"So what does it all mean, Basil?"

Thant’s what I’m left with after a cold-blustery PR half-marathon.  Honestly, I would be lying if I didn’t say I still think I could have done better…. 1:45:00 perhaps?  I dunno, but I had a tough time coming out of the Magic Kingdom in the same spot as last year, tough time with the lungs feeling heavy so I had to slow up a bit there.  Other spot I slowed down more than last year was the last on-ramp as my legs were burning with lactic acid (didn’t get this during last year’s run).  The only other factor that cost me time was the traffic handling as I was bumped back a corral this year and by the time I weaved through most of the C traffic, I hit the back end of the corral B traffic….  However, it wasn’t horrible, just extra energy and time is all.

How I’m feeling right now.  Legs feel fine and have since the race, shows a bit more maturity in the muscle.  The tendons in my right knee hurt a bit, as expected, but I iced the heck out of it after the race and it kept the pain down.  Froze up on me once during the night that night, but good since.  I’m going to get to the orthopedic guy to see what’s going on with it.  Leading up to the race I was starting to feel some more pain in the metatarsal area, same as last year, but I think it had more to do with my trainers starting to break down on me.  I’ve retired them to walking shoes and moved into the last pair of GT-2130’s I have.  Will look at the GT-2140’s or 50’s in another month or so to have a new pair on hand.  Other than that, I’m feeling pretty good post race and hopefully won’t lose any time as I did last January (6 weeks with the sesamoid “injury”).  Gotta get those pesky 1213 miles in prior to next year’s run!

What’s next?  Well, I’ve already committed myself for the 2011 Goofy, holy cats….  For this run I’m also going to do a bit of charity work, I mean, c’mon, anyone who can’t get on board with a good cause and someone subjecting themselves to two days of torture, has to be on some other planet! LOL    What I’d really like to do is to raise money for ALS research as my Brother in-law was recently diagnosed with this horrid disease and I’m kinda feeling like it’s the only thing I can do…..  So I’m going to dedicate the Goofy run to him and hopefully help the cause along the way.  I’ve got to get organized with all of that soon, but will probably wait till I’ve actually registered for the run(s).  Overall mileage will need to go up, but will be a much better mix of cross-training.

2010 Races - Other than this run, I’m not sure what other races are in store for me, but perhaps may jump back in sooner rather than later.  There is a half-marathon in the town I used to live coming up in February so I’m pondering that one, might just do it as a training run and not be looking for any kind of fabulous time…depending on the knee prognosis.  It’s only like 15 bucks to enter, so we’ll see.  Ya know, cause if you can run in a freezing cold Disney race, you can do anything! LOL  There is a local 5k that Lorraine and I do and are trying to get some other family members to run as well, so that’ll be on tap again.  And I think I’ll probably run the Hartford Marathon again in October as I should be able to run it without issue if I’m training right for the Goofy.  Will be a good test at that point.

Team Voice – A general shout out to ALL Team Voicers, as you guys are the glue for me.  I feel like I own a piece of the team and am accountable as a result.  This really helps drive me on a daily/monthly/yearly basis as is a great part of why I feel like I’ve had some success with this running thing.  Having the Disney race and meets (the ones I actually get to…) give me that beacon to look for as the year goes on.  Not sure how exactly I’d do this as long as I have if it weren’t for this group.  I also really enjoy in sharing all your successes (and even being a part of the difficulties as well..there are NO failures here!) as it adds more purpose for what we’re all doing.

Another long post…of course….typical post-race activity as I’m sure we’re all missing Disney at this point (those of us who’ve left anyhow), even though it’s bitter cold there!  I think our running to Disney challenge will help keep us active through the year though. ;-)