Where did June go?

I'm not sure where it went, but it flew by without me even noticing.  I'm at 111 or so running miles for the month with 99 on the road bike.  So yes, I have upped my bike miles considerably for the month and feel better for it.  My run speeds have gotten faster as well, or I think they have....

I've still got to find and sign up for a tri of any distance as well as pick up a 10k and a half.  With time flying the way it has, I'm not sure I'll get all of that in.  The most critical is the tri as it was a goal of mine for this year from 2 years ago.  Which reminds me, I have to start swimming..  The other critical goal is sub-4hr Hartford Marathon in October, which I think I'm setting myself up for nicely with the traning I have done so far this year.  I still do need to test it out on the 16-20 mile runs, but that's coming pretty soon, all in due time.

On the Disney front, ADR's window opening soon, how cool is that.  Also, we went to see Cars 2 the other day.  Well, my daughter and I were able to see it while Lorraine chased my son around...  Anyhoo, I really like it and thought it was another quality Pixar product, but I'm a sucker for this stuff and not a hard critic. :-)  Can't wait to check out again to take in all of the detail that Pixar puts into this stuff.

Mid-June Report

60.25 miles run, and 62.22 miles biked in June as of yesterday.  Kicked up the biking this month for sure. I don't really feel too different, but sure the cross-training is helping to keep my legs fresh.  I do notice that I am less fatigued during my speed and hill workouts and have been able to increase the overall speed as well, but that could just be due to the continued mileage totals since January. 

Anyhoo, mid-year and I'm feeling pretty good.  I do need to get back to at least 2 longer runs a month as I haven't been able to do much more than 6-8 in any given session.  Targeting Sunday for a 13 miler, but we'll see as it's Father's Day and all and i don't know what the schedule is. :-)

Still need to find a Tri and register for it...been laaaazy...

Race Roster

So I was thinking yesterday about how I'd like to attack the rest of the year from the "event" perspective.  The only one I'm registered for (aside from the Disney full in Jan) is the Hartford Marathon in October.  I do want to get in at least 1 sprint Tri (or longer distance), but have not selected one yet.  What I think I might do is to register for escalating events with Hartford Marathon topping it off in Oct.  What I mean by that is that I just recently trained for, and PR'd, a 5k.  What I'd like to do in the next 30 days would be to do the same for a 10k, and then a half in the following 30-60 days.  The thought process is that the training for each will help me keep the speed goals as well as escalate the mileage appropirately to get me to the marathon. 

This week I did drop the run mileage/intensity down a little to ease the lungs back from whatever I had last week.  I was able to put in a few back to back sessions run/bike too, which helped as well.  Planning on ramping up the bike miles this month to save the legs although I'll probably end up doing more of both (time permitting).

May Wrap..

The chest congestion is still hanging around and being a nuisance, what can ya do.  I've still been able to get workouts in despite it.  Although, yesterday's run was very difficult as it felt like I had half the lung capacity.  Ended up with a fairly slow 5.2 miles, but happy that I toughed it out.  Might do a longer bike today, but we'll see.

May run miles - 125.55 (was on target for 140+, but last two weeks were challenging with the health issues)
May bike miles - 47

2011 Total Run Miles - 605.85; Cross-training miles - 158.5

Another Cold?

Well, the training still has been good. I've been working more bike into the mix as well. I developed a slight cough yesterday and it feels like it's getting worse (moving into the lungs) which makes for tougher breathing during workouts. I might go a little lighter on the running the next couple of days till I can shake this.

Solid Week Thus Far...

Close to 28 miles logged this week which includes the 5k PR, and great speed and hill workouts.  I'm still working on juggling in some bike miles, but feel pretty addicted to running since the Goof this past January...so I feel like I'm cheating on my running if I do the bike....just a mental block that I need to get over I suppose.

Still need to find myself a good sprint-tri so I have something to shoot for this summer, will post when/where once I get a chance to do that.

On the Disney front...wish I was down there this weekend for the opening of Star Tours, but sure it'll still be just as great when we get to it in August ;-).  Also, thanks to Trace the Disney Dude for a link to the Goofy sticker for the car!  I recall saying how great it would be if they made a 39.3 sticker like the 26.2/13.1 stickers and viola, there it is on Ebay!  I bought one and pretty sure I'll end up ordering another....

Newington Library 5k

Great day for a race event. Mid 60s and the downpour held off long enough for both Lorraine and I to finish. We both PR'd to boot. Mine was 21:58, 16th overall and 2nd for my age group. Lorraine came in at 27:04 and I think was 98th overall (not sure on the age group yet). They said there was just over 300 runners, great turnout for this event. I did get a small medal for being 2nd in the age group, kinda cool...first time for me.

Absent....

So I never wrote to recap my WDW Full Marathon, so I'll do an abbreviated version here.  First, I've been a bad blogger and blogger/commentor...  I do want to get better though moving forward, so here's to hoping!

Quick update before I get into the WDW Full Marathon recap.  Just over 114 run miles for the month and it looks like I'm on track for about 126-130 total running, with some bike miles thrown in for good measure.  That would equal my best run mileage month on record, so I'm pretty happy with it.  I did purchase a new road bike and looking forward to trading in some run miles for bike miles pretty soon.  The weather hasn't really been condusive for that yet.  The bike is a Specialized Secteur, pretty much an entry level bike, but much better than trying to ride the mountain bike on the road.  I'm sure I'll chat about the experience as I use it, so stay tuned.  The hope is that I'll be able to take in 1 or 2 sprint Tri's this year.

On the race front, I'm signed up for the Hartford Marathon in October as well as the WDW Full and the 5k (running with my daughter).  Aside from that, I do plan to enter the sprint Tri that my work puts on in August (as long as it doesn't overlap with my vacation...) and a couple of 5k's in the summer to keep the speed thing going.  Shooting to take down my PR of 23:11 this May in a local 5k....i think I can sneak under 23 based on recent workouts. Will give it my best shot anyhow.

WDW Full Marathon Recap:

With the drama of the half behind me, a good nights rest, some ice on the calf....I woke up early and tried my first set of KT Tape on my calf.  I think the compression socks that I purchased after the half and the ice bath really helped.  However, as I made my way to the bus stop I was still limping along with some moderately intense pain in the calf muscle.  Of course, that didn't inspire confidence, oy.  Even getting off the bus down the steep slope of stairs proved to be a challenge, prompting a number of looks from those around me probably wondering why I was going to attempt to limp a full marathon.  Still, I crancked up my music and tried to forget about anything around me. 

Met up with Justin and Amanda thinking to myself "and then there were 3..."  Of course, it was a bit more crowded with more T.V'ers running the half, but we were warriors ready to give this thing our best shot.  With Justin's back, my calf, Amanda's knee's...we were like a M.A.S.H unit or something.  But hey, that comes with a level of toughness I suppose...taking on 39.3 miles in what amounts to a 30'ish hour period of time isn't trival for most mortals (even foolish ones).  Although, I didn't really expect to have any issues with the half, so my confidence was definitely rattled.

One big mistake I made on both days was clothing.  I had it completely backwards.  I was in winter garb for the half and sweated my rear end off, and then dressed in shorts and a t-shirt for the full when it had to be 8 degree's or so colder.  I was frozen at the core for all of the pre-race and didn't thaw till about mile 8ish when the sun started to come up.  Not sure how I messed this up since I was packed and prepared for anything....next time...

The last thing I wanted to do was to limp around C corral for an hour, so I decided to use the overpass behind the corrals for an extended warm up.  Light jog with an occassional stretch and then a full stretch at the end.  Was thinking that I should have done this prior to the half as my legs really loosened up during this time, lesson learned.  Was able to get back to my corral about a couple of minutes prior to the overal race start, perfect.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...go time...well, almost.  We were able to move up a little bit anyhow, watch the B corrallers go, and then it was our turn.  I planned to go very lightly as I hadn't run this course before and wanted to make sure my leg had every chance at finishing.  Felt pretty good actually, almost like I could have kicked it up a notch, but didn't.

Miles past and the leg remained okay.  I did stop and stretch at any sign of tightness as I just didn't want to take the chance.  My ITB was good for most of the race partly due to the strap I put on it, but also the stretching routine I adopted after my issues in the Hartford Marathon way back when.  Still, I would stop occassionally and stretch pretty much everything.  I was happy to see Jeff W. in MK just prior to making the turn off Main Street, great to see a familiar face, definitely a morale booster.  As I passed the half-point I did a mental check and passed with flying colors.  It wasn't till about mile 15 or so that I started to feel a little sluggish.  Not sure what it was all about, might have been the bananas that I ate around that time, who knows.  Still pushed on, stretching here and there.  Coming out of Animal Kingdom and into the parking lot is where I got my next boost when I saw Rae and Erik.  They had a bag of goodies and Icy Hot which I put all over my ITB/Legs/etc.  Felt good to see them and hear about how Justin and Amanda were doing at that point.  I picked up the pace a little bit after that and really only slowed down on the overpasses.  Felt good overall and didn't think I was going to hit the wall at 20 like my past experience.  The Studio's were up next and the only real memory I had there was these insane park goers at the "crosswalks" sprinting across in front of runners and knocking down cast members that were trying to hold them back for the runners.  I tell ya, if one of these folks tried to get across in front of me, I would have had to mow them down...not cause I wanted to, but there was no way I was going to stop or dodge someone after 20 or so miles of running! 

Gotta end this post, yeesh...  Once I made it to the walkway that connects DHS and the Boardwalk I knew I was golden!  We have stayed at the Beach Club frequently and that's my run route, so it sort of felt like home...or something like that....I stopped once on the bridge next to the Swan to stretch..picked up the pace and ran all the way through the finish.  Only regret I had was that I didn't wait for the Goofy photo...or the regular marathon photo...not sure why, I probably wasn't thinking straight... 

Not much to else to add other than heading back to the hotel for an ice bath after a long stretch session.  The odd thing is that I actually felt physically great...  No issues with the calves or ITB, nothing...I figured I'd be a wreck after that race, but I felt good...tired...but good.  Nothing like a marathon after a half marathon to cure what ailes ya I suppose.

So I didn't hit my combined Goofy goal of 6hr 30 minutes, but came darn close at 6hr 35min xxseconds... so I really can't complain about considering that I didn't think I was going to be able to run on Sunday.  I'd like to do this again in 4 years for the 10th anniversary of the race, but next year I'm going to just do the 5k with my daughter and the full marathon on Sunday.  We'll get to watch Lorraine run the half on Saturday, which will be different for me.  So, I finally got this book of a report out, much smaller posts to follow, I swear!

Marathon Weekend Day 3 - Race Day #1

Day 3 – Saturday January 8, 2011  (another loooong post)

Woke up bright and early (okay, maybe not so bright) at 2:30am.  Felt much more relaxed about the Half-Marathon than I had the past two years.  I didn’t worry about whether the alarm clock was set correctly, or have any race anxiety.  This is probably due to the fact that I didn’t have a time goal, per se, just wanted to have a good injury free run in prep for the full marathon.  It’s funny how 13.1 isn’t really all that daunting when you work toward a full marathon training plan, almost seems light work at times.  Trust me, I don’t actually think it’s light work, just relatively speaking. J

The weather was a question mark so I took the conservative route and wore winter running tights, shorts, long sleeve tech shirt and my short sleeve Team Voice shirt over it.  Brought the gloves and hat as well, no freezing my buns off this year!  Okay, so, in hindsight, it was a bad move and probably led to some issues.  While it felt chilly when I peeked my head out the door prior to leaving, it was actually in the mid-40’s with no wind and it got warmer quick.  Wasn’t much I could do about it by the time I realized my error (mile 2 and I was sweating pretty hard due to the layers).  I hung out at our meet up spot and waited for everyone to show up.  Shortly thereafter, Team Justin showed with the rest of our Team Voice folks close behind (Amanda, Jeff, Jonathan, and Jeff’s friend Deb…can’t recall if there were others…probably waited too long to write this up!).  Jeff then reminded me not to run too fast as his wife’s phone was going to get the split time notifications, got it, don’t run to fast…wasn’t planning on it anyhow, lol!  We hung out for a bit and chatted, but I was starting to get antsy so I said good luck to everyone and headed to back check.

As you might have read from others, we were held on the other side of bag check for whatever reason.  I made my way to the front as I thought the crowd was just lines for the Port-o’s, but alas it was not.  Helped a newbie with his D-tag while I was waiting, it was upside down and I would have hated for him to not have his times recorded for his first half-marathon. J  He thanked me and we ended up in a conversation with a couple of other folks as well.  One of the folks noticed I was in A corral and said “you’re in A, huh, you must be one of those fast guys…”.  I got a kick out of that as I would NEVER call myself fast, but do try like heck to keep getting better and love competing with my own times.  I tell ya, I’m amazed at what my body has been able to do these past 3 years since I decided to start running.  Maybe I shouldn’t be amazed, maybe it’s always been there waiting to be unlocked.  I just remember when I was younger and even at my best fitness levels, my lungs just wouldn’t allow me to accomplish speed and distance….was very frustrating and probably why I never got into running…  Anyhoo, I’m way off track.  So they finally allowed us to head to the corrals and I went directly there.  What I should have done was stay out on the highway and do an extended warm-up….  I did a light jog for about 10 minutes and stretched in the corral.  There weren’t too many people in the corral at that point (they were all out warming up like I should have been!).  I moved all the way up to the start gate, kinda had a Bob Uker moment “I must be in the front row…”.  I had started in Corral A two years back for the half, but was in the rear of it, so it didn’t feel the same.  Last year I was demoted to B, so I definitely didn’t have the experience…  Anyhoo, Al Roker and company were running this year and after their bit on stage he was one person away from me talking to folks in the crowd, he seemed pretty excited to be there.  Although, he didn’t look like an A Corral runner ;-), good to be a celebrity I suppose.  I took a quick video of the countdown and start and was off!

It was tough to hold back a bit on the pace, but I knew that I needed to save the muscles for the full.  Sort of good news/bad news, I was way too hot with all the clothing so it did help me to regulate the run.  I stopped once to use the Port-o, something I never do, and hit every water stop, alternating water and powerade.  Had a cramp in my back for pretty much the whole run, but it was a dull pain so the slower pace made it pretty insignificant.  Running up Main Street was outstanding as usual, took a quick peek through the crowd to see if Rae/Eric had made it there, but didn’t see them.  No worries, I knew it was going to be tough for them to get around to seeing everyone as we all run very different paces.  Tried to take a couple of pictures from the iPhone during the run, but they didn’t come out very well, so I gave up on that.  The rest of the run was uneventful.  The earlier start was helpful as I was farther along the run before the sun started to come up.  With the heat issues, it was a welcome change. 

So I finished, within a minute of what I wanted to run this at (2hr 1min), did a mental check on the muscles, no major aches or pains, check.  Walk through the finish area, go my medal, took a picture and decided to get a quick massage….mistake.  Decided on 15 minutes for the massage, hopped up on the table (sweating profusely) and the girl went to work. Quickly turned into pain as she did something and my left calf muscle locked up to rock-like status and hurt immensely!  I asked her to hold off for a second to loosen it up, but she kept at it….ugh…  finally I sort of twisted myself so she had to stop.  It unlocked, but when she did something else, it locked up again and now it felt like it was tearing muscles….holy painful Batman!  She asked one of the other guys to look at it..he worked on it a bit and at this point I was just praying for my time to be up.  I got out of there and did some stretching in the parking lot…seemed to help, but my calf felt like jelly now and was in pain.  I was debating as to whether I should wait to see the other Team Voice folks finish or not, but I knew I had to get back to the room and into an ice bath ASAP.  So I headed back.

By the time I got back to the room, the sesamoiditis in my right foot was acting up so I was hobbling on both legs at this point….Oy Vey!  It’s all good, I figured an ice bath would fix it all and we’d be good to go.  Filled bags, buckets, and the like up with ice (of course the ice machine was in the next building…  After the bath I felt a little better and figured that through the day it would heal up.  With that in mind, I must have stayed in the room to elevate and rest the legs, right?  No, of course not, why would I do something that would help me!  I made my way to MK sporting my new Half Marathon finishers medal.  My plan was to walk around casually and sit and relax as much as possible though (which I think I did for the most part).  I do love all of the congratulations and smiling faces when people see the medal as well as the mutual congratulations for those that completed it as well.  I didn’t wear my medal around the park a couple of years back and I learned my lesson, it’s a requirement of competing in marathon weekend!  I met up with Amanda, Rae and Eric and we hit Pirates and then the Team Voice Dole Whip meet.  Team Justin was there as well and Jonathan and Steve Swanson (Muppet Cast) joined us as well…forgetting someone….oh right, Team Wasowski was there too!  We toasted our DW, chatted for a while and split up for the most part.  I’m not going to get into the whole “finishers medal” thing as I believe it’s been sufficiently covered and beaten to death!  Amanda and I headed for the expo as I felt like I needed to find some sort of relief for the calf issue.  The expo was pretty cleaned out at this point, but I did manage to find a pair of compression socks that fit me and picked up a roll of KT Tape.  Thanks to Amanda for putting up with my whining! And standing around at the expo while I hemmed and hawed about what to do. J  I was pretty tired, so I headed back to the room right after to put out my stuff for the marathon and get some sleep.  Put out shorts and my Team voice shirt, no way I was going to go through the heat stroke again the next day, right?  Yeah, you’ll see what happened….

Marathon Weekend Day 2

Day 2 – Friday January 7, 2011  (loooong post, ye be warned!)

After my fun Thursday evening and Disney transportation adventure…..As Justin put it so well, “when Disney transportation works, it works very well. When it doesn’t work, it fails miserably..” or something like that. Friday morning it worked in the “well” department. I was up by 7:00am to get ready for the Studios. I wanted to be there at rope drop for a secret reason….okay, I’ll you guys in on it…just you guys though….if you get there at rope drop, you can get over to Toy Story Mania to get a fast pass in order to avoid the lines. Okay, don’t tell anyone else though as we don’t want it to get all crowded and stuff.  So, I made my room coffee and headed to the bus stop near Acadian House of Port Orleans Riverside. Side note on the resort. I asked for a room close to transportation and that’s exactly what I got. The building I was in was about as close to the bus stop as you could get. Also, as anyone who’s stayed at PO would know, there are like 5 stops between the two section of the resort, and it just so happened that mine was second to last, so I didn’t really spend much time on the bus, thankfully! This particular morning the bus to DHS showed up just as I finished my coffee, perfect timing, with little to no one on it. Only took a few more minutes and I was standing in line waiting for them to let us past the ticket entrance. I was second in line actually, and ended up on the front line for rope drop (first time for this).

The studios is my favorite park (although Epcot is starting to creep up there) and rope drop is one of the reasons. See, I love movies, so the park open is right up my alley. The two guys who do the whole “you’re big opening scene to Hollywood” thing is hilarious and really gets me excited to be in the park (Magic Kingdom obviously has a great open as well). Rope dropped and the usual running madness began. Of course, Disney does the crowd control thing and has the Toy Story team meet you in front of Brown Derby and walks the horde down to the ride/Fast Pass dispensers. I wasn’t going to run….39.3 miles in the coming days would be enough for me, so I walked and ended up #2 at one of the Fast Pass dispensers anyhow. As I walked back toward ToT I noticed the Fast Pass line was all the way to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, man that was quick. I hadn’t really eaten so I stopped by Starring Rolls Café for some coffee/water and a couple of bananas. Found a bench in front of the candy shop there and allowed a Cast Member to stare at me while relaxing with a banana. Not sure why that was so amusing to her, but it was…maybe it was the chaos going on around me and my ability to sit there and relax while it unfolded around me?

I ended up riding Rock n’ Roller Coaster as the line was only about 10min long. We had a Cast Member who was playing along with the pre-show script, something I don’t recall ever happening before… He did the “how about some backstage passes for these folks…” prior to Steven Tyler’s “yeah, backstage passes, that’s a great idea” or something like that. Got a chuckle out of the crowd prior to the doors opening and all of us going through what I call “the sausage maker”. I know I’m the master of the obvious, but my favorite part of RnR is the first 10 or so seconds. The rest of the ride is cool and all, and I love the blaring Aerosmith music, but something about being shot down the hallway into a loop that fast is exhilarating and I pretty much always scream like a girl. LOL After all that, and seeing how many spots were on my clothes from the lovely black lights….I ended up fast passing Tower of Terror and heading back to Toy Story for my FP there. I still haven’t figured out how to score over 300k at TSM and almost always end up in the 210-260k range. Still, it’s usually good for best in car, which makes me happy ;-). Was able to hit a few more attractions to round out a pretty productive day at the park and was also able to catch a seating of American Idol for my first time. I really like what they have done there, very
professional stage and theatre, must feel like an outstanding opportunity to budding singers who’ve never been in the spotlight (literally). Although, I’ll tell ya, I’m not sure if the rumors are true, but there were too girls who were obviously amateurs and one guy that smelled like a ringer. I had heard they do this when they don’t get a good enough talent pool, but whatever…I enjoyed the show regardless.

4:50 ADR at Mama Melrose with Jeff and his group, Amanda, and myself was enjoyable. Sure, it was a far cry from the 13 we had expected, but hey, sometimes stuff happens and you just have to make the best of it. Poor Rae and Eric got on the road late, and Justin and group enjoyed a late lunch at 50’s. I tell ya, it was probably the best time I’ve had at Mama’s though as the place does suit itself better to smaller groups. Also, our server was quick and accommodating (not something I’m used to there…).

Man this post is getting long…. Okay, wrapping it up, promise!

So I headed back to Port Orleans after dinner to lay out my stuff in prep for the Half Marathon in the morning. I got off the bus at the main entrance to pick up some fruit or something for the morning. Apparently, Fulton’s shop doesn’t sell fruit…disappointing since they do have fridges (needed to go to the cafeteria, but didn’t know this). I picked up a box of mini-muffins and tried to find my building in the dark. Of course, I took the multi-mile journey through alligator bayou instead, growing more and more frustrated with the layout…Finally got back to my room though, quickly put my stuff out, D-tagged my shoe, drank some water and tried to get some sleep. Now, I thought it might be cold in the morning so I put out my winter running tights a long and short sleeve tech shirt along with my skull cap and throw away sweatshirt. I’ll get into why this is important to know tomorrow…..and how it led to me freezing my rear-endus off for the Full Marathon…
See you real soon!

Marathon Weekend Day 1

I’ve never done a great job on the trip reports, I typically just dump the whole trip in one post and hope for the best.  Not this time… I’m going to take the day by day approach and string everyone along for a while. 

Day 1 – Thursday January 6, 2011

Travel Day

So, after becoming a weatherman in the weeks prior, it was time to get on the plane and head for the World.  Woke up at 4:30a or something (which I thought was early…till I hit Saturday and Sunday morning).  Of course, it never really feels early when you’re heading out for a trip.  Checked my bag the night prior, so it was an easy drop off and on to security.  With all of the craziness around security and pat downs recently I was fully ready to call a psychiatrist right after security to discuss my repressed issues, but no such luck.  I went through the metal detector as I normally do (even got a compliment at how I correctly spread out my electronics and such in the correct baskets, still remember from my travelling days, ha!).  Skipped my usual McDonalds pre-trip breakfast and chose a coffee and a fiber-one bar that I had brought (starting out the trip with a good choice….good stuff).  Airport has free wi-fi, which is more than I can say for Disney…..when the heck are they going to get with the times… 

Flight was uneventful and as smooth a ride as it comes.  I chatted with a family in the row across from me.  The husband was going Goofy and the wife was running the half.  Had my Pfizer hat on, so the wife asked if I worked there…turns out, so did she, small world. J  Nice couple (and daughter).  Wished them luck as we walked through MCO and I bolted towards Magical Express.  There was a huge line at their check-in counter, which was the first time I’d seen that…cruisers maybe?  Anyhoo, I walked straight through to the Port Orleans line, waited for like 2 minutes and we got right on the bus.  Since the flight got in early, I was about 30 minute ahead of schedule, cool. 

Since it was only 11ish, I didn’t expect my room to be ready, but I checked in and viola, it was ready!  Port Orleans is a pretty large place, easy to get lost…which I did, but that comes later.  The room looked clean, but obviously not too far off from needing an update.  Had a mini fridge, which I didn’t expect since I didn’t ask for it (brochure said you need to ask…), but worked great for the several bottles of water I kept in it.   So, after investigating the room for a minute, I called Lorraine to chat.  Tough trip to be away from her and the kids, sure it sounds good in principle, but I did really miss them and the craziness that comes along with it.  Decided that next year we’d have to do this as a family.

So, I changed into shorts since the temps were probably in the mid 60’s (20’s at home) and I was rebelling against the bitter cold we experienced Marathon Weekend 2010.  Should have brought a sweatshirt though as I knew I was going to be out all evening.  Anyhoo, I hopped a bus to packet pick-up…excited…anticipation building….walked up like a pro since I had done this a couple of times…smiled at the folks directing traffic as if to say “no need for help, I got this”, and they nodded as if to say “yeah, yeah, move along you Goofy SOB…” LOL.  Yes, yes I am Goofy….this time..  Slight miscalculation though.  I went down to the main floor of the pick-up building and didn’t see the signs obviously noting that Goofy registration is upstairs on the other side of the building.  But the folks on the floor were very smiley and nice, and directed me correctly.  Picked-up the packed and moved quickly to the expo.  I noticed on my way out that they had marathon merchandise on the floor of the packet pickup.  Should have shopped there, mistake…  The Milk House was jam packed at noon on Thursday….but I squeaked through and got to pick-up my shirts/bibs.  Tried to slowly walk around the expo, but didn’t work out that well.  Wasn’t sure if it was because I really wanted to hit the parks, or if the crowds were making me uptight.  There was a line for everything…so I just exited and went back to the hotel. 

Dumped my stuff and hit the bus for Animal Kingdom (so sayeth the itinerary…).  Got to AK around 2p and ready for some protein refresh at the Flame Tree Bar-b-que, love this place.  It was the first spot where I really knew I was alone.  But hey, I had the swarming birds and my iPhone…so I kept busy as I made quick work of the rotisserie chicken.  After that, I hit Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl (1^st and last time on this one…what is Disney thinking here…).  I decided to make a game out of my trip to help me keep connected to home.  So I was taking ambiguous pictures of ride queue’s or the rides themselves..send them as e-mail to the family and see if they could “Guess where Daddy is”.  Between text and e-mail, I felt pretty connect to home without having to talk all that much.   At this point, Amanda texted me and we met up over at Everest.  I think I like the queue for Everest even more than the ride, but the ride IS cool even if the Yeti isn’t working…  Did a couple of other attractions and then out to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner at Whispering Canyon with Jeff, Justin and company.  Amanda covers this pretty well on her blog, so I won’t rehash the happenings there.  The one thing I can add is that I was pretty darn cold on the boat ride to the Contemporary (they wouldn’t let us over the MK to hop a resort bus there..too late…).  So we took the launch to the Contemporary thinking we could walk over the MK and catch the bus, but they turned us away and made us take the Downtown Disney bus from the Contemporary…then pick-up a bus to our resorts.  Still pretty cold….We got to Downtown Disney so I got off the bus, only to find out that the very bus I was on would then be going to Port Orleans…back in the line in the freezing cold…ugh.  Still, I made it on and got back to the hotel (think it was about 11p..). 

Re: Reagan, Indy 500, Pixar Saluted in New Stamps

Check it out, cool new Pixar stamps coming out soon!  Hope the link shows up below as I'm forwarding from the iPad....as Jeff and Mike will attest, I'm not so good with the technology thing :-)

WASHINGTON - Two of America's favorite spacemen - the cool-headed Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard and the animated Buzz Lightyear of \"Toy Story\" fam...



Sent from CBS News on iPad
Download CBS News for the iPad here.

Wii Arm.....

So Santa brought us a Wii this Christmas and I was immediately hooked on Wii Sports Resort Bowling....and now I have the rare condition of Wii Arm.  Kinda like Tennis elbow, but more in the shoulder region.  All kidding aside, I love to bowl and haven't had time to be in a league for years now, so I might have overdone it a bit in the past couple of days.  The darn thing is very realistic in the movements where spinning the ball is concerned, almost exactly the throwing style I used when bowling...without lugging a 16 lb ball around the ally.

Anyhoo, I've had another obsession as of late that I think a few of us Disney marathoners can relate to.  Weather watching!  Since my last post I've discovered AllEars.net has a page of like 8 different weather forecast sites for Disney weather.  5, 10, and 15 day forecasts, it's a weather watchers paradise! LOL  What does that mean for Marathon Weekend?  Well, apparently not great things if the 15 day forecast I saw is correct.  Goes from 74 and sunny on Friday to 60 and raining on Saturday (59 Sunday rain in the AM) with lows in the 37 degree area.  Then it miraculously clears up on Monday.  Is that weekend cursed or something?  Okay, okay, I'm not exactly sold on a 15 day forecast quite yet.... probably just maddening as I want to know and check it constantly, but understand the variability.  I'd take the temps they are predicting if they could cut the rain out of the picture, yep, I'm down to "lets make a deal" with the weather!

Put in 8.5 today leaving me 8 miles shy of 100 running for the month.  I've put in another 85 cross training to make December a pretty productive month overall.  Right at about 1000 run miles for the year as well.  A bit less than I wanted to put in, but I have far exceeded my expectations for cross-training miles which I think has really helped keep me from larger injuries.  Combined mileage for 2010 will come in somewhere around 1350.  Probably a bit more if I recorded long walks, but I have a tendancy to forget those....maybe it's due to the Wii Arm....

7 days till I head down and 10 till the race....Woo....Hoo....

Holding My Breath, But...

Soooo, the weather outside is frightful, but the 10 Day Forecast for Disney is so delightful.  No, really, on both counts.  It's in the teens here in CT (probably colder with the whipping wind chill) with a pile of snow on the ground, but there is hope.  I've been checking the 10 day forecast for Disney for over a week to see if I can get a glimpse of what the weather is going to be like for Marathon Weekend.  I tell ya, it wasn't promising... I was looking at highs in the 40-50's for a while..but a couple of days ago, the longer range forecast was starting to show highs in the 70's as it got closer to race day.  Of course, it's tough to trust a long range forecast, but at least there is hope, right?  I've still got my cold gear ready to rock for this thing in the event that we get closer and the temps dip. 

My dilemma is wether to check a suitcase or buy a new carry on... I have a 17" carry on, but that won't fit all my stuff, will need the 21" that I can get away with carrying on.  Might just check the bag, pay the fee, to ensure I've got enough space to bring clothing for all possible conditions (cold, hot, wet, icy, whatever).  Not to mention the two pairs of running shoes (will wear one on the plane). 

Training..oh yeah, there is that whole race thing...  I've begun to taper (probably a tad early) and won't do anything over 10 in the next week.  Legs have been thanking me for it as I've been struggling through some aches and pains.  Just need to watch the weight over the next week now.

Merry Christmas, Team Voice!

Rest up folks, 2 weeks to go.....

Dynamite....

"we gonna light this up like it's dynamite..". I've caught the pop music bug lately and have adopted this song as my Goofy song. Good beat, fitting lyrics, it's on, and on and on! Think it's Taio Cruz, BTW.

Don't forget to Tivo the Ironman Kona on NBC today from 2-4, or something like that. These broadcasts are great motivation for races like the one we are facing in January. Great stories of regular folks looking to do the irregular. I'm so psyched for Jan, it can't come fast enough. Just wish Mike-Speed and Matt we're going to be there with us, kinda bittersweet. Guess I'm going to have to set the pace for the Goofy time in Mr. Speed's absence. :-). Hey, but I can't discount Justin as he's the man of a million miles! Maybe that's his thing, instead of "year of a million dreams" it's Justin's a year of a million miles....

Anyhoo, enough of this incoherent post!

36 on 13....

Just a reference for the age change today. So yeah, it's my b-day and all, but I had an interesting take on it today at work. I thought about where I was 10 years ago as compared to where I am today. Some people might trade anything to be 26 again, but I took a long hard look at it (in the 5 minute break I took during another fun all day meeting with a vendor) and I tell ya, I'm doing things now that I just couldn't do back at 26. Also, I remembered who I was at 26 and to tell you the truth, I didn't really like that guy all that much! Okay, I wasn't evil or anything, but I was complacent, a bit arrogant at times, probably not all great of a true partner to Lorraine (but don't get her going on that!), and a number of other things that I probably have forgotten. Oh yeah, I was getting fat as well....way too many cruises and dining out!

So what's this all about.... Well, I just like the person I've become way more than who I was and wouldn't trade the hair on my head (I had alot back then..) to have the "youth" back. I tell ya one thing, I couldn't have run a half mile back then, let alone 20 or more. I've stuck with this far longer than I would have back in the day. I also learned that success in your job is simply meaningless if you don't do it through hard work, treating people the right way, and putting you family first (even if it means you don't advance your career as a result). I've learned what true "fear" is, through having children and worrying about their safety, etc. on a daily basis. I dunno, maybe it's a sort of selflessness that comes with age or something, who knows. Hey, I didn't really even like Disney all that much at 26, is there anything more to say about 26 year old Chris versus 36 year old Chris? LOL

Sorry for the sentimental post, just figured I'd share how the day went and my thoughts on getting older.

Still recovering from the 20 miler on Saturday, but probably 85% now. Got 2 miles in wog fashion last night and a good even paced 3 miler this evening. Will probably do cross training the next couple of days to help recovery. Haven't recorded my mileage lately, but thing I'm over 50 running on the month and 20ish cross training.

Getting Closer....

Getting closer to Christmas, for one, and I'm sad to admit that I just don't have spirit this year. Not cause I don't want it, just has been a taxing year on the projects I've had. I do feel like it's getting better but have I run out of time? Surely I can get back into the swing of the season, right? I believe it's possible and I'm going to do what I can for sure!

Anyhoo, we are also closer to the WDW Marathon Weekend. I still have a lot of work to do, but took a large step today in completing a 20 mile run. Took it real slow as I'm still concerned about my leg, but got through it. My ITB is pretty sore now though and in great deal of continued stretching. So, it took me 3:15:xx to get the 20 in. Considering the terrain, this is really not that bad. Probably one more long run like that and then will keep it mellow through January.

Where does the time go....

While the summer training and whatnot seemed to drag on, the fall has flown by and we're right on the edge of marathon weekend. Amazing. While I'm probably "ready" for the Goof, I still have a bit of work to do to even have a shot at meeting my goals for this race. I tell ya, this year has been a real challenge for training. Finishing up the MBA was good, but then work has been double demanding to fill up that time. However, the numbers don't lie, and I'm going to be over 1000 run miles for the year, best year by a couple of hundred miles (in my 3 years running anyhow). So that might be why it's felt like a tough year, no training downtime except for being sick a couple of times. Which reminds me...the whole house is sick and I woke up feeling similar. Feel a little better now and will get a good run in shortly, but hoping it doesn't get worse in the next couple of days, can't afford it.

Leg has been getting progressively better, thankfully! Still not sure what was going on there, but will see the orthopedic in January for sure.

November was a good month overall, I believe I ended with ~109 run miles and 50 or so cross train miles. Not quite Amanda-like, but she had a SUPERB month and is going get all Grumpy on Dopey this January! Go Amanda! She was definitely inspiring to me in the middle of November where I was having a tough time getting going.

Got my magical express tags yesterday, right around the corner!

Holiday Reset...

With Thanksgiving behind us, it's time to reset and get ready for the year end charge at work as well as trying to find some peace with Christmas on the way.  And, oh yeah, there is this little race a couple of weeks after that, just 39.3 miles in like a 29 hour period.  (oh, and my b-day thrown in the middle there for good measure...woohoo)

As for work, it's going to be a nightmarish 3 weeks as we try to meet a deliverable for 17th.  The fun begins tomorrow with a packed meeting schedule 8:30 - 5 (maybe they'll allow me 15min for lunch...). 

Training.  Well, the leg has stabalized, I think.  Still a little hip soreness, but I'm starting to suspect that my shoes are in breakdown mode.  I have marked my runs with which pair I've worn, but haven't tallied the miles up to see.  I suspect that they are down, or on their way out.  New pair are in the mail though, so relief is on the way!  Think I'm going to buy another pair so I can use one for the half and one for the full.  The Asics GT-2150's are on sale this week for 69.99 down from 95. 

With a 4.5 miler today, on a very brisk day (low 40's, light wind), I'm over 100 miles for the month (101.2 to be exact).  With the crosstrain miles I'm at 155.2 total...pretty good month, heavier on the run, but alot more cross training than I'm used to.  December will bring even more of a mix with cross-training in an attempt to be balanced for January.

Stay healthy folks, we're in the home stretch!