Super Dolphin Day 10k

My 10k report from the Super Dolphin Days 10k:

So, thankfully, my Warrior peeps had me dressed appropriately for 30 degree weather! I was in a thick turtleneck, pants, gloves, hat, and vest. I was much more comfortable than I expected (in normal life I would have waited until later in the day to run, since it reached 65 by mid-day!)

We picked up my packet Friday night at an elementary school. I picked it up early to get it over with, only to find out you had to get the chip the morning of the race. I thought that was weird. Turns out it took all of 20 seconds to get my chip that morning, so no big deal. Anyway, they said get there 30 minutes early to get your chip, so I had roughly 29 minutes to kill.;) I took some pictures on my phone. As usual, I was the only doofus taking pictures...



So, I'm studying the map, thinking this is farther than I really wanted to go, when a random woman starts talking to me. She's asking if the course is well-marked. I have no clue, but we kind of chat a bit. She's wearing a big coat and sweatpants; she's older, and kind of has that perfect older lady hair. I think she's either a leisurely walker or a spectator...

We all wander down towards the start. Hard to find- this is it:



People are standing around chatting. I'm texting and checking my facebook. Again, doofus. The race starts with a quick airhorn blast. I see it coming, yet I jump. So embarassing to be so twitchy!

This was my plan: start the first two miles at about 9:45, then try to creep towards 9:30 for the middle, then push for 9:00s for the last two miles. I really just wanted to break an hour. (Previous 10k best was 1:08 but I haven't run one in a long time without the complications of pregnancy or a friggin' bridge).

I start running, and find myself behind an older steady guy. My first mile is 9:02. The second was 9:07. I knew I couldn't keep that pace, but I was in that delusional stage of racing... Third mile, 9:11. I decide to let the old guy go!

I walked a bit through a waterstop. Might have been a mistake...
Fourth mile was 9:35; fifth mile was about the same. By mile 5, I was sending my mom text messages about my distance so she could find me (she had the kids). I tried to text her "kill me" but accidentally sent through "kills" which I thought was actually more appropriate.

Mile 5, guess who's cheering and yelling that the finish is around the corner? My friend who looked like a spectator! She took first in the 50-54 category with 47 minutes- D'Oh! I loved that- so fun when someone totally surprises you!

Mile 6, there are some kids cheering. I manage to smile a bit, but nothing like my usual, friendly racing self. Then I look up and see the boys in the stroller with my mom and Emma jumping up and down. That did make me happy, although not faster... The last little bit is up a curved drive- the only hill has to be there? It's in the same 9:30 range.

So, I finished with a 58:38. I felt good about my effort level, but I need to do some more training. And drop some pounds. That would help. I taped a pace chart to my phone and checked it each mile- that was really good. I spent all of mile 4 wondering where I could add the extra seconds I gained by not running at an average pace of 9:27 per my chart. Stupid, but distracting, and sometimes distracting is all you've got.

We wandered down to the coffee shop and then watched the 5k. The Coast Guard was running. Some were really fast, but then a big group was running in a sort of chain following the flag. Very cool.



I made everyone linger for the results. According to my calculations based on last year's results, I had a chance for a medal. The fastest people in my group last year moved up to another age group. Yeah, I was 11th out of my group!! What was that all about?! I'm so taking those people next year...

And that's pretty much it.

Jen in GA

Disney Half Marathon 2009

It's finally here. The Disney Half.

So, my mom and I decided to do the half after I ran the Goofy last year. We did two long runs of 8 miles each together. They weren't particularly fast, but they beat the sweeper time. Still, we were horribly undertrained.

My mom picked up my packet for me. That's always highly stressful- you have to get your packet by Friday night at 8:00. We usually leave around 1:00 and it's about a four hour drive. I was able to actually let people get out of the car for a bathroom break once I knew my packet was accounted for!

After doing all the night before prep, and then helping my mom with hers (which throwaway clothing did she want to bring, which shorts would she wear for the race, etc), we went to bed. I dumped the baby by Ted at around 3 a.m. and went outside my mom's door. We joined forces, and headed for the bus (after a quick bathroom break- never, ever give up the last opportunity for a real bathroom!) I was dragging all of our stuff since I was to be our sherpa.

We wander past the red carpet and over near the WISH people. As much as I like them, I can't really face talking to anyone at 4 a.m. We kill time looking at the band, the merchandise tent, etc. Did I mention it was freezing cold?! We both had on sweatshirts and gloves and sat on a Princess blanket that Emma decided was too "baby" to keep.

On a quick port-a-potty trip, we bonded with a woman who'd flown in from Maine. She had done a half at home but was 30 minutes over the sweep time for Disney. I told her to get near the front of her corral and look for the bikes. I liked her, and hoped she'd make it.

Finally, we headed to our corral. Silly me, I put my mom's time down as whatever the fastest time is that doesn't need proof. Had we been properly trained, it would have been a reasonable time, so I don't feel bad about being too far up. It bought us a little wiggle room. We abandoned our blanket, though I felt kind of attached to it.

The fireworks start, and we are off! We're doing somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-13 minute miles, so not bad at all. My mom is alternating between euphoria, panic, and general grumpiness. I'm just babbling cause there's nothing better than a Disney race!

We took pictures of the mile markers, even though they weren't new. I was disappointed to not see the "Choose your Groove" sign, but they had the music playing, so we went disco. Finally, we hit the Magic Kingdom. The spectators are crazy as always. I had to take a picture with Chip and Dale in Tomorrowland, then we found Alice and Piglet. We took pictures in front of the castle- good thing since the photographer missed us completely! (Somehow in our training, I didn't emphasize the need to anticipate the photographers and position yourself well- major oversight).

We'd been very strong through the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, our lack of long runs caught up to us- not so much from an endurance perspective, but from a wardrobe perspective. My mom had to stop to adjust her shoe/sock at least once per mile from Tomorrowland on. She'd have known that those socks sucked had we run longer in them, but such is life.

Hmmm... so miles 7-11 are a blur of photos (Mary Poppins), a stop at the port-a-potties, yelling for random WISHers, giving strangers Tylenol and bandaids(remember, sherpas are prepared for all emergencies). Because we lost a lot of time with shoe/sock stops, we gradually got in with a much slower crowd. I was very proud that I could stay focused- we said we were doing the race to finish and we were not going to worry about our finish time. I almost lost my focus once, when the old guy with the jazzed up walker passed us, but once we got past him, we were ok.

Mile 11 or so is an awful ramp/bridge with the sun beating down on you, but you can see Epcot. It's up towards the countries and then back down past the Epcot ball... then through the really long stretch of parking lot to the finish line. I made my mom do the cheesy holding hands up in the air across the finish thing, cause as Harry would say "I had to." We got our medals! (Time was somewhere around 3:23, but at least 20-30 minutes of that was lost to the shoe/sock crisis, bathroom breaks, pictures, etc).

We didn't wear our medals in the parks because the ribbon is scratchy but did wear our t-shirts. We hit MK and Epcot and chatted with anyone who made the mistake of asking about the race. It was great fun. My mom totally gets it now- you can be thoroughly miserable by mile 11, limping and exhausted all afternoon, and trying to pick your next race at dinner.

Oh, and the woman from Maine in the port-a-potty line? Would you believe we walked out of the massage tent, looked up, and there she was? She had a big smile and her medal. That's one of my all time favorite Disney race memories.

Reindeer Run 2008

Last year I set a PR at the Reindeer Run 5k. The course starts at the YMCA, goes straight uphill to the hospital (convenient, no?) and then goes in a big square back. I ran it in 24:42. It was a beautiful thing, and I'll probably never come close to beating it. And it probably set me up for the leg pain I had during the full marathon, but whatever...

I was a little worried about running it this year. Obviously I wouldn't get close to my PR, which I can accept, but still... Then I decided to pressure my mom into running with me since she had only done one 5k before. Even though this is a low key race (as in no race numbers and you have to remember your time), any race experience is good for preparing for the half.

So, we ran uphill and in a big square. My mom hit the BMZ (Bite Me Zone) around mile 1, then got a little better around 2, and fluctuated until the end... We stuck around for the awards. Turns out even with a 38:xx minute run, we won age group awards! So, while my time was a little different, another age group ornament from the Reindeer Run.



Most importantly, we ran the entire 5k well within sweeping time of the Half!

Savannah Bridge Run

Why do I keep signing up for Bridge Runs? Seriously, I train on flat ground and I'm scared of bridges...

Ted kept saying we needed to visit some relatives in Savannah, which I thought was a good idea. Being completely compulsive, I did a little race research for Savannah. Lo and behold, we just happened to decide to visit on the weekend of the Savannah Enmark Bridge Run. There was a 5k or 10k- you could do both for a 15k, called the double pump. I decided to go with the double pump because I can't help myself (and I found it very amusing what with my new pumping lifestyle).

After driving miles and miles looking for the damn bridge, we checked into the Westin by the start line. There are actually so many of us now that I brought an air mattress. There's a good look!

I got up early and got dressed. The temperature was 40 degrees, which caused me some concern since I'm a cold-weather weenie. I went with shorts, t-shirt, vest, and gloves. I'm never going anywhere without gloves again!

I walked to the start at the base of the bridge. Ironic that we'd been circling for at least an hour trying to find the bridge the night before, and I was going to be crossing it three times. I people watched for awhile. They made an announcement that a bus was running late, so I drifted up to the start just to have something to do (and to see if there were more people dressed as Santas, elves, pirates, etc). I thought I'd take a picture of the start. A random spectator saw me, grabbed my camera, and insisted I stand at the start for a picture. Can you say mortifying?!



So, here's my official picture. I'm glad he did it, because when you wear a black vest with black gloves, you look like you don't have hands in the official race pictures.

The 5k was hard, the 10k harder. It was a whole lot of bridge, so a whole lot of up. I don't remember my times, but for the double pump I was in front of maybe 12 people out of 300 something. I fell somewhere in the middle of the pack for the 5k but they didn't report my times as just a 5k runner (somewhere around 35 minutes).

This sign made me laugh. Crap. You can't see the sign. Technical difficulties.

You got a t-shirt, towel, and special plastic glass for the double pump. My towel looks stupid on my medal rod. It was a really inexpensive race, but I would have gladly paid another $10 for a medal.

I might consider this race in the future, but the bridge thing is really getting old. How about a nice flat race?! Plus, Ted's relatives all saw my times listed in the paper with a 77 year old man beating me soundly. I'd explain that only the truly insane and not recently pregnant did the double pump, but that's kind of pathetic...

I was also the only person with a camera. What's up with that?!

The Great Ear Piercing

Emma wanted nothing more in life than to have pierced ears, for all the accessory options, don't ya know. We originally told her she could have it done at 10. But then I started thinking about how we just made up the age restriction and how desperately she wanted them...

Of course, we caved. I told Emma she could have the official piercing done for her ninth birthday. Unfortunately, her ninth birthday falls on Thanksgiving. Obviously nothing would be open on Thursday and Friday would be crazy at the mall. I convinced Ted we should take her on the Friday before. We told her we needed to pick up some photos at Sears, which was true, but we really didn't all need to go. Silly Emma never noticed that we went all the way through Sears and halfway through the mall before we hit Claires. The salesperson asked me what I needed and I told her- Emma almost fell on the floor! So there she is in the chair, clinging to Ted, while Harry watches suspiciously and Miles decides I should feed him while taking pictures. We were quite the spectacle!

Here's the basic idea in pictures:

"Like, right now, really?!"








The finished look




Predictably, Emma was thrilled with the outcome and is totally OCD about the alcohol/turning routine. Equally predictable, Harry made a run for it when Emma was finished- no way he was going to let that lady touch his ears!

Official Half training begins

Sure, I was supposed to begin training a few weeks ago, but I was trying to balance that out with the whole wait six weeks after delivery thing (never mind the inconsistency with running in the Race for the Taste at three weeks post delivery)...

Regardless, the training has commenced.

Sort of.

I was all ready to go Sunday morning at St. Simons, but it was 37 degrees outside when I woke up. I don't run if it's below 45. Or maybe 50. Originally Ted said he'd watch the kids so I didn't have to worry about freezing them, but he was reluctant to get up. I decided it was kind of a moot point since I wasn't going outside with or without the wee ones...

So, mid-day arrives and with it, the temperature gets up to about 59 degrees. Harry was taking a nap, Ted was reading, Emma was watching TV. Here was my opportunity! I threw Miles in the ginormous double stroller and picked up my mom at her house. After rejecting the running jackets I brought for her and taking my running vest literally off my back (and glasses off my head), my mother pronounced herself ready. Oh wait- I forgot. First we split some sort of macadamia nut brownie/cookie. Apparently I get my Stomach O'Steel from her!

We headed out. My mother had just had a private lesson with a ChiRunning Coach (really), so she tried to implement her "lean" and I just plodded along pushing the baby and babbling. We took one of the routes that I always took during Goofy training- boring, but reassuring in its familiarity.

We ran approximately six miles. As usual, I turned off my Garmin at one point and forgot to re-start it so I had to estimate about a half of a mile, but I've become fairly good at estimates so I think I'm within reason to call it six miles. Besides, I'm the Coach, so if I say it was six, who's going to argue?! It wasn't the fastest pace, but our goal is to get across the line together and be at a non-sweepable pace of at least 14 minutes per mile (allowing time for pictures and potential bathroom breaks). Our pace was well within non-sweepable time, so all was good.

The baby was perfectly content, and my mother has proclaimed herself a RUNNER. I just know in a couple of months she'll be looking up past results for 5ks to see if she can win her age group!

Race for the Taste

OK, it's been about 6 weeks since the Race for the Taste, but I've had some time issues...

We went down to Disney on a Thursday for Emma's fall break. Her break just happened to fall on the same weekend as the Race for the Taste, which is how I ended up running in a 10k three weeks after having a baby.

Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to deal with being at Disney. The first day I used the ginormous double stroller, but after an unpleasant run-in with a bus driver, I switched to the sling. Generally, Ted took Emma on the big rides while I took Harry to the stuff he could do. The baby pretty much slept in his sling and I tried not to accidentally run him into anything! One of my favorite memories is on an English woman in the line to the Playhouse Disney show suddenly exclaiming "have you got a baby in there?" and when I said yes, she couldn't stop chatting about how she "saw a hand popping out." It was so funny.

We stayed at the Fort Wilderness cabins. For the most part, I hated the cabins- I'm more of an "explore the lobby and gift shop" kind of girl. But, and this is a big but, you didn't have to worry about bothering other people with your noise, you had a kitchen, and you parked right by your room. So this will probably be our resort for awhile...


Here we are heading out from the cabins on our first morning. I already look tired and Harry is rolling his eyes...


Did I mention Harry spent the entire trip as "Captain Harry" the pirate?



And this is how poor Miles spent most of his time:



So let me fast forward to the actual race...

First, after playing at the parks for two days, I realize I have to pick up my packet. We've gone back to the cabins, so Miles and I hop in the car and head to the Wide World of Sports. Being the brilliant person I am, I go towards Epcot (thinking it has to be near since the race starts at the WWoS and ends at Epcot). Yeah, so that doesn't work. I have to pull a U-turn at the entrance to Epcot and head towards MGM (excuse me, Hollywood Studios). This seems like a reasonable mistake, but it feels way too familiar- yep, did it for last race too. I'm sure I'll do it for the next race as well.

Miles and I park and head off to find the elusive packet. I go in the entrance to the "Milk House" that I've always used expecting to see signs and t-shirts to buy. No, I see men playing hockey. There's a full sized ice rink where the expo should be. So that's a little disconcerting. I go back outside and look for other runners- sure enough I find them at a back entrance. Then everyone refuses to give me my packet until they've seen inside my sling. People are fascinated that I have a sleeping munchkin strapped to my body! They all praise me for running so soon, so I leave tired but feeling appreciated.

Sunday morning, 5 a.m. So, like I'm already up! I'm exhausted from having already spent time at Disney and the whole sleep deprivation thing. But, sleep deprivation is nothing new... I get dressed while watching the Top 7 things to do at Disney on it's perpetual loop. I've never been so slack about a race- it's impressive that I have my chip on my shoe and my bib is sort of even. I head out the door and drive over to Epcot. I jump on a freezing cold bus and we drive over to the start. A bunch of us start laughing because we can't remember where we parked (luckily, it was the same place as all the other races so I can follow my autopilot to find my car at the end). I'm feeling a little self-conscious in my glowing WISH shirt.

I wander around a bit and end up in the port-a-potty line. There's a pleasant man in front of me talking to some girls. He's far too coordinated for me to handle- his hat matches his entire outfit and has a pocket for his iPod. So, there he is with his iPod sticking up like an antenna on the back of his head, and he messes with it, and suddenly I'm reading the screen to his iPod and seeing "ABBA" and I want to die laughing... then I'm distracted by the crazy guy who always shows up in basically underwear and a cape- what is that all about?! Hey, my glowing WISH shirt doesn't seem so crazy compared to an antenna iPod and naked guy! But me standing there laughing to myself- that might look a little crazy...



I drift over to the start with absolutely no clue how I'm going to do. I find Becky, my running buddy. A couple of weeks before the race, I told her to go her own pace this time since I had no clue if I could even finish. Becky asks me if I'm going to run or walk- I tell her I don't know. She says she has no plans for getting a PR and will go my speed. I'm nervous I'll make her too slow, but really glad she decided to join me.

The race starts- it was totally anticlimatic. I wasn't at my best, but I was able to run all of it. (I don't count walking the water stops as stopping running). Becky and I chatted and ran at a pretty steady pace. By the time we reached the Beach Club, I could tell I hadn't run that far in a very long time, but I was still ok. We cruised through the countries and headed to the finish line. We made it in about 1:11, so that was pretty good. If Becky hadn't been with me, I'm sure I would have been miserable!



We found another WISHer, Leigh, at the finish and took our pictures (as usual, my eyes were closed- would it kill them to take another shot?!) We then went to find our food samples. The gimmick with Race for the Taste is that you get food samples from the Food and Wine Festival. Becky and Leigh seemed to find it difficult to deal with strawberry shortcake, pasta, quiche, and a diet coke- in that order- in the morning. I must say, I have what has to be the greatest stomach of all time. Sure, I may have a jelly belly, but on the inside? Stomach o'steel. I can hold anything down at anytime with no bad consequences. Perhaps this isn't a good thing...



So, Becky and I realized that we'd seen each other for at least seven Disney races and run together for two- how funny is that? It made me sad to part, but we'll be together in January. She's already volunteered to drag either my mom or Betsy so that will be a help! In turn, I agreed to provide candy somewhere along the course of the full since Becky is going goofy again (and yes, I've gone from being completely fine with my wise decision to only do the half this year to being a bit jealous).

I high tailed it back to the cabins (after taking Leigh back to her hotel- silly girl didn't think about bringing her pass with her when she decided she could walk back to her Epcot resort-- yep, I've done that too in the past). Emma was showered, but the little boys were basically naked, and Ted hadn't showered- but he had made pancakes, so that was good.

I scarfed down a heap of pancakes and after everyone was made reasonably presentable, we hit the Animal Kingdom. When it got too miserably hot, we went back to the cabin to rest. Our plan was to hit Epcot that night for the Food and Wine Festival... but, living on the edge, I convinced Ted to sacrifice the Food and Wine Festival. We got in the car and drove to the Magic Kingdom without telling the kids. Emma was totally excited since we hadn't spent much time there. Harry would have been excited, had he been awake. He was quite pleased if a bit confused when he woke up by Space Mountain.

We rode a bunch of rides, and then I ran with the baby in the sling all the way through the MK fighting the Spectromagic crowd. Why? Well, to get the monorail to get to the Transportation Center to get to our car and finally, to get the sacred bottle that had been left behind! Mission accomplished, thank you.

Here's the kids on our last night with their ice cream.



Did I say "their ice cream?" Harry is pleased with himself because he stole mine.



And just in case you wondered what a person would look like after running 6 miles, visiting two parks, carrying a big ol' baby in a sling all day, and on no sleep?



And that pretty much wraps it up.

And just in case anyone thinks I'm exaggerating... allow me to present Naked Guy!