place where the runners exited after getting their food and drink to congratulate as many DisneyRunning.com people as I could while we waited for Mr. Mike and Mr. Dave.  They came through a half an hour to spare.  We collected Mike and headed back to the house for showers and naps.

Monday we met up with the DisneyRunning.com crew for a celebratory Forum Encounter.  We met at the Biergarten in Germany and had a great time.  I parted ways with the group, but as I made my way around the World Showcase with my own party we continued to see the orange glow as they made their way as well.  Next year I will definitely stick with them around the World Showcase because they looked like they had a GREAT time.

Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend – Half

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

At 2:30 AM the alarm clock went off.  Unfortunately I hadn’t slept much that evening.  I was woken up at 12 AM and just couldn’t get back to sleep.  I actually ended up spending the wee hours of the morning on the DisneyRunning.com website talking to the folks who were still up on the west coast.  Luckily time flew by and it was time to get ready for the race.  One thing about Disney races is that because of Road Closures you need to be there early.  The race doesn’t start till 5:45, but you need to be in the parking lot by 4:00 AM if you want to ensure that you won’t get stuck in traffic.  My father’s best friend Mike had flown in for the Full marathon, so we came with us to spectate the race.  On the way to the parking lot we picked up Mr. Dave. 

At the lot we made our way to the “R” tent to meet up with the folks from DisneyRunning.com.  This day I wore my orange shirt so that I matched the DisneyRunning.com folks.  It was awesome being able to meet up with everyone at the start.  Before we arrived in Disney Andi and I had decided to run together.  As her first Goofy she knew she was going to need to run at a conservative pace.  I had had some strong training and wished to push my pace.   We decided to meet in the middle and run together with a goal pace of 2:45.  Once again the time flew by at the race start.  Before we knew it we were headed towards the corrals.  Andi, Gina, Kelly, Grace and myself decided to stick together.  Unfortunately Mr. Dave was in the corral behind us.  I was unhappy with this, but I think he was afraid to get caught up with us and push his pace too hard in the half, which would jeopardize his full the next day.  I certainly would have done the same in his position.  Before the race started I set up my Virtual Partner (VP) on my Garmin for a 2:45 Half Marathon.

The count down began and the fireworks exploded as the first wave took off.  We were in the front of the second wave so after 10 minutes we got our own fireworks and send off.  We were careful not to get caught up in the excitement of the start and go off too fast and the VP was a great help for that.  We quickly lost Kelly and Grace, but Gina, Andi and I stuck together.  Andi and I both realized we had to pee, but decided to wait until Mr. Dave’s favorite spot in the Magic Kingdom before stopping.  And snapped some shots of Gina and I as we ran through the gate to the Magic Kingdom.  Mom, Dad, and Mr. Mike waited for us at the end of Main Street.  It is always great to see them during my races.  Andi and I didn’t stop long, but kept on running up Main Street because our bathroom break was coming soon.  As we entered Tomorrowland we realized that the bathrooms we had set our sights on were closed, so we ended up having to take our break in Frontiertown instead.

The trip to Magic Kingdom was all too short and before we knew it we were heading back to EPCOT.  I was keeping an eye on the VP and we hadn’t strayed more than 300 feet off our pace.  I stopped at every water stop and took in some Shot Bloks about every 3 miles as I had trained, whether I felt like I needed it or not.  As we neared Mile 11 I started feeling pretty speant.  Andi is a talker and she helped keep me distracted and helped keep me moving towards the finished.  I took more walk breaks than I care to admit in the last two miles, but before we knew it we were heading up the final ramp towards the finish.  We entered EPCOT and made our way down the out and back on the promenade.  I knew the promenade was right around the corner so I started running.  I could hear the gospel choir as we made our way towards the final turn. 

Andi was behind me as we headed toward the finish but pulled in right next to me as we spotted Mr. Mike the Mom and Dad at the top of the bleachers.  We crossed the finish line side by side in just over 2:50.  I was very happy with my race because I knew I gave it my ALL.  Thanks to Andi I stayed on pace and challenged myself.  We both gladly recieved our Donald medals and made our way to congratulate our fellow DisneyRunning.com folks and thank my parents for their support. 

That evening we headed to Ms. Peggy’s to cheer on the Ravens and eat some pizza and pasta before heading to bed to prep for another early day on Sunday.