The Final Verdict...Sesamoiditis....

Had my orthapedic appointment yesterday and found out from the x-ray that the sesamoid bones beneath the big toe joint are inflamed. The good news there is that they are not fractured, so no need for a cast or surgery. The bad news is that the Doc wants me to take at least 4 weeks off from running. He gave me a special pad for the shoe that should help relieve the stress from that area of the foot, but the sure way to heal would be to not stress it. So I'm going to give it a couple of weeks and see how I feel, and will then figure out if I can get going again. The pic above shows where/what the sesamoid bones are.

So, for the near future I'm bike bound! I suppose it could have been worse...

Random Pics

Foot-loose..

Although its feeling better today, the foot is still sore with some fleeting pain. Sort of looking forward to my appointment on Wednesday just to figure out what the deal is. Have my annual physical on Tuesday and the orthopedic appointment on Wednesday, fun week for me. Hoping to run the O'Hartford 5k again this year in Mid-March, but won't risk it if the Doc says I should be resting for a while. Marathon goal trumps 5k run for corned beef and beer ;)

Still, I'm able to use the bike and do sit-ups/push-ups, so at least I'm able to do something.

On the Disney front, I'm just about closed on renting some points for a 3 day extension for our late 2009 trip. Going back to the Beach Club Villas for 3 days and then will stay off site for seven more days. As for marathon weekend 2010, we're still batting it around. For one, my wife still isn't able to run yet and haven't really gotten the vote of confidence from the rehab folks as to when/if she'll be able to get out there. So it's kinda driven by that and whether or not it makes financial sense since we'll be there for 10 days at the end of 09. Will probably make the decision late Feb as I'm pretty sure registration will be open through then.

Pics from trip are on my other computer, so I'll post a couple more when I hit the bike tonight.

Pics...and a realization...

** --Wherever there is injustice, you will find us. --Wherever there is suffering, we'll be there. --Wherever liberty is threatened, you will find... --The Three Amigos!

***Shhhh, careful, you don't want to scare off the ellusive Nando and Tigger...

Going to spoon feed the pictures to y'all as I don't have that many. Was too busy having fun I suppose. :)

I came to the realization that while I was a little dissapointed with my Disney half time, I had a damn good year overall! Heck, I just started to run last Feb. something my lungs never really allowed me to do prior and jeez, the year turned out pretty well. Okay, so it wasn't all my lungs fault, more like a faulty plan and follow through.... Last year I set a long term goal, but also MANY smaller goals which allowed me to progress and train my breathing slowly. Just something I knew I had to do from years of dealing with the condition. At times during the winter here it's been tough, but I think with some more patience and work, I can break through the 1hr 56min barrier and onto new goals! So if anything, by "failing" to improve on my time it really has helped to motivate me for bigger/better things in 2009.

So, I'm out of the funk and onto the next goal! :-) Well, still have this Eagles losing funk, but I'm kinda tired of football this season anyhow...almost relieved! Was a good run for them, and congrats to the Cardinals! Damn fine team!

Race Day Recap

So I said I’d do a recap of race day as I remembered it and here it is!

Since I had done two other half marathons in the past 7 months, this should be old hat, right? Well, I guess not as I didn’t actually fall asleep till 10:30p or so. Just couldn’t get comfortable as I started to think about the race more and more. The funny thing is that I wasn’t even thinking about myself! Was thinking about all the other Team Voicer’s, pictured us hanging out waiting for the thing to get going, possibly if there was someone to pace with, chatting about our triumph post-finish… That kind of thing. Also, I still had yet to meet “The Voice” and the oddly spelled “Bryan”! These are the guys that put the idea in my head in the first place! I tell ya though, after meeting Mike-speed, Matt (and Bill), Heath, Rae (and family), Lisa, and Trace on Thursday evening, I felt a lot more connected to the team as well as the event itself. Kinda validated the whole year of training, and talking to my internet Disney friends (which I have been eternally mocked for!! Ha! In your face non-believers!!! Again..ha!). Okay, so no-one really mocked me, but c’mon, admit it...when you tell people all about your Disney buddies from the internet that you have never met in person, people do look at you a little funny, right? Come to find out that this is more than an internet buddy group, this to me is a kind of family. We’ve gone through a lot together over the year and I consider you all friends :) Oh boy did that get off track! Here’s something you’ll really like….nuttin’ up my sleeve…presto!

2:40am….alarm went off and I snailed out of bed and into the shower. Mike was going to swing by at 3am to see if we (my friend Chris and I) were ready to head to the bus. Well, apparently I was in the shower and couldn’t hear and Chris was in some kind of sleep coma… Anyhooo, we both got ready and made our way to the bus (about 3:05am). Chilly for sure, but very bearable considering the frigid temps back in CT at the time. Like Deb, I had my iPod rockin’ while I was on the bus, a little Hercules (which I didn’t discover till recently…like a joke that you don’t get for a couple of weeks…you guys have been talking about “go the distance” all year!), and other mixed songs. First tingly feeling was when the bus rolled into Epcot and seeing Spaceship Earth, yes indeed, this is a much different half than what I had run prior… Found the couple of TV folks at the rally spot and listened to the band while wondering where the pre-race water was….note for next time, bring my own bottle for the pre-race…. Yada yada yada…The Voice strolls up (nice use of stroll, ehh) right next to me and greets us all. Gave him a pat on the back, shook his hand, said nice to meet you and then asked if he threw up yet…LOL Okay, it was more of a joke, but I’m not sure he took it that way…DOH! On to the race!

5:50 start. Running to Disney Craig was in the same corral so we decided to pace together. We chatted it up for the first 3 miles and the time seemed to fly by. I recall as we entered the Magic Kingdom saying to Craig “This is what we’re here for, right? Let’s do this!” At this point we were just strolling through the park, slappin’ fives, yelling “Git ‘er done” to the person who had that sign (too funny). Next thing I knew we were out of the Magic Kingdom and in front of the Grand Floridian, time just flew by. Crowds were awesome! Heard a ton of “Go Team Voice” cheers as well as folks yelling our names. Felt a boost of energy everytime we ran through the large crowds. At about mile 9 I started to feel a little tightness in the lungs so I slowed down a bit. Craig was looking great and went on ahead. For his first race he looked like a pro! I saved a little energy to try and make a run at him toward the end, but could only close within two minutes or so (was probably more like 3-4 at one point). After the ramp off of World Drive, which was just a killer angle not the elevation so much but the pitch was killer for my right leg. Started to speed up when I hit the peak of the off ramp as the lungs felt much looser. Yelled “Mongello” to a guy wearing a WDW Radio shirt as I passed him. He looked a little tired and perhaps annoyed…guessing it wasn’t the first “Mongello” he heard J Kept pace till I entered Epcot and noticed the time 1:58’ish so I picked up the pace through Epcot as I wanted to finish under 2hrs and wasn’t sure what my chip time was in comparison to the clock. The last burst of energy came when I saw a kid Eagles hat cheering….so I gave him an E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!! chant and he responded with a cheerful “GO EAGLES!!!” ha! Awesome! After that, I started to sprint it out a bit more. As I came to the finish line, the announcer said “and here comes Chris Cullen from Kesington CT, and the crowd cheered pretty darn loud! What a great crowd, cheering for tons of people they don’t know. What a thrill given that there were so many people in this race. I put my arms up and crossed the line, feeling like I could have probably run another few miles around the parks. Made my way back to our rally point and shared my run story with Mike-speed and Craig who were waiting there for me…Of course…Mike had to look down at his watch and say “what took you so long” ;-) Well played Mike-speed…well played… :)

With the goal of a full marathon here in CT I’ve got my hands full once again, but nothing will match the great time had at the Disney race. That is, until I return for my NEXT Disney race. If that race is next year, I hope y’all will be there as well!

Back to the Grind

Hi all, back home to reality and not loving it... to be expected.

Firstly, thanks to everyone for their support over the past year, it really helped keep me on target throughout. If I didn't have this community to chat with I'm honestly not sure I would have stuck with running or pushing myself to achieve. Just made it that much easier.

Having said that...I'm disapointed.... I know a sub two hour half marathon is good and all, but feel like I let myself down a little bit. November was such a good training month for me and got me down to running just over an 8 minute mile during my training, and then I gave it all back in December! So, yeah, I'm happy with the sub 2hour, but know I could have done better if I had been more disciplined. Didn't taint my trip at all as I had a blast! I know it was a great trip cause I feel that post trip let down more than I have in quite a while (sign of a great trip!).

I'll probably muse about all this over the next month or so, but wanted to blurt it out now cause it's been festering since I finished the race. Will give my own race recap in the next day or so.

Once I get back up to speed at work and school I'll start to figure out the plan to meet my next goal of completing a full marathon in October of this year (Hartford Marathon). Not sure if we'll make it back to Disney for Marathon weekend next year, but the hope is there. As I've told most of you guys, my wife would like to run the half next year, but is battling hard with some foot and knee issues. If we do go, there won't be a time consideration for me, I'll definitely be running/walking it with her!!!

I'll try to get my pictures up soon, only have a few...

and yes Mike F....GO EAGLES!!!!!!! (that's what got me sprinting to the finish line, a kid with an Eagles hat was cheering me on in the last .10....I gave him an E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES chant and he yelled back "Go Eagles" LOL

Ground Control to Major Tom....

Or should it be "Lights Camera Action!" ? In any event, I'm packed, locked, and ready to rock! Early morning flight and snow sleet is already falling....should be a lovely morning commute to the airport and waiting around hoping that they don't delay it!

Won't have internet while I'm down there most likely, so I'll post when I get back. Later dudes!

Are we there yet?

Jeez, this thing just snuck up on me! Meetings all today, then MBA class all night....more of the same meeting schedule tomorrow then on to packing and sleep as 4:30a is going to roll around pretty darn quick on Wednesday. Weather is looking like a wintery mix for Wednesday morning...here's to hoping that the flight isn't delayed!

Depending on what time we get in I'm thinking that we may head over to Animal Kingdom for the afternoon. We'll see how the flight goes though....

Have run the past 4 nights and feel pretty good at this point. No run tonight as I don't get home till 9 or 10pm. Will try to get another 3 mile treadmill run in tomorrow night and will get out for a quick one on Thursday while down there. Other than that, I think I'm ready for this thing!

Anyone freakin' out? ;-)

What time is it?

Game time... or almost...

Getting some short 3 milers in pretty much every day lately to try and burn some holiday weight and keep the legs moving. Lung have been feeling tight lately. Not sure if I've got a mild bug or what, but something to keep an eye on.

Happy New Year all, since I fogot to post yesterday! My wife has been working alot this week so I've been busy with the kiddies and little to no time for other stuff. Jonathan was looking for resolutions I think. I'm not big on the year beginning resolution thing, more of a change on the fly kinda guy, but I'll give it a go. Not sure if it's a resolution or a directive, but I'm resolving to run a full marathon this year in under four and a half hours. I'm taking the conservative approach on the time as I've never run longer than the half marathon and have no idea what I'm going to be in for! I'm shooing for the Hartford Marathon in October, but who knows...I might try to get one in this summer if I feel up to it, just to give it a go. Perhaps the real resolution here is that the running thing isn't just for 2008, I'm resolving to keep this going into 2009 and hopefully will make it permanant after that!

Little trip anxiety as I'm still working on my "plan" and haven't talked with the friend of mine that will be heading down with me! Not sure if he's going to buy into the plan or not...it's all good, I don't mind flying solo in the parks if he wants to do something else. :-)

On the Road Again...

Got outside with all my spiffy new winter running gear. All I can say is...the gear held up great! Other than that...not so much. At about mile 2 I got lung locked and it hurt so much that I had to walk for a 1/4 mile before starting back up slowly. Same thing happened again at around mile 4. Walked another 1/4 mile and was able to back going with no other occurrences. In total I got 9 miles in, another disapointment. Condition-wise it was around 38 degree's with wind gust up to 25-30mph, not ideal conditions, but I should have been okay...not sure what happened...ugh. Very frustrated at the moment and being only 11 days out doesn't help matters. Just seems that I need to get more work in here prior to leaving next week than I wanted to. :-( As I had mentioned previously, the couple of pounds I gained this past week hasn't helped matters either.

Even though I'm frustrated right now, I'm still optimistic that I'll be good for the race. The other positive being that I'm guessing the temp won't dip lower than the 40's (my lungs will like that!). With withhold judgement on my actual condition till early next week.

Here's to hoping that everyone else is on track and ready to go for this thing!

So much to do, so little time..

Boy, I let myself go a bit over the past couple of weeks. I've done okay on the running end of things, but not on the food (not going to say how much weight...oy). The good news is that my metabolism is on my side, and have had a couple of days eating better on the road to recovery. I'm not sure that my time goals are in reach just yet, but will assess by this weekend and adjust the pace as necessary. The one thing I don't want to do out there is hurt myself. Anyhoo, I'm pretty psyched at this point for the trip. Didn't realize that I'd be back to work two days and then off to Florida, not sure how that snuck up on me. Not to mention that my MBA program kicks back in on Jan 5 with Quantitative Analysis/Statistics, fun fun! Will have some reading to bring with me for sure.

Haven't put in my second long run for December yet and looks like I'll be doing it in the snow tomorrow or Wednesday. Not a big deal, might cut back on the pace and up the miles as an adjustment.

More fantasy football stuff.... Won a league championship in one of the leagues I play in and will be putting that money into the 2010 Marathon weekend trip. Kinda psyched about that. :-)

Sorry for the hiatus

I'm back! Sort of! This week has been nuts with year end closeout projects at work..."landing the plane" as our finance folks call it, takes a bit more work than we originally anticipated. Also, it appears they want us to "take off" our financial plane for 2009, so that took a good amount of budget work as well. Throw in the final class for this segment (Marketing) for my MBA program and I had a nice work/school sandwich going on! Anyhoo, all my year end closeout, year beginning budget/renewal, etc., and Marketing work is done! Got an A in Marketing to boot!

Thank you all for your kind comments on the B-day and the unfortunate incident that happend! Window was fixed last Tuesday, so everything is back to normal, sort of.

Training has been treadmill based as of late due to the activites mentioned above. Snowing and 27 degrees here today, looks like we're forcasted for 8-12 inches, fun fun. Anyhoo, I'm off from work till Jan 5 and will hopefully have some outdoor runs during that span! Haven't had a good food week or two which is disasterous given that I've been scraping by on the running. :-( Injury to insult, I've had this pain in my lower leg for two weeks now. Seems to pop up when I use the treadmill more...I'm sure it'll be fine though.

It's getting late early! Up and at'em T.V.

Fantasy Football...for those who care... I fell short in the MouseGuest fantasy football league this past week. Was the #2 seed in the playoffs and bounced in the semi's...considering that my team was autodrafted for me...I'm actually happy that I made it that far. I'm in the finals of my "money" league and hoping to bring home a championship. So, for all you football fans...let's root for the following players! Donovan McNabb (Go Eagles!), Thomas Jones, Maurice Jones-Drew (had a good game last night), Pierre Thomas, Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Lance Moore, Seattles own John Carlson ;-), Eagles Defense, and some kicker dude...forgot who I have....

Smash and Grab...

What a lovely birthday it turned out to be. The plan, go out to dinner and then to a showing of "Bolt". Well, dinner went okay, but when we went out to the car....smashed drivers side window and the GPS unit..gone.gotta love people.... I'm sure it's societies fault, right? Anyhoo, no Bolt, happy B-day.. :-(

Happened to me 10 years ago with my in dash radio in broad daylight...It's the time that it takes to get it all fixed and such that I'm more angry about. What can ya do.


Hope all y'all that are down at the Mousefest meets (Florida and northwest) are having a great day! Have a drink for me!

In the Long Run...

Great Eagles tune....

Put 12 miles in today for my long run. Almost thought I wasn't going to get them in this weekend due to work schedules, but my lovely wife got up early today so I could get out. Thanks honey! :-)

35 degree's, seeing my breath, etc. Not too much wind, so it was actually kinda nice. Ran a little slower than normal as I didn't really want to push my lungs coming off the chest cold I had. Was a little tight in the lungs after, but feel good now. Ran around 8:20's on average, which isn't too bad on this route with all the hills.

Anyhoo, one more long run on the 27th o r 28th prior to the race.

The Great Outdoors

No, no John Candy or Dan Ackroyd...Just me on the open road jog'n right along. First run outside for me in a couple of weeks, so it's sort of an accomplishment. Working from home today, so it made it very easy to get one in. 4.51 miles total at an average pace of 8:04. Not bad, thought I'd be slower as I wanted to warm my lungs up for the first mile (8:16). Did feel a little pain as my lungs expanded on the first monster hill which is only .3 miles from my start. Settled in though and felt okay the rest of the way. Still, a balmy 45 degrees and wearing shorts and short sleeves! Gotta love it.

This blog was almost entitled "Throw me a fricken bonus", but I like the other better. Totally unexpectedly my boss hands me a letter stating that I recieved some kind of team award and would receive a cash bonus, woohoo! Really just happy to have a job given the economy and all....but this was really nice as it's been insane lately... Sooooo, not worrying about getting the annual pass or spending money while down in the World anymore! Not exactly "drinks on me" money, but perhaps if y'all show up to the Rant-meet I might be persuaded...

One more thing. My daughter bought me the coolest gift ever today! My wife took her to the Disney store and she told her they had to buy me this Perry the Platypus stuffed animal. It growls like Perry and everything! Best Gift EVER! am I looney or what? ;-)

Are we there yet?

Almost asked myself that question today when I saw the mail. A nice neat little letter package was in there with the words "Disney Magical Express" on the cover. Then it hit me, my luggage tags and such, ahhhhh. First time for me using magical express, so it was a little exciting to see. :-)

Feeling a little bit better today, well enough to tough out a 5k on the mill just now (not too much hacking afterwards). Looking forward to getting outside for this weekends run...it's been too long since I ran outside. Feel like I'm in confession or something "So my son, how long has it been since your last outdoor run?" TOO LONG! I'm learning that it's not only the desire to get out there when the temps dip to a ripe temp of 30'ish, but its other stuff too! Like, it gets dark around 4p, so there goes the after work run (too many nutty drivers...and other nutty things...people..etc...wouldn't feel safe). Would run during my lunch, but I've been working straight through lunch and it doesn't appear to be letting up (I know, I know, be thankful I've got a job! or that I'm not run down by a mob of Christmas shoppers...jeez that a sad story and state of affairs....:-(.....)

Anyhow, enough of my bitching! Happy to at least have the treadmill outlet when life gets in the way of nice fulfilling outdoor runs! The plan is to get a long run of 12.5 in this weekend and do one final long run in two weeks (probably on my birthday, the 13th...gives me good leverage to take a couple hour run!) I'll be thinking of all your Mousefesters enjoying your meets on the 13th, wishing I was there.... Perhaps next year as I'll have that annual pass burning a whole in my pocket!

How's everyone else doing? Rae, you still with us? We NEED ya! :-) Looks like Heath is back in action, woohoo! Deb has been kicking tail for like 12 months...Mike-speed is priming his jets...Jeff is...well...I dunno...tending to the corn?... Jonathan sounded in good spirits last show.... Dare I say it...Team Voice is primed and ready to roll through WDW? I know there are plenty more T.V'ers out there too!

Sick and such

Not feeling all that great the past couple of days, some kind of upper respiratory thing. Not fun. Anyhoo, going to get some kind of light cardio in tonight and see how I feel aftwards. With a little over a month to go I think the next couple of weeks are the most critical, so we'll just have to wait and see. Stinks cuase I think I gained a pound or two over thanksgiving! ;-)

First snow for us in CT this morning, nothing that will last or hang out, but cool nonetheless.

Happy Thanksgiving

Best wishes to all the Team Voicers out there. Have a happy and safe holiday and keep the foot on the gas with your training....not too many days left...

Frigid..

It's a bit nippy here in CT today (33 at noon), but was going to forge ahead and still get an outdoor run. Well, after trying to figure out what to wear I decided to stick to the treadmill and brave it on Sunday (it's supposed to actually be colder). Waiting for some winter gear that I ordered before I'm brave enough to get out there for a long run. Last time I just went with the sweatpants, there were all sorts of issues :-) Anyhow, just confessing to wimpin' out on the run. Did get 5.15 miles in on da mill, so all is not lost for today.

One other thing. I've been slacking off on the push ups/sit ups, so I'm going to start posting them on the training log so y'all can get on my case if you don't see some numbers! Gotta get that core ready for January!

Let's not "Stretch" the Truth....

Check out this very interesting article on stretching that my work running team forwarded on to me. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?_r=1

Now let's see your best "spider-man" stretch!!!!

4.25 mi treadmill run last night. I tell ya, for the first time in a while, I felt like I could have gone 5-6 miles on the TM without even thinking about it...just felt good. Part of it being that I was trying to envision the race in January....much easier now that we're so close.