And my "Official" Marathon Training starts...now!

Yup, it's that time again.  Actually, the plan I'm following (Marathoning for Mortals-Walk/Run Marathon) doesn't start until the last week in August, but I tacked on these few extra weeks as a way to ease back into things.  Between now and the end of August, I've added some easy 4 min walk/1 min run interval weeks just to get myself used to doing those interval lengths before starting back to the 3/1's again.

If you'd like to see my full training calendar, I've got it here on my blog.  You can click on the Training Calendar tab up top or on this link for more details.  The blog entry I did ages ago announcing that I'd placed my training calendar live here on my blog is actually my most viewed blog entry...guess there's a lot of people out there who are looking for guidance.  For those of you who are looking for a walk/run marathon plan for January's WDW Marathon Weekend, the plan on my calendar starting August 26, 2013 is straight from the Marathoning for Mortals book (a great resource by the way).  From this week until then, those weeks I added myself for an easy get-back-into-the-swing-of-things schedule.

The weight loss side of things hasn't been going exactly as planned this summer.  I'd kicked my soda habit cold turkey and had gone over a month without a sip.  Then I cracked.  *big sigh*  You know how those things can get out of control...but at least I'm still down from my starting weight so things didn't get too crazy.

Been keeping busy...I've been getting many quote requests and new client inquiries lately as well which is keeping me busy along with keeping up with my other blog, The Disney World Files and my website.  By the way, be sure to stop by my other blog to enter my giveaway for a pair of Toy Story Buzz and Woody Vinylmation figures...and I'd appreciate it if you could share the giveaway with others (like on Facebook, Twitter and Google+).  Today's the last day to enter, and you the giveaway is located at this link.  The odds are still really good to win ;-)

Gotta get going...time to crack down and settle in for the long haul...

Thoughts on Spirit of the Marathon II-movie review

Went to see Spirit of the Marathon II tonight.  I had snagged a Fandango discount code for $7 off a movie ticket so I figured I'd use it for this (only spent $6.75 on my ticket).

I saw the first one several years ago and it has kind of became a tradition for me to watch it before each race that I do.  It brings out a lot of emotion in you, seeing the stories of the people they follow-their struggles and training and the race itself.  I was looking forward to another dose of that again tonight.

With the first one, they started it pre-marathon, meeting each of the people they were following and then watching their journey (well, not the whole journey of course...that would make for a very long movie LOL), then seeing everyone's highlights from the race itself, culminating in their finishes at the Chicago Marathon.

Tonight's movie again followed several people, but started off with scenes from the start of the race.  Then as it went on, you got to see scenes of each of them at different points in the race-the further into the movie it got, the further into the race the scenes from it showed.  I liked the stories (Julie Weiss had some pretty funny encounters with other runners during the race) and the footage of Rome itself was wonderful (it's on my bucket list for part of a Europe dream trip).

For me, the movie seemed to move a bit slower than the first one, and it also didn't get me as excited and emotional like the first one did.  With the first one, the excitement builds throughout and then peaks as each of the cast cross the finish line (I think too the musical score helped a lot with that, loved the score from the first one).  Tonight's sequel seemed more even-keeled and calmer.  I think a lot of that was due to them spreading out the scenes during the race throughout the movie instead of saving them all for the end.

Personally, I prefer the first one because it does build the excitement and lead you to that emotional finish.  Tonight's was a good movie with good stories, but for me was nothing more than that.  I may or may not buy it when it comes out on DVD or iTunes, but whether I do or not, I'll still be using the first movie as my pre-race inspiration.

I did stay through the credits, after which they had some additional footage of conversations with the interviewees, then there was a short documentary featurette about WorldVision.org, a charity that works to get clean water to places that need it...which interested me enough to think about possibly joining their Team World Vision at some time in the future.

So, I'm glad I got to see it, but do I consider it a "keeper" (meaning I'd buy it when it comes out)?  Maybe, maybe not.  We'll see.

Have you seen Spirit of the Marathon II?  If so, what did you think?

My 1st inspiration board attempt; Week 1 so far

I'm not the creative type.  I'm usually pretty bad at coming up with interesting ideas and I'm certainly not the crafty lady.  The craftiest I've gotten is with my cheering sign, just using markers, sparkle glue and extra sparkles with some letter stencils:

Me and my sparkly cheer sign before the 2011 Princess Half Marathon

So after putting up my last post (from guest post author Michelle Pino) about creating an inspiration board to meet your health goals, I was a little stumped on how to begin.  I knew the central image would be a Mickey medal as that is my goal-to finish the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon in January...which I'm going to achieve by losing weight, getting fit and training properly.

I've been down this road before-back in late 2008 I got really serious and got back on the Sparkpeople website that I had joined about a year prior (and just never really used) and really focused on losing weight.  Over the next year and few months between diet, exercise and then training for my first half marathon-the 2010 Disney Half Marathon-I wound up losing 45 pounds.  After that first race and several follow-up half marathons, I started to slack off a bit.  And then a bit more...and wound up almost all the way back where I started.  But when I was losing the weight, the things I needed to keep reminding myself of were to drink my water and do my strength training--two things I was very bad at keeping up.  And then once I kind of burned myself out after so many races in a short time period, I took a long (too long) break, after which it was really hard to get motivated again.

So I added pictures of water (my Brita pitcher and some bottled water that I just happened to have left over from my Sanibel trip) and some of my strength and flexibility training accessories (yoga mat, resistance bands, hand weights) to remind myself of their importance.  It's really hard for me to drink a lot of water.  Not just because I find the taste boring and plain-that's what Mio and Crystal Light are for-but also because I'm just not that thirsty.  My body seems to be able to stay hydrated on less water than the "recommended" eight 8-oz glasses a day and no matter how I space out my water consumption throughout the day, 64 ounces just makes me feel like I'm going to burst!  I can handle 48 ounces pretty well every day, so as long as I get to that point I'm happy (and yes, when I go to the bathroom it's always that nice pale lemonade color-if I get to that 64 ounce point it's just about clear...which is not necessarily a good thing).

As for the strength training, I just get bored doing it.  It's very repetitive and is nowhere near as engaging as heading outside to do miles where I can see all the interesting things going on around me.  I do want to get back into doing yoga.  I have a yoga DVD specifically for people who are heavier that I like to use and I always feel good and stretched out afterward.  I know the strength training and exercises to make me more flexible will help me in the long run (figuratively and literally LOL) so that's why I included that picture of some of my accessories.

I also like to have visual representations, being able to visualize what my weight loss will potentially look like is motivational for me.  I love looking at other people's before/after pictures because it inspires me to do the same for myself.  And so I used the virtual weight loss simulator at modelmydiet.com to make a before/after simulation to use on my board.  And yes, I'll be taking pictures to document my weight loss this time...another motivation for me personally as I know I'll push to stay on the wagon so I can have pics that show my progress.

The last picture I have on my board is of some food-a Chicken Caesar Salad specifically (you can find the recipe for the one in the picture here).  This is just to remind me to choose healthy things.  Now granted, a Chicken Caesar Salad could potentially be pretty bad for you depending on how much dressing and how the chicken is cooked, but for me the picture is a representation of healthy eating-not necessarily about the particular entree pictured.  Though just to mention it, I never put dressing on my salads...to me dressing is just yucky-and kind of defeats the purpose of my salad anyway.  Some people say the dressing is for flavor, but I put some cheese and bacon bits on my salads to achieve that (I'm really bad about getting enough protein and fat in my diet, I'm usually a HUGE carb addict-this is just one way to get some other nutrients in there).

Anyway, I added the "NO EXCUSES" since I'm awful about that (too tired, don't feel like it, I'll do it tomorrow instead, etc etc etc).  I'd like to figure out how to fill the empty parts of the background with color fill, but it doesn't seem to be working for me.  I still need to tweak it so it flows better and there's less white space...but, here's what I've got so far.  Let me know what you think:

Oh, and for those who are following along...I restarted my program this week with the nutrition part.  So far this week I've been doing good, staying within my calorie range and doing well with carbs/protein/fat and other nutrients.  My only issue is my calcium.  Most days I'm under, only reaching about 80% of the recommended amounts.  I'd rather get my nutrients from my food and not have to resort to taking a supplement so I'm trying to figure out how to do that.  First week weigh-in is on Sunday...here we go again!

Remembering Determination and the Importance of Support

Yes, I know I haven't posted for a couple of weeks but I'll address that in a different post.  I wanted to get back to the blogger challenge and catch up a bit.  I'm skipping the day 13-15 topic...I did two posts for the day 10-12 topic so in my mind, that makes up for the skip ;-)

So the next topic was to pick any picture from your Facebook or Instagram pics and write about it.  You can see the pic I chose above; I actually didn't take the photo (obviously, I'm the one the red hat!).

This photo was taken by a ROTE friend during the 2011 Disney full Marathon as I was making my way from World Showcase in Epcot toward Future World.  I would guess this around mile 25.5, maybe a bit farther, and by that point my feet were killing me, my back was sore and all I was thinking was "just keep walking, don't stop, one foot in front of the other".  I was focused straight ahead when I heard one of the ROTErs, Joey shouting at me, "You're doing it Carra!"  I saw him walking with someone else-I can't for the life of me remember who-toward World Showcase and waved.  He is the one who actually posted this picture on Facebook and tagged me in it (thank you Joey!), and was the last ROTEr I saw before I crossed the finish line.

Even though my body was overwhelmingly sore, tired and ready to just collapse by that point, hearing and seeing people I knew cheering for me continued to lift my spirits and drive me on.  I didn't stop-even though I really wanted to have the Photopass photographer take my picture when I got by the fountains in Future World-I knew if I stopped I'd never get going again and I just wasn't going to let that happen with the finish line so close.  I was DETERMINED to get my Mickey medal!

My point in choosing this particular picture?  The importance of support.  When I first started my journey into the running world, I happened to come across an online forum of people who were runners who loved Disney and running Disney races.  I've made a lot of friends from that forum and having them online for support, advice and friendship before and after races and especially along the course cheering me and everyone else on is invaluable and tremendously motivating.  I can tell you without any doubt in my mind that I would have never been able to finish that race if it wasn't for my ROTEr friends-especially those I saw from the point of exiting Animal Kingdom through the end of the race.  They helped spur me on and get me going enough to leave those sweepers in the dust.

I gave shout outs to them in my 2011 Disney Full Marathon Race Report post, but I just wanted to recognize and thank them again-Joey (of course-you're always there with such kind and supportive words before and after races), Erica (super big hugs!), Tracy, and especially Colleen and Dawn-if you two hadn't of been there outside of Animal Kingdom, I would never have been able to dig so deep and start running to get away from the sweepers that were closing in-seriously.

Don't ever underestimate the power of your support crew-whether they are there so you can just hand off a jacket, grab a drink, pass you some Twizzlers or just clap/cheer/ring a cowbell/hold a sign...or scream your name, jump up and down or honk their horn as they're driving by you on the course.  They'll help keep you going and give you that push you need to make it across that finish line.

And if you're looking for a group that will do all that for you-and so much more-be sure to check out Running of the Ears.  I know you'll be glad you did.  Here's some pics of the group:

This pic is from the Monday after the 2010 Marathon Weekend (my first half marathon)

A bunch of ROTErs at Downtown Disney at the start of race weekend 2010

A bunch of us volunteering at the mile 13 water stop at the 2010 Disney full marathon (see our red hats?)

Group shot before the 2012 Princess Half Marathon

Group shot before the 2012 Tower of Terror 10-Miler

Do you have a support group for your running/walking/racing?

Ya Gotta Have a Goal Part 2

So I’ve been doing this running thing since the Fall of 2008.  I’ve done 8 5Ks, a 10K, a Half Marathon relay, 8 Half Marathons, 1 Marathon relay (basically another half marathon since we each did 13.1 miles)...and one full Marathon.  Now before you go jumping to conclusions, I can tell you that NO, my other current goal is NOT anything longer than a full marathon.  And those of you who are my smartypants friends don’t go :poke: :poke: at me to consider it...it won’t work.  No, my goal is the Disney full marathon in January 2014.  

“Wait a minute”, you say, “you’ve already done a full marathon, how is that a goal?”   

I did my marathon in January of 2011.  I wasn’t in peak condition for it; My peak condition was Winter 2009/Spring 2010.  At that time, I had lost 45 pounds and was easily keeping a 15 minute per mile pace for the half marathons I was running and even got into the 14 minute mile range for my 5Ks.  For the marathon a year later, I had gained back about 20 of the pounds I had lost and finished in 6:59:09, a 15:59 pace...just barely making the pace cutoff (while trying to keep away from the sweepers...you can read about that in my race report if you’d like).  It was hard.  Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever undertaken and completed.

Me after my first half marathon-this was after losing 45 pounds

So why is it a goal again?  As I mentioned in my “Starting Over” post, I gained back almost all the weight I’d lost.  I’m basically starting from scratch again.  Almost worse than scratch since instead of regularly walking or even semi-regularly, I went almost all the way back to doing nothing after being swept at the Tower of Terror 10-miler.  Workouts and miles here and there...but no “real” training.  Plus I have that wonderful added bonus of all this extra weight back on again.

And so, this is going to be just like training for my first marathon...again.  I’ve already mapped out my training calendar through the rest of the year.  It is fairly straightforward through the end of August with no really long mileage until the marathon training portion starts so it’s more like a general exercise program until the end of summer...that way I can concentrate on the losing weight part, though I’ll still be doing miles at least 3 days per week the whole time.  As many of you know, trying to lose weight while training for a marathon can be difficult so I’m trying to get a head start on that part before the longer miles begin. 

I’d love to be at my goal weight before the time comes for the race, but that would mean losing about 80 pounds between now and then.  Just that part alone would be a HUGE accomplishment.  But with the long miles in the Fall and early Winter, I’ll be initially shooting for at least 60 pounds by race time.  The overall goal?  Finishing faster than my first marathon.  My more ambitious goal?  Finishing in 6:50:00 or less.  But as long as I finish without having to take a sweeper bus ride, I will consider my goal attained.  Again.

If you’re out there about to undertake your first full marathon journey, feel free to contact me...virtual training partners are always welcome.  Or if you’re just trying to lose a lot of weight like me...same thing.  Most of this for me is done on my own for various reasons which is really hard.  It’s so much easier to stick to a plan when there are others around that you don’t want to make excuses to.  If anyone out there wants to join up so we can all be accountable to each other (for losing weight or race training-virtual or otherwise), you can use the Contact Me page to get in touch.

What are some goals that you have?  

My goal?  This picture in 2014!

ONLY the Marathon

I already knew I’d be doing the full marathon at Walt Disney World for January 2014.  Once they made the announcement about adding a 10K and Dopey (doing the 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and full Marathon), I was also thinking I would add on the 10K since it’s on Friday and the Marathon isn’t until Sunday...what’s another 6.2 miles, right?  Well, now I can rest easy knowing I’ve saved $100...the 10K has already sold out.  And that leads me to the title of my post...I’m ONLY doing the Marathon.  Betcha never thought you’d hear that phrase coming from me, huh?  That’s right, I’ll JUST be doing 26.2 miles for the weekend.  Ha!

Well, I’ll be getting 26.2 miles of fun on the same course from the 20th anniversary year.    Apparently there will be a new marathon medal for 2014 so at least I’ll get one different from the one I got back in 2011.  I’m planning on volunteering again, probably one or two shifts at the expo as well as the 5K and 10K.  I’m planning on cheering for the half again as well...need to be there on Main Street with my glittery ROTE sign!

Should be another fantastic trip...who’s coming along with me?

Oh, and don’t forget, if you’re headed to Marathon Weekend too, I can help you book your trip...just drop me line ;-)

Here's some memories from 2011:

The Dreaded “Starting Over”; Training Calendar update; April Blogger Challenge

You know how it’s easy to become complacent once you’ve lost a bit of weight, and you start to slip a bit..you know, a soda here, some larger portions there?  And how quickly that slippery slope becomes one of those terrifying rides into the dark where when you finally get off, you wonder how the heck you ending up where you did?  That’s what happened to me.  I had lost 45 pounds after I started my initial weight loss journey back in September of 2008.  Then I kind of got stuck where I was and those little slips started happening.  42 pounds later and I’m almost back to where I started.  Well, now 41 since the scale said I lost 1.4 pounds when I got on this morning (yay!).

I had planned on doing the Disney full marathon this past January, but training issues last fall (caused in part by the extra weight gain which gave me problems running more than 30 seconds at a time) caused me to defer my entry to January 2014 instead.  And there’s no way I can do the full without dumping a bunch of this weight again.  And so I started working on my training calendar for the rest of this year (finished it this past Friday, click on the link to take a look)...and started tracking my food again yesterday using Sparkpeople.com (LOVE the site, so much info and several tools like the food and fitness trackers...all for free!). 

So basically, I’m starting over.

Another thing I’m doing is trying to get myself posting more frequently here on my blog.  Not just running stuff, but other stuff as well.  To get myself going, I’ve joined the April Blogger Challenge over at The Dragyn’s Lair.  It’s a fun site that I’ve been following for a while now, and she’s having a blogging challenge-nothing too crazy, it’s not every day of the month, but once every 3 days.  So along the way you’ll learn some stuff about me and see some general posts in addition to my other stuff.  Feel free to join in, either by joining her challenge or you can see my posts as they go up this month and you can do yours off of that.

So that’s what’s up right now...tomorrow will be my first challenge post, so see you then!

Disney Marathon Weekend 2012 Part 3-the Marathon Relay

When I signed up for Marathon Weekend 2012, I was initially only going to run the Marathon Relay (Chip & Dale) on Sunday, but wound up also signing up for the Half Marathon for Saturday.  I rationalized that a couple of ways-it was my SIL’s first Half Marathon, so I would run too...it was a progression towards eventually going Goofy (2010 Half, 2011 Full, 2012 Half/Half, 2013 Half/Full)...it was an opportunity to do back-to-back half marathons on consecutive days which I’d never done before.  Whatever my reasoning at the time, this would be a very new experience for me since the closest I’d ever had two half marathons together was 2 weeks back in 2010.

After a take-it-easy first half on Saturday, I was up again in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday to make my way to the start area for the Marathon Relay AKA Chip & Dale.  I had partnered up with a fantastic ROTEr named Carol from Georgia after we found each other on the Running of the Ears forums looking for relay partners.  Since I was running the half on Saturday and the first part of the full marathon course for Sunday was pretty much the same course as the half, plus I had never run back-to-backs before and didn’t know what kind of shape my body would be in, I wanted to do the 2nd leg of the relay so I could see the 2nd half of the course; I was also concerned about being too slow if I was runner #1 due to the prior day’s race that I might get swept (I learned later that even I that were to happen, the runner #2’s would still get to start).  Thankfully Carol was just fine with being runner #1.

It was pretty chilly at 4am, all the way down to 44 degrees at the lowest!  I hadn’t worn my throwaway pants as my legs aren’t normally chilly-I had a throwaway fleece blanket instead ($2.50 at Walgreens, great deal!).  I did have on a long-sleeved t-shirt over my short-sleeved tech top so even with my fleece blanket I was still chilly.  After meeting up with the other ROTErs in the start area, those of us who were relayers running leg #2 went to the shuttles as a group to be transported to the exchange area over at the Magic Kingdom parking lot.  Once there, not much was going on.  There was a DJ and a big-screen that they showed clips of the race start, then later as the first of the runner #1’s started arriving, they would put them up on the screen.  Until then, though, there was not much to do except sit around and chat and try to keep warm.  Since it was so cold, the volunteers were actually handing out the mylar blankets to us to keep warm with the caveat that we give them to our partners as they came in.

Those mylars really helped!  We waited and watched as the sun came up-it was a beautiful morning with clear skies.  I had signed up to get text messages from the runner tracking so I knew where Carol was and when to expect her at the exchange area.  She was unbelievably consistent so once I went over to the chute where we’d exchange, I only waited a couple of minutes since I knew when she’d be there.  She was originally slated to start in corral F (out of H), but I believe was moved up to D based on proof of time from another race.  Between that and her AMAZING 2:43:43 time (you ROCK Carol!), she made it to the exchange around 8:30 am-ish where I got to take over.  I was glad I had done a Disney relay before (Wine & Dine 2011) so I knew what to expect in the exchange area.

It was a pretty interesting time for me to start.  Considering I’m usually in either the last or next to last corral where you have a lot of walkers and walk/runners, starting while there are tons of people just running (and running at a nice pace too!) was really weird...but cool at the same time since I’m never around people going that fast!  I made sure to get all the way over to the right as quick as I could.  I was a bit stiff at first but as I kept on everything started loosening up.  I didn’t need to wear my long-sleeved t-shirt for too long and tossed my throwaway gloves (those 50-cent kid ones you can get at Target) a little before arriving at Animal Kingdom.  The gloves I didn’t mind tossing but the top I kinda liked, it was really comfy so I tied it around my waist instead.  

One of the great things about being able to start the 2nd half of the full marathon course so much earlier than when I had reached that point the year before when I ran the full was how much more I was able to see since I wasn’t anywhere near in any danger of being swept.  Heck, I could have taken an hour longer than I did and not been swept (*bowing down to Carol for both her speed and agreeing to be my partner*).  As I entered the back of Animal Kingdom, they had actual animals out that you could pet and take pictures of:

And of course, the characters (yay for getting Minnie!):

As I passed by Expedition Everest, I was really tempted to take a ride since the line was super short (plus from what I heard, if you were a runner the cast members were letting you go to the front of the line), but I felt like that would be taking extra advantage of my huge head start from my partner so I kept on going.  From Animal Kingdom it was back to Hollywood Studios.  As we came across one of the overpasses, I snapped this shot of the backup of traffic due to the road closures from the race (you think the drivers were mad?):

But one of the killer spots of the full is this hill heading toward the Studios:

My legs, after doing the half the day before, were screaming at me saying “What the &%$#! do you think you’re doing?!?!?!”  Yeah, I walked up that baby...as you can probably tell, most people were walking.  I give a standing ovation to those that were running (or attempting to run) up that.  Remember, I’m a SoFla Flatlander to the max.  Our idea of a hill is a bridge over a highway.  And I personally live out near the Everglades in some of the flattest land down here, so just looking up that incline made my legs want to go run and hide LOL.

One of the best parts of reaching Hollywood Studios when I did the full last year was the candy stop--yummy chocolate!  Um, yeah-at 20+ miles that tastes heavenly.  At around 9 or 10-not so much...I thought I was going to gag and had to wash it away at the next water stop.  But that’s okay-I was in the Studios and could actually watch everything around me!  

Once I got out of the front of the Studios and started heading down the walkway toward the Boardwalk resort, I knew I was home free.  Not that I was anywhere near being herded on to a bus.  Just passing by the buses that were already there for those coming later knowing I didn’t have to worry about that was such a relief!  And once across to the Boardwalk side, past all the resorts there came my favorite part-entering Epcot for the final lap around the World Showcase before heading to the finish line!  Here’s some tiny pics from that:

I wound up finishing my half in 4:01:04, much slower than any other half I’ve done but I was thrilled to still be in the upright position after completing the half the day before.  Yes, I was sore.  Yes, I was tired.  Would I do it again?  In a heartbeat!  I thoroughly enjoyed the relay-it was wonderful being able to actually take in my surroundings during the 2nd half of the full marathon course instead of worrying that I would be taken away for not making the pace.  Our combined time was 6:59:45.  Yes, I made us a slower team, but still within the 7 hour pace time...not that we were anywhere near being swept away ;-).

The relay is not being held for 2013, but I’m hoping that’s just because of the 20th anniversary year for the full marathon with the course change and other “surprises” they have planned.  I would love to do the relay again, especially as runner #2.  Here’s some parting pics:

Have you ever done half marathons (or longer) on back-to-back days?  Would you do it again?  I sure would, especially Disney!

Getting motivated for short races; A new adventure

So right now I only have two races on my schedule-the Tower of Terror 10 Miler at the end of September and the Disney Full Marathon in January.  If I was only training for the full, I wouldn’t need to start my “official” training plan until the last week of August.  With the 10-miler on the schedule, my plan started two weeks ago.  Now I will admit, I kinda stink at cross-training days...I always have (even though I KNOW those days will only help me overall).  I don’t mind yoga or upper body weights so much, it’s the lower body (meh) and core (UGH UGH UGH) that I’m not fond of.  But, I do usually stick pretty close to my mileage days, maybe with some flip-flops here and there--meaning flip-flopping miles with cross training days--when needed due to weather or work or life.

What gets me is my thinking about the 10-miler.  “Oh, it’s ONLY a 10-miler, no biggie”.  And so the motivation to actually DO the training is quite a bit lacking.  Well, at least the cross training part.I even look at the mileage days and think “Eh, just 2 miles today...whatever”.  After completing 9 half marathons and one full marathon, 10 miles just doesn’t seem like something to get excited over.  Is that crazy or what?  When I tell a non-runner friend/co-worker that I’m doing a 10-mile race, they can’t fathom going that far--but then again, neither could I when I first started out.

So the question now is, how to motivate for those shorter distances?  And how to motivate for cross-training in general?  I also train solo-both cross-training and mileage.  That makes it all too easy to blow off a day since I don’t have anyone in my face to be accountable to.  I’m not at all concerned about the full marathon portion of the training.  I actually enjoyed that last time (well, at least the mileage part...), though I still ran into the same motivation issue for the cross-training.  What’s a good way to motivate?  I was thinking of using a rewards system...has anyone ever tried that as a motivation tool for their training?

Okay, now on the the new adventure.  If you’ve been reading my blog for a bit, you probably know I am a Disney freak.  It is my favorite place in the USA to vacation, whether just for a quick weekend or something much longer.  I’m always looking to plan my next trip (often because there’s a Disney race going on!).  Because I love Disney so much...and just travel in general...I decided to work on becoming a Disney Vacation Planner.  After weeks (well, almost two months actually) of comparing host travel agencies, then choosing my agency and getting set up, I am now able to plan and book vacations-Disney or pretty much anywhere else you can think of!

I’ve set up my own Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MagicalMomentsVacationsbyCarraSaigh and today launched my very own website, www.enchanteddreamvacations.com.  Let me tell you, putting together a website is HARD work!  My brain was totally fried.  I did have lots of help from my techie DH (thanks honey!) without whom I’d have floundered around for ages.  I did teach myself some new tricks but am glad DH IS a techie because if he wasn’t I probably wouldn’t have attempted the website (or if I did I’d be working on it for months before it would be presentable).

Anyway, please take a look and tell me what you think.  I want to make sure the site is user-friendly and appreciate any and all feedback!  Oh, and if you need a vacation quote......  ;-) just let me know.  I’ll be adding a link of some kind here (or maybe a page, like my training calendar is a page and “My Races” is a page, etc) for anyone who may need vacation planning/booking assistance.

Looking forward to January and this again...

My training calendar-now LIVE on my blog!

I figured how to embed a Google calendar, so my planned training calendar is now live on my blog on the "Training Calendar" page here.  I stress the word "planned" since of course days can flip-flop and be adjusted depending on what pops up in the family/friend/work world-if there's one thing I've learned during prior race training, it's that you have to be flexible.  There's still some tweaking to happen as time goes on.  This plan is both a Tower of Terror 10-miler and WDW Full Marathon plan merged together so it's about twice as long as just the full marathon plan by itself...so I'm hoping my endurance on the run intervals will grow faster so maybe once it's time for the full marathon I could hopefully be at a 2 minute walk/2 minute run instead of the 3/2 that's currently on schedule.  And again, I might alter it to make it so I'm walk/running every other day instead of just 3 days per week (so would be 3 days/4 days repeated), I just am not sure how to change the intervals if I do that.

Planning on really working on the yoga this time around (which I love) as well as core strength workouts (which I hate).  I'll probably be trying the 100 pushups program again, starting with wall pushups (yes my upper body strength is laughable), then hopefully moving on to "girly" pushups (from the knees but on the floor)...then if I'm really dedicated finally a "REAL" pushup.  Miracles do happen you know.

Did I say yet I'm going to try the morning-run thing?  We'll see how that goes.  It's cooler, just more humid.  Like 95%+ humid.  But the 90+ degree blaring sun won't be out to play yet.  It's a trade-off, need to see what's the lesser of the two evils.  Anything to stay away from that awful modern-day torture device known as the treadmill.

One thing at a time.  First to tackle this:

Then we move on to this (typed with the determined-face smiley):

Damn straight!

Oh, and if you see something amiss in the calendar or have suggestions or questions, please let me know.  The ToT part is based off of Hal Higdon's 15K/10 mile novice training plan and the WDW Full Marathon part is based off of the Walk/Run Marathon plan in Marathoning for Mortals...both with some slight alterations from me.  And yes, I know June and half of July is empty...the calendar is my "official" fall/winter training calendar.

Do you have your training plan in place yet?  What plan(s) do you use?

Yup, officially registered for the 2013 Disney Marathon!

I'd already committed to doing the Disney full marathon in January 2013, but now it's official-I handed my money over to the mouse this evening.

I'm actually looking forward to that crazy training again, I've already filled up my calendar with a blended plan that starts July 23 with Tower of Terror training, then moves in to the training for the Disney full.  Right now it's a 3-day-per-week running plan, but I'm thinking of altering it to every other day being a run day (which would mean my long run day would alternate back and forth between Saturday and Sunday).  I could just turn one of my cross-training days into the extra run day, but I think I prefer having the day in between each run day for recovery.  Any thoughts on that?

The only thing I'm not looking forward to about training?  Starting July 23.  No, I don't mean I want to procrastinate because I don't feel like training--I really am looking forward to it.  I mean the time of year.  Smack dab in the middle of the scalding SoFla summer when we'll be having daily high temps in the mid- to upper 90s...not to mention the frequent thunderstorms.

And yes, my training WILL be outside.  I more than despise the treadmill for running-the last time I tried running on one, I felt so wrong, so uncomfortable, I had to immediately stop.  I can't even explain what it felt like.  I tried just walking on it to finish out my training session but couldn't even do that.  I'd rather chance the heat and rain...thankfully there are many shaded areas around my neighborhood to help out.

And honestly, my body is used to it. When I was training for my first-ever half marathon (2010 Disney Half), even waiting until an hour before sunset to go out (during the week when I couldn't train in the mornings) it was still in the mid- to upper 80s...and I still went out.  I didn't know any better, I figured everyone trained like this, didn't they?  And since I've lived here in SoFla for over 35 years of my life, the temps just seemed normal to me anyway.  But don't get me wrong-I'll take those temps in the 40s at the start line every time!

Looking forward to seeing all the Running of the Ears peeps for another spectacular Marathon Weekend at my favorite place on earth!

Have you registered yet?  Which race are you doing?

Shot from the 2011 Disney Marathon...I wouldn't have minded making a permanent stop here ;-)

Some good news...and back to the training!

Check out my post on my other blog, The Disney World Files, about my winning a contest for a great Disney prize!

And to prep myself to properly enjoy said prize...back to the grindstone!  Took all my measurements yesterday and weighed in.  Did my grocery shopping today to re-stock with the proper foods (not that I hadn't been all along-most of my backsliding had to do with eating out and getting hooked on soda again)...loving Publix right now as they had blueberries on sale for $1.99 a pint!  I bought two pints which I know will be gone by the end of the weekend-even with just me eating them all by myself.  Yum!

I've got my race training schedule on the calendar for the Tower of Terror 10-miler at the end of September and the Disney FULL marathon in January (yup, you read that right, going to do the full again!).  My "official" training doesn't start for another 6 weeks so I might play around with C25K for a bit until then...and work on my yoga.  I want to get the pound-dropping going before the real meat of my training schedule hits since that's when it gets soooo hard to keep dropping those pounds with the sheer volume of miles I'll be doing.

Those are actually the only races on my calendar right now.  Toying with the idea of throwing in a half marathon at the right point during my full marathon training schedule but I haven't made my mind up on that one yet.

Come on peeps...I'm doing this mostly all by myself so would love to have some online buddies to check in with and remain accountable to.  Drop me a line on my contact me page if you're interested.

Looking forward to anniversary bling at Mickey XX!  Time for another picture like this:

2011 Disney Full Marathon Race Report

Warning you now...this is pretty long...

Last January I completed my first half marathon at Walt Disney World. Not even two weeks later I had made the decision that I was going to register for the Disney full marathon for 2011. I figured I had a whole year to train so it should be no problem. Yeah...

After getting pretty burned out after doing my first three half marathons plus some shorter races in less than 90 days, I wound up taking much of the summer off and started training for the full around mid-August. Training went well until I hit my 16 mile LR...when I first found out what sore feet REALLY meant. Same thing for my 18-miler. I was reassured some when my 20-miler went well with almost no soreness but still was nervous in the days leading up to the race.

I left for WDW on Thursday after work but was too late to check out the expo so just headed to Pop Century to check in and crash. Friday morning I got up early to get some walk/jog time in before heading over to pick up my race packet. I was at the expo when it opened so was able to get in and out pretty quick. The goody bag didn’t really have a lot of “goodies” in it, a lot more flyers and ads for other races...and I was disappointed it was just the plastic bag that we could use for bag check and not like the nice mesh drawstring bag we got last year. I did pick up the “I did it” shirt and a cool t-shirt that said “Runner by day, Park Hopper by Night” which I just LOVE. Spent the rest of the day at Epcot with my husband who was able to finish work early and come join me for the weekend. Saturday I decided to just take it easy with a leisurely breakfast and just spent the day reading and relaxing---I didn’t want to be on my feet at the parks all day. Went to bed about 8pm with my alarm set for a 2:30am wake-up.

DH got me up just before the alarm was supposed to go off and stayed up until I left for the bus (HUGS to him!). I was on the bus by 3:15am along with some of my Running of the Ears friends and we made our way over to the “H” tent to meet others from our group before the race. I had my pre-race PBJ sandwich while waiting to head to the start, then tried to remain calm so it would stay down. Walked to the start line with Julie, Mark, Nancy and Tricia...Julie, Mark and I entered Corral H and made our way as close to the front as we could get. As each wave was sent off I felt a little more nervous, then finally it was our turn and we were off!

I started out running for the first thirty seconds or so, then settled back to walking for the first mile and a half until I started my walk/run intervals. I was doing a 30 second run/90 second walk which had been working well for me during training (that summer break totally put me back at square one after working my way up to a 3 min walk/2 min run before the Disney Half last year). I was able to keep that up through a little more than 8 miles. My back had started to bother me around mile 6 so I popped some Tylenol to try and keep it in check. With the exception of mile 1 when I was getting warmed up (cause you know standing around in the corrals for 45 minutes before our start just killed any kind of warm up you might do before), I was doing between 15:22-16:05 minute miles. I was confident early on that I’d be able to keep that up so I stopped for some pictures with Pluto, Chip and Dale then again with Eeyore and Tigger, then Woody and Jessie and finally the Pirates of the Caribbean (and boy, that last one it really looks like Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa!). I got to see Tracy at the #7 water stop which was a lift!

After I hit mile 9, my body said it didn’t want to run anymore so I switched over to just walking but still doing 16 minute miles...then after mile 11 my back really started to howl at me so again with the Tylenol and my pace started to slow a bit. That’s when I started to see those people on the bikes with the little orange flags in their packs. They were all very encouraging to everyone, letting us know we were still X minutes ahead of pace every mile or so. I lost enough time though that a little before the mile 17 sign, the TNT coach/pacer that was at the back of the pack was telling everyone, “come on everyone, pick it up, run for the next mile sign” because the infamous lady wearing the balloons to signal the 16mm pace point was almost upon us. So about thirty of us just started running all-out until we crossed the 17 mile sign...this happened again at mile 18 and when I realized how much I’d dropped off, my brain just blocked out what my back was saying (the Tylenol helped with that too LOL) and I really started to pick it up. I also saw fellow Running of the Ears members Colleen and Dawn just after leaving Animal Kingdom and they were there cheering away---thank you ladies, that REALLY gave me a boost!!! To the point where mile 19 was actually my fastest mile of the race!

The dreaded orange flags!

I actually was still trying to get back ahead at mile 20 where I saw my first orange flag (ran to get past that one!), then kept booking it to make up time-I didn’t want to see those bike people and their little flags anymore. Heading in toward Hollywood Studios I heard a car horn honking and people yelling my name, and there were Colleen and Dawn again, cheering me into DHS as they were driving by! You two were really spurring me on, thank you so much!! (((HUGS))) There was a guy next to me when you were driving past that said “hey, they look like they know you, you should ask them for a ride”. I was actually passing people I hadn’t seen the whole race since they had always been way up ahead of me! I even caught up to Santa (did you all see him? Santa actually did Dopey!) which was fun with the spectators that were calling out to him and the kids with the wide eyes and open mouths so surprised to see Santa in the race, just more to keep me excited even though by this time my feet were starting to hurt. I got to see Tracy again and she walked with me for a little bit to make sure I was doing good (THANKS Tracy, HUGS to you too!!).

Santa!

Once we exited DHS, I saw one last place they had the special “Parade Buses” for those being swept in the parking lot...after that though I knew there was nowhere left they could sweep...I was SAFE! I must confess, I did slow a little here as I was really feeling it in my feet-my brain was still blocking out anything my back was saying. Saw more ROTErs along the walkway to the Boardwalk (I remember Cath offering me water and was that also Chris there? I can’t remember anymore, it’s all becoming a blur, but believe me, you were ALL very appreciated!). Then suddenly, I was re-entering Epcot! I was almost there! A little more than a mile to go! More ROTErs! Erica giving me Twizzlers and walking with for a bit making sure I was doing good, thank you so much! Around the world I went, then heading toward Future World and there’s Joey telling me I’m doing it!

How good it feels to see this sign!

And suddenly, there’s the turn and that 26 mile sign, I can hear the crowd and the announcer ahead...I straightened myself out and suddenly I could see the grandstands and finish chute...and my DH, best friend and godson (who was ringing the cowbell Julie gave me during the half to cheer with like mad) were right there at the fence before the bleachers started----I beelined straight over, slapping hands while they cheered as I headed to the finish line where I got a high five from Donald as I stepped across and heard the announcer calling out my name and city (since by that time there weren’t tons of people crossing together so he could call out people individually)! OMG I just finished a MARATHON! Me! I kept wandering along and saw a ROTEr (Snowball/Anita I think?) handing out mylar blankets so headed straight for her...and then there were the people passing out the medals. My Mickey medal. For finishing a FULL marathon. Me!

Finally I made my way to the H tent where I found Julie waiting for me, she wanted to make sure there were ROTErs at the tent to greet me when I finally finished. A HUGE HUG for you Julie! We both did it! DH, BF, her DH and my godson made their way over...got a kiss from my godson (“Eww, tastes like sweat” he says) and then said goodbye to the ROTErs before heading to the car (which by the way was located at the opposite end of the Epcot lot way past the monorail station...I must’ve looked a sight waddling all that way LOL). Finally back to the room where I rested for an hour, then showered and headed out for a great steak dinner to celebrate (cause by then I was seriously craving the protein!). Finished up the trip on Monday with a delicious ROTEr lunch at Via Napoli, then it was finally time to head home.

All in all an AMAZING weekend, accomplishing something I never dreamed I’d ever do...what, me-run? You’re joking right? Nope, I’m not just a runner-I’m a marathoner. Yes, me. And to all of the Running of the Ears friends who were cheering me on, you are the most fantastic group of friends anyone could wish for! I would have never made it without all of you...the support you have given and continue to give has made (and is still making) such a difference. Special shout-outs to Colleen, Dawn, Julie, Erica, Tracy and Joey...and I know I’m forgetting people but it’s all starting to fade to a dull roar, but believe me, I knew everyone was there and was profoundly grateful that you stuck it out until I passed! It may be a while before I try a full marathon again (now don’t you all start talking about Goofy, I may be a little nuts but I haven’t hit the insane mark...yet) but with this group, I’ll still be doing lots of races if for no other reason than to enjoy the ROTErs!

I know this has been long, but I just had so much I wanted to put down about this experience. Oh, and in case you were wondering? 6:59:09.