Time to Start Training

Running in the dark has a very different feel than during the day time.  I don't often have the motivation to run at night but with a 5-mile run on the horizon and my lack of running since the half-marathon earlier this month, I thought I should at least throw a bone at it.  I'm glad I did.  It is definitely easier for me to get up and out later in the day than at first light. I probably need to re-think my training and not push myself to run at times that are nearly impossible (5:30am) and then be disappointed when I don't.

                                                                           
This Thursday I will be joining my niece and her husband in my first Turkey Trot in Oceanside as a prelude to our family Thanksgiving celebration. I hope I don't make them wait too long at the finish line! When I signed up for it I thought it wouldn't be any big deal since I will have run 13.1 miles just a couple of weeks before, but as the time as come quickly and I took not just one but practically two weeks off, I am slightly regretting not getting back into it sooner.

I'm trying to think of this run coming up as just part of my training for the Tinkerbell half in January.  It's hard though to not get excited and a bit nervous when running in a timed event and on a course in which I have no idea where I'll be and where it's going. I just hope that there's a view of the ocean somewhere along the way.

The Year in Review

I thought I would break out the training blog once again. After reading through my last post after the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in January I was inspired to document not only as I start training again for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon in January of 2014, but also of this past year and the journey my running has been on.

In January, once again, eLiz and I will be running in the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. In a very wise move, RunDisney has added the Tinkerbell 10k to the lineup of activities for the whole weekend and we will be joined by AP (my oldest brother), LP (my sister-n-law), JS & DS (Niece and husband), and LW (cousin) who will all be running/walking the 10k.  I might be more excited about getting to chEAR for everyone than actually running myself.
                                             

This past year has been a struggle for many different reasons.  The exhilaration of the accomplishment of my first half marathon spurned on a continued desire to run, but with that comes the need to really look at all aspects of my life and find the areas that need improvement in order to continually do better and push myself to run better.  For me, the major area that needed improvement is consistency (running regularly) in which the motivation to do so is directly related to my health and diet.  This has been a huge struggle. I have had to come to terms with things such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and food allergies. I am continually learning and improving and hope to have a real handle on it all sometime soon.

In April of this year I ran a 10k along the beautiful Morro Bay coastline.  Then in July I ran a half marathon along the same route which was the most difficult run I've had. Most of the run is along the surf line, on the hard sand, but a portion of the run takes you off the hard sand, through soft, SOFT sand, along a pathway then back through the SOFT sand to the finish. I will never run this one again.  I have to give my friends SC & DB a high five for bearing through this run with me as well as for the training support ahead of time. I think we have all agreed that this is not a re-do.    
                                     

I half-heartedly trained (if you can even call it that) for another half marathon in Santa Barbara with SC in November.  SC finished the run like a rock star ! as well as her brother (NK) and good friend (CG).  Regardless of my lack of training I still managed to shave 20 minutes off of my January 1/2 time.  I do have to admit, I did enjoy the course and you can't beat the climate in SB in November - with a coast line view at the finish line.
                                       

When I look back at the year I am very proud of these accomplishments. I just wish my body felt better considering the work that I am putting into it.  That is my hope for this next year - to improve not only my run times but my health in general. I'm sure the latter will greatly impact the first.

I don't know what this next year will bring.  I am very much looking forward to spending some fun quality time with my family at the Tinkerbell Half Marathon weekend in January.  I am also looking for training for, dare I say, a full marathon with SC later in the year.

A little more recap...

I completely forgot a whole section of the day after the 1/2 marathon. This was probably the most relaxing part of the day too.  After the race we met up with our Brother and Sister-n-Law, my brother-n-law as well as our cousin, Vicki, that lives down in the area and her lovely daughter, Lexi.  After eLiz and I had gone back to our rooms and showered and changed we again met everyone in Downtown Disney and were also joined by the newlyweds, David and Julie. We all went to the Storyteller Cafe at the Grand Californian.  This is a great place to eat, except for the fact that many Disney characters are always in attendance and like to come and "talk" to everyone.

I, personally, do not care for this but have yet to learn the lessons that apparently some of my family members have already learned:
1)  Don't make eye contact.  You can pretend to be in a deep conversation with someone or 'study' the menu but you then risk not paying attention to what is going around you and find out that those people that say they love you are also getting characters to come over to you behind your back.

2)  Another great tactic is to sit in a spot that would make it virtually impossible for the characters to come near you.  You can be an instigator and be the one to make the eye contact and hand gestures that can bring even the creepiest characters over to your table.

3)  Be the only person with a camera out and use it.  This also makes you immune to the character invasion and puts you in position of great power, not only over the characters but also over what pictures to take to forever keep the memories of these great moments alive.

Tinkerbell Half Marathon Weekend Recap

Friday

It is hard to believe that this past weekend has come and gone, but the medal around my neck (and a heavy one at that) is a wonderful reminder of an awesome weekend.  My trip started out by a quick stop for coffee and getting on the road around 11:30am.  (Note to self: leave earlier next time.)  I headed down the 101 on a beautiful Friday.  As I was driving through Santa Barbara I remembered that someone had mentioned to me that the drive down the Pacific Coast Highway was nice so after a few texts to SC to confirm that it wouldn't add too much time to my drive I made the not so quick detour off of Highway 101 and headed to the Pacific Coast Highway.  What a beautiful drive!  I can't believe I had never been down this road before (that I can remember). 

Since this road is not really very conducive to the use of the cruise control my legs did start to feel a little achy (Note to self:  Don't run the morning before a long drive). Because I hadn't originally planned on going this way I was a little unsure of what freeways I would need to connect to so I had my smartphone to map a route for me.  The phone lady however, did not think my route was acceptable and kept telling me to turn around.  After several re-calculations, she got on board with the coastal route.  The achy leg feeling only escalated as I got to Santa Monica and maneuvered myself onto the Santa Monica Freeway 10.  Traffic was horrible to say the least.  My smartphone lady constantly updated me on the traffic congestion, which I could plainly see for myself.  I did get tired of listening to her as she took away any hope that once we got around this one area we'd be clear to go as she was always letting me know that the congestion would last for say 5.8 miles.  In 5.8 miles there is heavy congestion for 6.2 miles, and so on.  It was a long trip.

DB and her family were also making their way down to Disneyland and we had reservations to meet at 6pm at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney.  Of course, we both thought there would be plenty of time and of course, the traffic had another plan.  I can't tell you the elation I felt when finally a few miles out from Disneyland the traffic finally cleared and I think I may have actually hit the 65mph mark.  I made it in time to check in to my hotel, drop off my bags and walk/run to Downtown Disney and the House of Blues. They wouldn't seat me though until half our party was there, even though I offered to order a few drinks.  Fortunately, DB and her family made it in time and we had a lovely dinner (a working dinner for DB as she to run to the expo after we ordered to pick up her stuff). 

After dinner we went our separate ways and I stopped in at my favorite hang out spot for a drink and to enjoy the atmosphere - The Grand Californian.  Then it was time to get to sleep. 

Saturday

Saturday started out with a trip to the runDisney expo with my sister, eLiz, at the Disneyland Hotel to pick up our bibs, shirts, goody bags, and check out all the merchandise for sale.  Even though I already had 3 pairs of arm sleeves back at the hotel, I was easily swayed (by eLiz) to purchase yet another pair of "Princess"-like bright green sleeves.  I also ended up buying  a 13.1 necklace, a Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon charm necklace and a coffee cup.  I had to leave in order to make a lunch sponsored by Lazarex Cancer Foundation, the charity that I was running/raising money for.  It was very interesting to find out specifically what this charity does as well as very inspiring.  In a nutshell, they provide financial support and advocacy to patients that have been deemed "end-stage" and help them get into clinical trials and pay for whatever they might need in order to be able to remain in the trial. This may include airfare, rent, gasoline, etc...  For more information you can check out their website here:  Lazarex Cancer Foundation   I won't hesitate to raise money for them again.

After my luncheon, I met back up with eLiz and AW (her husband) in Downtown Disney and did some people watching and window shopping.  eLiz had been training with and was running for Team In Training and they were holding their Inspiration dinner that night.  eLiz, AW, and I attended the dinner and I was found it very interesting and again very inspirational.  As we walked through the hallways of the hotel to enter the dining area, the walls were lined with Team In Training supporters who were chearing, clapping, banging cow bells, and all in all making a lot of noise in support of the runners.  It was a good preview of what we would be in for the next day.  After dinner I was surprised with a couple of gifts and a card from my sister and brother-n-law.  Every time I read the shirt, it makes me laugh on the inside and sometimes on the outside.  Thank you both!

We ended the night at a pretty decent time since we had such an early morning ahead of us. I made it back to my hotel, after a few wrong turns... I think I can safely assume that I am not the only person who has made the turn into the Disney theme park parking lot in error and needed to just turn around. 

I am always concerned about not waking up on time (mornings are always rough for me) so to help ease my anxieties I set 5 separate alarms; 3 on my phone, 1 on the hotel clock/radio, and 1 more on the portable clock I brought with me.  Amazingly, I was asleep by 10pm, woke up only once, went back to sleep easily and woke up with the first alarm at 2:45am.  I immediately started a cup of coffee and grabbed some yogurt and granola to eat.  By 3:30 I was just about ready to go when the nerves set in. I then was running around worried I was forgetting something.  I headed out to pick up DB at her hotel, come back to mine, park the car and we would walk to the starting line from there.

Disclaimer:  I did not do a very good job of taking pictures while on the run (or in the dark).  If I took out all the pictures that weren't very clear I wouldn't have anything for PW to look at and I hate to disappoint her.

Waiting for the race to start...

DB, eLiz, and I were all in the last corral - E.I had been told we could move ourselves up into a closer corral but when we saw the amount of people, it didn't seem to really matter where we started, we'd be surrounded.  We got there in plenty of time and eventually met up with eLiz and started the wait until our corral was moved up and ready to pass over the start line.  As it approached the 5am start, everyone was getting a little excited. We were still so far back that we couldn't see much except for the fireworks that started everything off. 

Moving forward to the start line!

We finally crossed the start line around 5:30am

 Our first chEARer - AW (eLiz's husband)

 Entering California Adventure - going behind the scenes

The course took us down Disneyland Drive, to Ball, over to Harbor and then onto the park property.  Some of the course through California Adventure and Disneyland was through the back areas of the parks.  Many of the park employees were alongside the course cheering us on.  

I really wish I could have captured the beauty of all the lights and rides that were lit up for us.  I also wish I had captured many of the signs that people had made.  Some of my favorites (that I can remember) were:

"I didn't get up this early to watch you walk"

"This is the worst choreographed parade ever"

"You're not running just from the police anymore"

 Another Disclaimer:  These pictures are not in any particular order

Cheering when we saw our chEARers -
they inspired enthusiasm

We had by far the best chEARing section. Thank you AW, my brother Andy, and my Sister-n-Law Linda.  You guys were awesome and definitely
made this run possible!

 

As the course took us out of Downtown Disney and past the parking areas the roadway was lined with the Red Hat Society Ladies and they could make some noise.  

They were very inspirational and helped motivate us to keep on going.

 These pictures are of the last mile as we came out of the California Adventure park and made our way to the finish line.

Recovery time!

Tinkerbell Medal and Goody Box from runDisney

 Now that we just ran 13.1 miles, what do we do???  Go to Disneyland! 
It was a very packed place that day.

 The park was pretty packed and a few of the rides we wanted to go on were either broken down or the lines were just too long.  I was pretty sore and tired anyways and decided to call it a day around 7pm. I went back to my hotel room and crashed pretty early.

I got up and headed home the next morning and fortunately enjoyed an easy, beautiful drive home.

 This was an incredible experience and one that I am very happy that I did.  I think that we would all agree we have been spoiled for any other half marathon as you really can't compete with running through Disneyland and California Adventure. Where else can you run alongside people in tutus, costumes, and funny hats.   I am also so happy that I got to go through this whole experience from training to the finish line with DB! You are a rock star!  I am also so happy that I got to run beside my sister every step, every mile, every water/poweraid stop, every twist and turn ending right alongside her at the finish line. That was an experience I won't forget!