A look back... my first runDisney race!

Today is registration day for the 2015 runDisney Princess race weekend!  Inspired by that and by Patty at My No-Guilt Life, who asked for tales of first runDisney races, I took a few minutes to re-read my recap from my first race/first runDisney race/first Princess race, the 2012 Royal Family 5K.  Care to join me?  Click here... Tangled Up in… FUN! Royal Family 5K Recap!

Things sure have changed since that first race!  For starters, registration.  Back then, I registered a month before the race.  A MONTH.  This time, I fully expect the 5K to sell out in a day.  Word's out and runDisney races are popular, folks.  

(Note: if it's near 12pm EDT and you're here reading this, and you plan to register for any of the 2015 Princess races, STOP READING and get over to runDisney.com to register!  I'll still be here later.)

Know what else has changed?  Leo no longer runs with me.  I'm pretty sad about that, but he's 12 now and is still figuring out his "thing" so I try not to let it get to me.  Plus I'm still hoping a Star Wars race appears on the WDW radar to tempt him.

The race itself has changed, growing from 5,000 participants in 2012 to 10,000 in 2014.  When I first ran it, strollers were allowed; now, no strollers and participants must be over 5 years of age.

I've changed a lot since that first race, too!  I'm blonde now, and weigh almost 15 pounds less.  I'm a whole lot stronger, too, and I've since completed two 10-mile races, four half-marathons, two 10Ks, more 5Ks than I can count, and my first back-to-back-to-back challenge, the Princess Triple Crown.  Back in early 2012, I don't think I ever saw myself someday being where I am now!

And, despite my claims in February that I was DONE with all things Princess for a while... I am, right now, pre-registered for another run of the Triple Crown: the 2015 Royal Family 5K and the Glass Slipper Challenge (Enchanted 10K + Princess Half-Marathon.)  

Princess Weekend?  I just can't seem to quit you.

Thanks, Patty, for the inspiration to take a look back!

And to all who will be registering today for their first race, I wish you much success and a whole lotta fun!

#alltheraces!

The Calm After the Storm: Eagle Lake Classic Race Recap

Forgive me, but the beginning of this race recap is also a bit of a bash on the Princess Half-Marathon.  See, the Princess Half wasn’t all love and light and was, in fact, a source of more than a little drama and tension. 

Leading up to the race, there was rampant concern and intrigue in the Disney running community about corral placement, training plans, costume choices and runDisney’s 16-minute-mile minimum pace requirement.  In the weeks immediately preceding the race, concern frequently turned to outrage as corrals placements were released, verifying that some fast runners were “stuck” in far back corrals, while slower runners were placed in earlier corrals.  Some slower runners and walkers became fearful, worrying that they might not be able to keep up with their assigned corrals. 

During the Princess Half weekend’s festivities, I heard too many negative comments to count – in lines at the Expo, in park restrooms, overheard at dining establishments – about crowds, corrals, and other runners.  Race day brought more of the same.

And, sadly, perhaps the worst of it has come post-race.  Lengthy discussions about who “deserves” a medal.  About whether or not merely finishing is sufficient if one did not maintain the minimum pace.  About runDisney’s ever-increasing participant cap and its effect on course congestion.  About what a “real” runner is, looks like, strives for. 

Let me be clear: I was not immune to all of it.  I added my voice to a number of online and in-person discussions and, yes, I made some negative comments of my own.  I’m not proud of this.  By the time I actually ran the race, though, I’d really had enough of it.  I felt like all of the negativity took away from an event intended to bring people together.  I’ve felt the race and its accompanying drama like an albatross around my neck.  I’ve been making an effort to mentally separate my individual race experience from the nonsense and I’ve been making an even bigger effort to separate myself from the nonsense altogether.  Because, in the end, I want my running to be about more than races.  

The Eagle Lake Classic could not have come at a better time.

Two weeks after the Princess Half and less than a week after I’d been hobbled by bronchitis, I wasn’t even sure I could run some of a 5K, let alone set a new personal record (PR), let alone come away with a joyful race experience.  I’d have been happy just to finish and spend some time in a favorite park.

The mood before the race was relaxed and friendly.  There’d been some confusion in the days prior about packet pick-up, but everything ran smoothly on race day.  After securing my bib (and awesome swag bag – too many useful giveaways to count!), I set out for about a mile warm-up, knowing that it always takes me about that long to find my groove and release pent-up tension in my muscles.  As I jogged through the park, I encountered other runners doing the same and we all smiled and said “Good morning!” as we passed.

Getting into position for the start, I recognized a fellow mom from my son’s school and we chatted briefly about the race and others coming up.  In no time, we began moving forward and the race quietly started.  Throughout the race, I was impressed with the number of other racers and volunteers who took a few seconds to say “Good job!”, “Keep it up!”, or “Looking good!” as I passed or was passed, and I did the same in return.  My lungs were in bad shape and weren’t able to run as much as the rest of me could handle, but the encouragement kept my head held high right through the finish.

By the last half-mile, I knew that I was very, very close to hitting a new PR.  I wanted to repeat my finishing kick at the Princess Half and dug deep to sprint that last half-mile, but my lungs just couldn’t keep up.  I managed a fast quarter-mile, took a walk break to recover my breath, and did my best to sprint the finish line… clock time and iSmoothRun had me within half a minute of my previous PR, achieved at last year’s running of the same race.  I wouldn’t know my final chip time for another day, but I was more than happy to be so close!

But, really, the best part of the race came after the finish.  I walked some to cool down and sip water, then found an open spot at a picnic table and sat down to eat a snack and nerd-out on my race stats.  But the woman next to me was telling some other folks at the table that it had been her first race and I offered my congratulations to her.  At that, I was drawn into further discussion with the fine folks at our table, talking about other races, gear, injuries, training… Not once was there mention or debate over other runners’ performance.  When I said something that sounded entirely too apologetic about needing to take walk breaks, I was quickly reminded that there is no shame in walking; didn’t’ we all learn to walk before we ran?  When overall and age group winners were announced, we applauded politely, though we didn’t know any of them.  And when I took my leave to head home to Leo, we thanked each other for the nice conversation and encouraged one another to keep it up, that we’d look for each other in future races.

The 2013 Eagle Lake Classic was the perfect counterbalance to my Princess Half experiences.  Though it didn’t start with fireworks, though the only on-course “entertainment” came from a couple corny jokes made by the amazing volunteers, though I walked away with  a  sample-sized toothpaste instead of a shiny medal, Eagle Lake embodied everything I love about running: communion with nature, people who want to help others succeed, and positive energy.  I think there’s a place for both types of racing, but I think I prefer the low-key experience of a small, local race to the mega-watt excitement of Disney racing.  I’m so glad I live in a place where I can do both regularly.

And oh, about that PR?  Yes, I actually coughed up (pun intended) a new one!  Shaved 14 seconds off last year’s time.  Imagine what I could do with fully functional airways! :)

2012 Jingle Jungle 5K - Race Recap

I am way, WAY overdue for a race recap on Mickey’s Jingle Jungle 5K.  But it’s a tough one about which to write.  Though I can sum it up succinctly: It. Sucked. Royally.

To be clear, the race didn’t suck due to any wrongdoing by runDisney.  Nope, they did a superb job of putting this one together!  What sucked was my injured state.  And my child’s attitude.

My bout with IT Band Syndrome is already well documented in my blog, so I won’t rehash that.  Suffice it to say that I was still battling it and shouldn’t have run at all that day.  But I hadn’t been running in almost two weeks and felt great at the start.  Aaaaaand… look what corral we were put into:

Pictorial evidence.. 'cause it'll never happen again.

How can anyone start in corral A and not run the start of a race?!  I have no idea how we wound up there, but I wasn't about to be the only person walking through the start in A.  Pride cometh before a fall, right?

My son, Leo, didn’t train for this race at all.  I forced him to run with me a few times, but he was so miserable, I stopped bothering.  Still, he wanted to do the race and was excited about it, despite having had a very difficult week prior thanks to a burgeoning pre-teen ‘tude.  On race morning, he was sullen and sulky.  He was cold, but refused to do any stretching or moving around to warm-up.  He said he wanted to be there, but frowned and complained about the loud music.  He did perk up some once we started running, though.

The course itself was okay.  Lots of parking lot, lots of backstage area of Animal Kingdom (AK), and a little of the park, much like the course for the 2012 Expedition Everest Challenge we ran in May.  It was MUCH nicer to run the AK in daylight, though.  I never noticed as a slow-moving park guest just how lumpy, bumpy and uneven most of those walkways are… but I sure noticed as a runner!   Between scanning the ground before me and keeping track of both Leo and the pack of other runners, my mind was too busy to notice the growing pain in my knee until it was too late. 

Hi. My knee feels like someone's trying to rip it out, piece by piece. But looky how cute I am!

Despite a good deal of walking, by the second mile, I was way beyond “discomfort” and every other step was pure agony.  It ruined the race, as nothing could distract me from that pain.  I wanted to feel elation when we rounded a turn and saw the Finish, but all I felt was a loud cry from my knee, “Oh sweet mercy, we’re almost DONE!!!”  Adding salt to the wound, Leo shook me off when I reached for his hand to hold as we crossed the finish line.

I know he’s 10 and I get that he’s moody, temperamental and seeking independence.  But I was really hurt by his refusal to help his mom across the finish.  Doing my best to dam the flood of tears threatening to overflow, I accepted my very-cool medal, grabbed a water and snack box and led the way out of the finish chute.  I even managed to smile for a picture with Leo and our medals.  I made it to a medical tent for ice and we ate our snacks in equally icy silence in the middle of the parking lot.

My unofficial finisher's photo.

Finally, I explained to Leo how upsetting it was for him to refuse my hand at the end and asked him why he’d done that.

“I just didn’t feel like it,” he shrugged.

Ah, boys.  They say what they mean, and they mean what they say.  He just “didn’t feel like it.”  It wasn’t a commentary on his feelings at the time, nor was it a belligerent attempt to tick-off his mom.  We had a continued discussion about taking time to think of how our actions affect others and, on my part, not taking every little thing so personally.  Leo gave me a big hug, helped me to my feet, and asked, “So, we’re gonna go do some rides now, right?”

Oy.  I had indeed promised that we’d hit a few rides after our race, before going back to our hotel to rest and clean-up.  I’d been hoping my knee would be numb enough by then that I’d not feel the pain, like had happened after the Tower of Terror 10-Miler a month earlier… but no.  I winced with every other step, sucking in big breaths with the stabbing pain as we walked slowly toward the park entrance.  It remained at or around that level of pain throughout the day, finally abating with a double dose of Aleve, followed by a martini. Don’t judge.

My culminating thoughts on the race?  The Jingle Jungle was part of the Wine & Dine Half-Marathon weekend festivities, so Disney had a lot of race-type folks to handle all weekend.  Packet pick-up and the expo were really well-engineered – plenty of space for all and easily navigated.  The race logistics, too, were really well handled.  Putting us into lettered corrals was a nice touch, even if we did all start at the same time; it made for a lot less craziness at the start than I’d seen with either the Everest Challenge or the Royal Family 5K.  A metric ton of volunteers were fantastic cheerleaders, helpers and directors – they deserve a big round of applause.  And the Jingle Jungle medals were pretty darned spiffy.

But…

I’m not real sure we’ll do another runDisney 5K anytime soon.  For one thing, the cost is prohibitive.  The registration fee for the 2013 Expedition Everest Challenge has almost doubled to$110 per person.  That’s INSANE for a 5K distance.  Sure, it includes an after-party at the AK, but we’re Floridians with annual passes; we can go to AK any time without extra cost.  And, honestly, I’m finding that I enjoy the quiet solitude of my training runs so much more than the overstimulating, crowded conditions of Disney races.  Our local races are much closer approximations of my soothing training runs – only, you know, faster.  And.  Cheaper.  By a lot.  Add in one cranky pre-teen boy and I’m pretty unwilling to shell out a bunch of cash for a short race at Disney. We’ll see…

Still, I have that Princess Half-Marathon looming in the ever-decreasing distance.  Will my stupid leg EVER get better?  Stay tuned!

Breaking News - you want to do WHAT?!

Well, color me stunned.  Amazed.  Shocked.  Flummoxed, even.

Leo, my 10-year-old son, and I had a little chat last night.  About future Disney planning.  He was browsing our most recent issue of the Disney Vacation Club member magazine and came across a runDisney page that lists all of the upcoming WDW races.  Leo wanted to know which long ones I’ll be doing and when he and I might do another race.  The next possible one we could do happens to be Mickey's Jingle Jungle 5K associated with the Wine & Dine Half-Marathon in November.

“Cool!” Leo exclaimed when I explained that the Jingle Jungle 5K will be run through the Animal Kingdom park, “Let’s do that one!”

“Cool,” indeed!  Except that we’ve been planning a return trip to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the end of October and my budget simply can’t cover the expense of that and a race weekend within weeks of each other.  Now, I love me some Not So Scary partying, but we’ve been doing the party for years; I’d be okay skipping it this time.  But I was quite sure Leo wouldn’t be.  Still…

“Leo, we can’t afford to do both the Halloween party weekend and the Jingle Jungle weekend.  Which would you rather do?”

And that’s when the shock came…

“The race!” proclaimed Leo, with a grin the size of a Buick.

Really?!  My boy would rather do a silly 5K race than party down with the Mouse in full Halloween regalia?  Give up the stellar Boo to You parade and mesmerizing Hallowishes fireworks display in favor of a cheap, over-logoed T-shirt and a rubber finisher’s medal???

Yep.  I asked again this morning, thinking he may have changed his mind after sleeping on it, but no – he’s all about doing the race instead of the Party.

What a neat kid.  Bring on the Jingle Jungle!

2012 Expedition Everest Challenge – Race Recap

Goodness – where do I start?!  There’s so much to tell about this race. 

Day 1 – May 4  We opted to make a weekend out of the event and arrived at Walt Disney World (WDW) early Friday morning.  Like, really early: out the front door at 6:45am to battle rush hour traffic through Tampa.  We made it to the Magic Kingdom (MK) just after it opened and spent a lovely morning doing our favorite rides with a friend who was on her last day of vacation.  My plan was to take it easy on our feet, and I know we walk and stand less at the MK than at any other WDW park.  We left after lunch to go to packet pick-up.

The Expedition Everest Challenge (EEC) packet pick-up area at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex went smoothly.  We grabbed our packet and shirts, took a couple pictures in the photo-op area, and signed the giant poster. 

"Chilling" at Base Camp

Temps were soaring and it was HOT at the sports complex!  We were more than ready to get off our feet and into a nice, cool pool.  Our resort of choice was Animal Kingdom Villas at Kidani Village.  Animal Kingdom Lodge was a host resort for the race, meaning that buses to and from the race would be available to guests staying there.  Since the race didn’t start until 9:30pm, I thought it best to let Disney do the driving and the nice lady checking us in confirmed that race buses would pick up at both the Lodge and Kidani Village.  Remember that.

A quick change in the room and we enjoyed an hour or so at the pool, where Leo sailed down the slide repeatedly and I pored over a cheesy tabloid magazine.  With no real plans for the evening, we decided to wing it for dinner and headed over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  In retrospect, that was a bad idea; it wound up being way too much time walking and standing the day before our race and my feet paid for it.  But at the time, it was nice to grab some pizza and salads at Pizza Planet and ride Star Tours before getting to bed.

Day 2 – May 5  Race day!  But we had an entire day to kill first.  Yet, I wanted to preserve our feet and legs.  What to do, what to do… after a late-for-us wake up around 8:30am, and after breakfast in our villa, Leo and I decided to use our Disney Vacation Club pool-hopping perk for the first time and drove to the Polynesian Resort to enjoy its volcano-themed feature pool.

We need to do that more often!  For two hours, Leo swam and played with other kids, while I read in a beach chair and generally blissed-out.  I don’t what it is about that place, but I think it might be the most relaxing spot in all of WDW.  

I could have stayed there all day, but we needed some true down time, so after eating a quick sandwich lunch at the Polynesian, we went back to our room for showers and sleep.  Or, in Leo’s case, lying in bed pretending to sleep.  He sure did try, but he was too excited to really zonk out.  At least we were off of our feet for several hours.  Mine were swollen and achy from the heat – did I mention it was in the mid-90’s all weekend? Ugh. – and not even rest, elevation and an ice pack did much to help.

We got up about 5pm to eat dinner and get ready.  Oh, and to watch the Kentucky Derby!  We love the Triple Crown races, so how better to get ready for our own race than to watch those gorgeous equines run for the roses?  None of our picks won, but it was still fun to watch.  All geared-up and ready to go, we walked out to Kidani’s bus stop just as an Animal Kingdom bus arrived – score!  Or not… it was a regular park bus, not the race bus.  The driver had no idea what we were talking about when we, along with another team trying to get to the race, asked if we were on the right bus.  Just then, another team walked by and told us the race buses were only picking up at the Lodge, not Kidani, and would be in front of the resort, not at the bus stops.  Grrrr.  The Lodge is about a quarter mile walk from Kidani; we had plenty of time and I wanted to go back to the room, get my car keys, and drive to the Lodge.  I just knew that walk would be brutal in the wee morning hours, coming back from running a race.  But Leo somehow convinced me to just walk over and we did. 

We found the bus and enjoyed a very short ride over to the race staging area in the Animal Kingdom parking lot.  It was around 7:20pm and the race wouldn’t start until 9:30, with our wave – Wave 4 – not starting until around 9:55.  We had a lot of time to kill and not much with which to kill it.  There were photo ops, but Leo’s in a phase of not wanting to pose for pics, so that was out.  A DJ was playing lots of good dance tunes, but Leo hates to dance in public, and I wanted to get OFF of my feet, so that was out.  The sun was still up and the blacktop was HOT – with more than two hours to wait, we were already feeling overheated and sweaty.  Once the sun went down, it got a little more comfortable, though the pavement remained awfully hot for sitting upon.  I may or may not have burned my backside.  I’m not telling.  We were there much too early, though being so early did mean a very short wait to check a bag.  Next year, I’ll plan to arrive later and not check a bag at all.

The infamous Wall o' Potties

Okay, enough of my blabbering – let’s get this race started!  Finally, around 9pm, they loaded Wave 1 into the chute and started the race.  Hooray!  Fireworks, cheers, pumping music with every wave.  All under the Super Moon, glowing its big, cheesy heart out.  It looked like utter chaos in the staging area as people made their way toward the chute, awaiting their wave’s announcement, but I was surprised to find that when the DJ said to load up Wave 4, people shifted around and we had no problem making our way in.  I decided to skip my Runkeeper app, since I’d be using my iPhone for pictures, and got my new Timex GPS watch ready to go… 3… 2… 1… and we were off! 

Through the big, bright Start sign, past the DJ booth, under the fireworks… and into a quiet, dark parking lot.  Talk about shifting gears!  It was nice, actually, after all of the loud lead-up, to have a mile of relative quiet.  Leo and I adjusted our pace, found our groove and were feeling good when we reached the first obstacle.

Hay bales.  One bale high.  Up and over.  Easy-peasy.  I’ve long fancied myself a hurdler (despite being 5’ 1”), so I channeled my inner Jesse Owens and hurdled those bad boys like a boss.  Leo wisely did the one-foot-on-one-foot-over method and we were in and out of the obstacle in no time.

After that, it gets a little fuzzy.  It wasn’t long before we entered the park and the course map shows that we went through a substantial amount of park before going “backstage”… I remember virtually none of it.  It was very, very dark and awfully narrow through most of it and I was very focused on not running into other runners; it never really opened up and it was a very crowded race route.  Excepting the well-lit Tree of Life, I don’t remember seeing anything noteworthy until we got “backstage”, where we encountered a number of bales of flattened cardboard the size of F-150s.  Yeah, cardboard!  “Look – Disney garbage!” we shouted with glee.  Yes, we’re Mouse geeks.  Not missing a beat, a race worker shouted back, “No ‘garbage’ here – that’s Disney RECYCLING!”  So we gave an even bigger shout-out: “WOOOOO HOOOOTY, Disney recycling!  Yeah, baybee!!!”

Okay, we may have been a little delirious at that point.  But the second obstacle was approaching and we’d been warned repeatedly pre-race that it was a “silent obstacle.”  That’s right – a silent #2.  LOL!  Ahem.  Well, the obstacle was rows of truck tires to be run through, NFL-style, and the silence was out of respect for the sleeping rhinos in a building next to the course.  It was very weird to hear an audible hush descend as we all arrived at the tires… right up until Leo broke the silence when he tripped in a tire and shouted, “It’s okay, I’m okay!”  Whoops.

Again, I remember precious little of the rest of our jaunt through the park.  Oh!  Except this: HILLS.  I never noticed before just how many little hills there are in Animal Kingdom.  We don’t see many hills running here in FL, so any incline is a big honkin’ deal to us.  So if you overheard Leo or me yelling to each other to “KILL THE HILL!” you now know why. :)

Out of the park, we faced the final obstacle, which, based on pictures and reports from previous EEC’s, we thought would be a climb over a cargo net wall.  We were pretty excited about the cargo net climb.  In fact, Leo had been telling me for weeks that he’d help me over if I got stuck.  We were totally ready to pull ourselves over the rope wall like a couple of monkeys.  So when we rounded the corner and found a sad looking net stretched about a foot off the ground over some Astroturf, we came to a literal halt and must have had the confused puppy look on our faces. 

“Huh???”

Leo quickly saw that we could choose to go around and skip it, but I pulled him back and insisted that we were going under that net, by golly; we would not be skipping any portion of the race!  I wish they had a split time for just that obstacle, because we flew past our fellow net competitors.  Sure, I got a big puff of dirt in my eye and a couple of brush burns on my backside (which really added to the blacktop burn, let me tell ya), but I was all sorts of badass as we finished the 5K and grabbed our first of five clues for the scavenger hunt portion of the challenge.

Yep, I was all sorts of badass, right up until I tried to read the clue.  

One of our clues

It was dark out there; very dark.  They gave us a feeble little red penlight, but it didn’t do much to illuminate the words.  Words that had to have been printed in a 5-point font.  And I, without my reading glasses.  And that was pretty much our undoing.  Leo did his best to read the clues, but he was hours past his bedtime at that point and it was taking us five minutes just to find out what each clue said.  And then we couldn’t figure out most of the answers.  Thank goodness for the fantastic volunteers staffing the clue checkpoints who, when I asked for a little help because I couldn’t actually read the text of the clues, just fed us answers.  Answers that still didn’t make sense!  Maybe we were just too tired for such an endeavor.  Or maybe we’d make lousy CSI agents.  All I know is that it took f o r e v e r to reach the final Finish line. 

I’m sorry to say that we did not enjoy the scavenger hunt part of the race at all.  Beyond my problems with the clues themselves, it was crowded and loud and just not our cup of tea.  But once we made it through the very congested finish chute and got our uber-cool medals, it was all worth it.  This is some seriously cool race bling, even if my compass only points to the right!

I have to say that the end of the race was totally anticlimactic and, frankly, a bit of a let-down.  We had to walk, not run, through the finish chute due to crowding, the poor volunteers handing out medals looked completely overwhelmed as they just handed them to us and yelled, “Keep moving forward!”, and I felt like salmon swimming upstream as I led us through the hoards of humanity to the water and Powerade table.  Bottles in hand, we finally found an opening through which we slipped into an open little area to rehydrate and get our bearings.  I’d stopped taking in fluids around 7:30 and it was nearing 11:30; I tore into my bottle of Powerade, took a big swig… and spat it out into the bush to my side.  It was HOT!  Just not un-cold, but warmer than air temp, which was still hovering near 80.  Crazy!  Leo and I ditched our bottle of blue bliss, as did most everyone around us; what a colossal waste.  Several bottles of marginally cooler water and a banana later, we felt recovered enough to enjoy the after-party.

Oh yes – in true Disney style, several rides stayed open late into the night for racers and their guests!  Our plan had been to ride Expedition Everest, the race’s namesake attraction, first and the entrance was right in front of us – but the posted wait time was 45 minutes.  Uh, NO.  There is no way I’ll wait 45 minutes in line for a ride in any conditions, let alone when physically exhausted, sweaty, hungry and in need of a puff from my inhaler.  So we set out on what would become a half-mile hike to find the bag check pick-up.  Along the way, we took a ride on Dinosaur and got our finisher’s photos taken.

When we finally found the loooooong line for bag pick-up, we were told it would be a 45-minute wait.

I turned around and got a beer from the nearest cart.

45 minutes to get my bag back?!?!  Crazy.  If it hadn’t held our inhalers and much-needed protein bars, I seriously would have abandoned it.  In the end it took less than 15 minutes, so I’m glad we stuck it out.  After a little break to wolf down said protein bars and yet more water, we took a (literal) spin on Primeval Hurl…, er, Whirl, and then finally made our summit bid on Expedition Everest to end the night.

Another half-mile hike to the bus, a quarter-mile from the Lodge to Kidani, showers for all, ice all over my legs and feet for me, and we fell asleep around 2am, the latest Leo’s EVER been up. 

Day 3 – May 6  We stayed in bed for as long as we could the next day, then packed up our things and checked out before heading to Epcot for lunch and a few rides.  I chose Epcot purposely, knowing it would force us to walk at least a mile.  It wasn’t easy – my feet were killing me.  But I’m glad we did it; I was ready to take a recovery run Monday thanks to the stretching effects of our Sunday walking.  After a huge pizza lunch at Via Napoli, we made our way back home, where the evils of reality hit me like a club: Leo’s summer camps had been canceled, several of my prescriptions had been screwed up, and a check I’d written had been processed in the wrong amount.  Oh joy.  Those EEC clues didn’t seem so bad in comparison.

In the end, we had a good time, though I much preferred the morning Tangled Royal Family 5K we did in Feb. to the EEC.  I’ve heard runDisney expanded the registration cap by quite a bit this year (the total number of runners was around 5,100) and it showed: the entire race felt crowded and disorganized to me.  Will we do it again?  Probably.  I’ll just be sure to stay OFF my feet the day before, not check a bag, and take a little more time to see just what I’m running through.

So, what’s next?  Three months of hot, sweaty summer training for the Tower of Terror 10-Miler!  That includes running during two summer vacations – several at altitude in the NC mountains, and a few at WDW.  Stay tuned – this could get interesting!

Race Recap: 2nd Annual Turtle Trot 5K

Well, Leo’s second race and my third is in the books and it was a fun one!

The Turtle Trot 5K began last year to benefit our local nature parks and their amazing programs.  The folks running these places don’t just keep the parks up beautifully, they also do a ton of work in schools and around the community to educate folks about environmental matters.  Both Leo and I are happy to be supporting their efforts.

The morning of April 14 was surprisingly gorgeous – a most-welcome cold front brought morning temps down to the high 60’s and humidity levels somewhat lower than “jungle.”  It was a welcome relief here in West-Central Florida, where it’s already starting to feel like summer.  For a small race, things were surprisingly well organized with lots and lots of volunteers getting runners checked in, running water tables and keeping folks informed about where to be and when.  Kudos to all involved!

The course first wound through McGough Nature Park on asphalt and gravel trails that would allow runners to go two abreast with room for a third to pass, then left the park for several blocks of closed residential streets, entered a Bonner Park and continued through its VERY narrow, very rough (as in dirt, rocks and big, gnarled roots) paths, exited back into the few blocks of streets, and finished with a short jaunt through McGough’s paths again to the finish line in the parking lot.  I heard that the number of participants had doubled since last year and there were a few spots where things got log-jammed.  Particularly problematic were the super narrow trails in Bonner Park, where it was impossible to pass due to the thick vegetation (that could very well have housed any number of poisonous fauna) on either side.  It was a short stretch, though, and it was supposed to be a fun race, so I didn’t see it as a major problem.  I do hope they cap it at this year’s total, though, and maybe consider starting in waves; I can’t imagine a bigger pool of racers working.

Leo and I finished with an official time of 43:59, blowing away Leo's previous 50:32 race time!  He walked an awful lot of it and complained often of being “too tired” to run.  I don’t get it; we train at a much better pace than that.  For whatever reason, he just wasn’t feeling it, I guess.  But he finished and had a good time doing it, and I’m very, very proud of him. 

No medals for this one, and we weren’t lucky enough to win one any of the many great raffle prizes (all of which came with a dozen or more fresh shrimp – gotta love FL!), but there were yummy muffins and fresh fruit after the race, as well as T-shirts and swag bags full of all sorts of coupons for local merchants.

All in all, it was a fun race and I sure hope we can do it again next year!  Now we turn to preparing for the next race: runDisney’s Expedition Everest Challenge – a 5K through Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park with obstacles AND clues to solve before crossing the finish line!  

Out of the Mouths of Running Babes

Looking back at my last few posts, I realize there’s an awful lot here about ME and not so much about my partner-in-running-crime, Leo.  And, frankly, that’s because this whole distance running enterprise hasn’t been all that problematic for him.  At almost ten years old, my son simply doesn’t face the same kinds of challenges my 41-year-old body does.  His knees haven’t known years of ballet and skiing abuse; he has no need to drop a few pounds (and, in fact, could afford to gain a few); and a slow run to him isn’t the end of the world.

I could stand to learn a thing or two from my boy. 

Last night, for instance, I had a terrible run.  First, it’s become HOT down here in West-Central Florida: close to 90 degrees and enough humidity to render unnecessary the use of Body Glide; there’s simply no chafing when every inch of you is sweating.  Also, I’ve been fighting shin splints all week and they made their presence known in no uncertain terms throughout our run.  Gawdforbidathousandtimes I should maybe just take the night off… oh no, my training plan said “30-40 minute run” and I wasn’t about to skip it.  That would feel like quitting and if there’s anything I’m not, it’s a quitter.  So I slathered on some Biofreeze under my compression sleeves and set out, intent on not only finishing my prescribed run, but doing so at a nice, speedy pace.

Leo wasn’t battling shin splints, but he was sick over the weekend and maybe wasn’t quite back to his usual self.  For 30 minutes, I became ever more frustrated with his slow pace, which, in turn, slowed down my own pace.  At the halfway point, he announced that he needed to stop at a water fountain and I anxiously paced back and forth while he took his good ol’ time lapping up some lukewarm water.  A few minutes later, he pointed out a batch of ducklings swimming around the golf course water hazard and commented on how much bigger they were than the last time we’d seen them.

“Uh-huh,” I replied, not bothering to look.  “C’mon, let’s pick up the pace.”

The path we were running winds around a lot and toward the end, Leo cut across the grass, skipping a long loop of path to meet me on the other side.  Inside, I heard my thoughts say, “What is he doing?!  He just cut his distance by 20+ feet!  Not fair.”  Apparently my inner self becomes a petulant 5-year-old when running in discomfort.

As we rounded the bend back into our neighborhood, Leo announced that his breathing wasn’t so great and his side was hurting; he was going to walk home from there.

“Fine,” said I, with an obvious edge to my voice,” you go ahead and walk.  I’m going to push my pace up for the last few minutes and try to get our average pace back up to where it should be!”

So I turned on the afterburners, putting as much effort as I could summon into each stride, trying desperately to ignore the singeing pain running up the inside of my left shin, and did, indeed, bring my average pace down a notch.  I arrived home utterly depleted in both mind and body.  My legs had to be dragged up the flight of stairs to my front door, my breathing was labored, and I felt completely defeated.  I met Leo at the door and we went in together, in silence.

My mother asked, as we took off our running shoes, “So, how was it?”

Before I could answer with tales of woe and a stream of negativity that would make the late Andy Rooney sound like Suzy Sunshine, Leo piped in, smile lighting his entire face, “It was great!  The ducklings are getting so big, and the Canadian geese are still here; they haven’t gone home yet.  And guess what?  There was a baby bunny near the bushes!  I saw the Red-Shouldered Hawk nearby, so I hope the bunny’s okay.  Also, there was a car from South Dakota in the golf course parking lot; that’s far away, isn’t it?  Oh, and Mommy finished the whole thing, even though her leg was hurting a lot.  Way to go Mom!”

I just stood there, stunned and humbled by my insightful, observant offspring, who clearly didn’t give a rat’s ass what our pace was.  And then, after a deep breath ending in a whoosh, “I needed that,” he said.  “I feel so much better after running.”

I had nothing to add.  I just pulled my boy close, gave him a big hug and, with two big bubbles of tears threatening to tumble from my eyes, said, “Thank you, son.”  And we headed off to our respective showers.

Yes, I could learn a thing or two from my young running partner.  We have a 5K next weekend to benefit our favorite nature park.  The race goes through that park, plus another nature park.  Think I’ll let Leo steer.

A Paradigm Shift

There’s an old adage in the ballet about missing training time and what happens to your body:

Miss a day; it takes a week to get to where you were.
Miss a week; it takes a month.
Miss a month; it takes a year.
Miss a year; consider your career ended.

Having once lost several weeks to an Achilles injury, I can attest to the truth of that saying – I felt as though I’d never been a trained dancer at all when I started back up.  And it took months of hard, hard work to get back to where I’d once been.

I mention this because we’ve just completed Week One of our 5K training plan and the concept of training for distance runs is completely foreign to me.  We’re following the Mayo Clinic’s 5K for beginners program, which is very much in line with Jeff Galloway’s renowned running programs.  The concept is this: slow and steady finishes the race.  The program is based on building endurance by combining running and walking in two short sessions and one longer session each week.  No running at full-tilt every day.  No pushing yourself to the point of complete exhaustion.  No training at the same level of intensity every day.   It’s a total paradigm shift for me and I won’t lie – my mind is struggling with it.  When I feel good, I want to GO and go hard!  So far, the hardest thing about taking up running has been learning to slow down.

We started the week, me and my son, Leo, with a 30-minute session doing intervals of 15 seconds running and 45 seconds walking.  More than once I wanted badly to open up and break into a sprint, but I stuck to the program and felt not so much as a twinge of muscle fatigue the next day.  After a day of just walking for me and karate class for Leo, we did another 30 minutes of intervals… again, a nice, easy pace and no problems the next day.  “Hmmm,” I thought, “maybe there’s something to this crazy approach after all!”  Another day of plain old walking and we had a day off.  A Rest Day.  No cross-training, no walking, nada.  Folks, that was rough.  I felt fantastic and wanted to get out there and run!  But once again, I stuck with the program and settled myself onto the couch for a movie instead.

The next day was our first long run: 3 miles at the same 15 seconds running/ 45 seconds walking interval.  That’s the longest I’ve ever run or walked in one shot and I really expected to feel it.  Adding to the intensity, we chose to take our session to a nearby beach, where it was very windy and about 50 degrees – COLD for us Floridians!

Guess what?

It was easy!  As in, not winded, could easily still hold a conversation at the end, could’ve gone another 3 miles easy.  Poor Leo had a much harder time; he had a karate clinic earlier in the day and he was just mush after a mile and a half, which brought our combined time way, way down.  But you know what? 

We.

Finished. 

And I’m very, very proud of us both for that accomplishment.

Leo earned himself a recovery day with no running after that, while I hit the treadmill for a short walk followed by yoga.  Yes, I was a little sore, but not overly so.  And I took a little time to think about what we were doing… True, my mind’s still having a hard time adjusting to the training program, but my body is clearly responding exactly as is intended.  I’m a believer!

On we push to Week Two…