Part of me is surprised that it is 2019, and then the other part of me is like OMG finally! 2018 was kind of a really long year, is it just me?
2018 had its share of challenges for me, but it also had a ton of milestones. I completed my first (and only?) Goofy Challenge. Yes, that's 39.3 miles in two days...back to back...because I'm clearly Goofy. It was some of the coldest conditions I've run in for the half and then for the full, we had a 20-degree temperature swing from race start to finish. It was disgusting! But you know what? I did it, and I bet my previous marathon time. And it did it all with my squad beside me.
I also crushed the Princess Half Marathon. I have been chasing a finishing time of 2:30 for a long time and this year I wanted it more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. I ran with two members of my squad and they got me to mile 7.5 ish before telling me to run and if they caught me they'd kick my ass. It was when I hit the fountain in EPCOT after the turnaround that I knew I could do it. It was within my reach. I dug as deep as I could and when I passed the 2:30 pacer that I had lost around mile 5 I started to tear up. I did it. I did it with seconds to spare, but dammit I did it.
Oh, and I did this little thing called the Chicago Marathon. My niece and I signed up through ALZ Stars and planned to run together. Somehow I got a 43 minute and change PR. While that was awesome, nothing, and I mean nothing, beats running those 26.2 miles with my niece. To see how far she has come in her running and to
have her right there with me was the best thing I could have ever asked for.
I do not have any big races planned for 2019. Right now my focus is to run races I've never done before. I want to explore. I want to work on speed. I want to work on stamina. Basically, I want to be the best version of me, both running and personally, that I can be. I cannot wait to see what 2019 brings me. Thank you 2018 for serving me a giant slice of humble pie, now watch in 2019.
Well another marathon weekend has come and gone. I was signed up for the Goofy Challenge which is where you run both the half marathon and the full marathon...back to back like a totally and completely insane person.
I'm gonna be honest, I was not ready. I got some miles in, but not nearly enough. I was sick to my stomach going into the weekend because 39.3 miles is a lot. My plan was to run the half with my friend Carrie because she was coming off an injury. I knew we would be slow and I was good with that. 26.2 after that though? Oooooh Lordy.
Since the decision was made that night Cathy and I were able to sleep in, and by sleep in I mean I woke up at 6:30 and started tracking the weather to see when I could sneak in a run. I found a window and took my chances. I am so glad I went because what I saw was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed.
Runners, running and cheering and celebrating. Disney may have canceled the half but these runners were out there earning their bling. They had on their bibs, they were in costumes, you name it. When I made my way to the main building of Riverside there was a group of people handing out water and Powerade. It was amazing.
I only ran 2 miles because I knew the rain was coming back and I really did not want to get stuck in it. Plus, Cathy and I were going for breakfast!
Heck yes we were matching, you wanna say something?
After breakfast we headed back over to the expo because Cathy needed to pick her race reimbursement option (yes, they offered 4 options which is completely unheard of!) and I wanted to swap out my Goofy Challenge stuff for marathon gear.
Literally everyone was doing the same thing as us. It took forever to get there, five seconds while we were there and a lifetime to leave. Seriously we waited longer on the bus than most people waited to get on the new Frozen ride. But did the people on the Frozen ride have this kid photobomb their selfie? No...no they did not.
The whole expo debacle really screwed up our day because by the time we were done it was time to head back for dinner and get some sleep. There was no time for popcorn OR cotton candy. Ridiculous.
Before I knew it, it was upon me....
Marathon morning was cold. And I'm not just being a Florida wimp, it was 30 with a windchill in the 20's. Thankfully I was layered to the high heavens and had some hand warmers.
I was pretty okay going into the full since I saved my legs the day before, so my nerves were pretty good when I started. My only issue was that I was cold. I finally started to warm up around mile one and a half and decided to shed a layer. This was all fine and dandy until I turned the corner and hit a head wind. Yeah, that was awesome....NOT.
I had to just keep moving, it was the only way I was going to stay warm. I made it to Magic Kingdom not long after the sun came up and it was a much welcomed sunrise. I was still feeling pretty good and tracking to finish in under 6 hours (for reference last year I finished in 6:38).
How fun is this security cast member? I went to take my selfie and saw him walking up to me, he asked if he could take the photo and I said, no you should be in it!
Have I mentioned I love running through Magic Kingdom? It's my favorite and one of my favorite parts is usually the mile 7 mark. Last year the mile marker was Bambi and I lost my mind (I LOVE Bambi and I love the song "Little April Showers" which was playing). This year I almost lost my mind because who was at mile 7?
Sam Motha Lovin Eagle.
I love Sam Eagle. You don't even know. If I could have scaled Hall of Presidents and kissed his beautiful blue beak, I would have and then run from my security friend.
Sam Eagle y'all! Ah!
Okay, I'm back...(SAM EAGLE)...
I was still clipping along coming out of Magic Kingdom and heading towards Animal Kingdom. This stretch was a little different as far as entertainment this year. For instance, they had this gem:
No, not the woman dressed as Dory, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride vehicle. It is my brother Kevin's favorite ride. Okay, marathon detour...on one of the first trips to the World (maybe it was the first, I don't know, I wasn't there) my family waited some ungodly amount of time to ride this ride because Kevin wanted to ride it. Upon arrival at the front of the line my brother said he was not going on the ride because it looked stupid. My father being the calm cool and collected person that he is threw him into the submarine and the rest is history.
The course changed a little before heading into Animal Kingdom, which I anticipated because of the construction at Hollywood Studios. But LORD is it boring on that stretch of highway. Thankfully we had some entertainment in the form of barnyard animals when we entered the park.
I was still doing pretty well in Animal Kingdom as is evident by this photo:
Look at my jazz hand smiling face behind this poor woman.
Once we left Animal Kingdom the stretch of highway I despise was upon me...Osceola Parkway. Snoooooooze fest with a head wind because that sounds amazing.
After what felt like forever I made it into Wide World of Sports. Last year this is where my stomach gave me the middle finger and I had to do a lot of walking. This year I was doing pretty well and met up with the 6 hour pace group. 6 hours was still better than 6:38 in my book.
Except I hit my wall. Mile 21 my body and mind were like, "Oh, this is cute."
Then I saw Shelly (MRTT ROCKS) around mile 22 or 23 and all was right in the world. We walked and talked our way through the final few miles. We even ran the last .2 and I didn't look like I was dying, so bonus.
I came in at 6:14 which was a 24 minute PR. That's huge and I should be insanely proud, but part of me thought if I trained a little better I could have been sub 6. But no matter what I had this waiting for me at the finish:
Something about getting my bling from him makes it that much sweeter.
This marathon went a lot better than I could have imagined and I am eager to actually complete Goofy next year.
A huge thank you to my sister who also braved the cold to cheer me on and who wrote encouragement signs in French, a language neither of us speak. This is our jam though and throughout my training Cathy constantly sent me this as encouragement:
I am thrilled this marathon is behind me and like I said, I cannot wait to really commit to next year. I pushed myself harder this year and it totally paid off.
Now I will leave you with this...proof that no matter how old you are you will always be the baby sister that the older sister photobombs at Cinderella Castle.
Last weekend Scott and I got away to the coast for the Lighthouse Loop 5k and Half Marathon. We have not had a weekend away in...a very long time.
We spent our afternoon walking the beach. It was so peaceful. After some dinner it was early to bed because we had to be on the shuttle at 5:40.
Scott was running the 5k and I was in for the half with some of my ladies from MRTT. The weather was smack you in the face humid and I was still experiencing some delicious post nasal drip. Recipe for success people.
We took off at a pretty fast pace, I knew we had to slow down and switch intervals. We switched to 2:1's and slowed down. By mile four I was dripping and chugging water. Why hello dehydration, welcome to the par-tay.
Every once in a while we caught a nice breeze between the houses. Then we rounded a corner and there she was...the lighthouse...
I want to go back with the kiddos so they can see it and we can learn more about it.
By this point the sun was beating down and there was minimal shade. The post nasal drip was very real and by mile 9 my stomach was sloshing. As we approached mile 10 I told my friend to run ahead, I was walking. This was not going to be my race, but I had to finish. So I walked....and walked...and walked.
I had one more giant obstacle ahead of me and that was the bridge at mile 12, because when designing a course a bridge at mile 12 sounds like fun.
As I hit the top of the bridge I pushed myself and ran down. Once I hit the bottom another one of my MRTT ladies saw me and yelled across the road. I needed that boost. I pushed forward and ran in the last little bit.
I was not happy. I was not proud. I was defeated.
I am happy that I ran across the finish and I am happy that I can in just under the time on the clock. It has been a few years since I have completed a half in that time, but I finished. It wasn't my best, but it wasn't my worst.
Plus I had this guy waiting for me...
It was not my day...it was not my race. I spent the next few hours...okay days...letting this race mess with my head. I have the Goofy Challenge coming up in January and this was not what I needed mentally. Then on Monday I dropped a full can of cooking spray on my toe and bruised it pretty good. No, really, stuff like that happens to me.
I took the week off. I need to rehydrate. I needed to clear the cobwebs. I needed to refocus.
I will return... I will make this course my bitch, maybe not the bridge, but the other 11.5 miles are so mine.
Today was the first day I have slept past 6 am in I don't even know how long. 'Twas amazing. That being said, I've been pretty busy lately and have been spending most of my mornings running.
Last weekend we celebrated my honey getting a promotion by running a 5k lakeside.
We also went to dinner the night before. It's been a while since we have run together on this trail. I'm pretty pleased with how my time has been improving on this little stretch.
The next day some of the MRTT ladies and I went to run the UCF U Can Finish 5 Miler Distance Dare. The race starts with a 2 mile run around the football field and then you jump right into a 5 mile run through campus.
There were baseball, softball and ladies basketball teams cheering us on as well as the Glee Club. Running through the campus brought back so many memories and kind of made me miss spending 5 days a week there.
The medal was pretty cool. The 5 mile medal was a shield and if you did the 2 mile portion you received the sword. I mean, does it get any better?
Again, I was pretty pleased with my times and love that these ladies push me on the course. The race started out fairly cool and then the humidity hit us, so that was not a fun battle to fight at all. Plus, I've been battling a head cold for the better part of 2 weeks and spent almost every walk break blowing my nose (don't you love my Rudolph look in the photo???).
This weekend was kind of a challenge. There was a huge triathlon going on in town and it was using up the majority of the running paths we run on. Michelle and I just decided to head out and see what the course would bring us. Well, the course brought us 8 miles of hills upon hills. You know the kind of hills that race directors will say are "rolling" in their course description.
The great part about the run was that it was 55 when we left. Yes, 55, no humidity and did I say 55? It was only in the mid 60's by the time we finished. I ran with my jacket on for the first 2 miles. My jacket was also stuffed with tissues because again....head cold.
My time was not great but I did get to spend some quality time with my friend in some absolutely gorgeous weather.
Now it's time to get my head in the game for the half I am running this weekend. I haven't done that distance in a while and am actually pretty nervous. I'm fairly behind on my training and need this to be the kick in the pants that I so desperately need.
What a week. I already had a crazy schedule for the week with work events, baseball games, basketball playoffs (say what?), and trying to find a way to squeeze training in there somehow. Then this happened...
Matthew, in fact, was not alright, alright, alright. One by one events began to cancel, then school, then work, then I basically kissed my husband goodbye and hunkered down with the kids. We went to bed on Thursday evening believing that we were going to wake up to a pretty serious storm. Thankfully, he shifted East and we would not feel the effects we originally thought. However, not knowing this, I woke up at 5 am because I'll be damned if I don't have a cup or five of coffee before this crap hits.
So I wake up (trying not to wake my bed bugs), get the dogs and let them out before the storm hits. Our one dog being the smart old girl that she is ran and peed at the same time. She is not about to get wet outside, I mean come on. The other one...she ran to the back of the yard, ran from end to end and then power posed in the wind like this:
She lost her footing at some point and decided it was best to come inside.
The storm as a whole was thankfully uneventful. We had a few strong gusts and pretty consistent rain, but nothing major. The kiddos did an awesome job riding it out, but after two days of being in the house, it was time to go. Thankfully, the local ice cream place had a BOGO deal to help all of us escape cabin fever.
Training obviously took a hit during the storm. I did manage to get a quick run in on Thursday, but Friday was mainly spent on my bum watching the storm progress. I made up for it this weekend though.
Saturday, Michelle and I went for 6 miles on the trail and boy were there some down branches.
I would like to point out how hard the run was with the branches down and how creepy it was with practically zero light. What do you think Michelle brought up in the middle of the woods?
So that was fun. Thankfully our return trip through the woodlands was well lit and I was not as concerned about a clown jumping out at us. To add some spice to our run however, there were two dogs that probably got out from the storm. We definitely walked at that point.
Since I already knew I was behind on my training miles I met up with my MRTT ladies this morning and we went for 7 miles on one of the other trails. It again was at o-dark-thirty. Thank God for cell phone flashlights, am I right?
So all in all I got my miles in, survived a hurricane/tropical storm, and ate a ton of junk food. I am incredibly thankful the storm was not as bad as predicted for our side of town, but completely devastated by the damage it did in Haiti and the East coast of Florida. Praying relief gets to all effected soon.
Training took a hit this week, for the first time in I don't even know how long I got sick. Fevers, chills, it sucked. Everyone except Scott got hit with this virus and it was awful.
I missed all of my workouts at the gym and was really unsure about running over the weekend. I was supposed to run 15 miles this weekend and yeah...that didn't happen. I eased back in with a 5k at the lake with my running buddy.
Considering I had just been sick I was pretty pleased with my time. It was a really nice morning, a cool breeze, minimal humidity. It feels like fall is really coming.
I had a very ambitious weekend. I had the final race of the Lace it Up Series on Saturday and thankfully the clouds stayed and my MRTT friends kept me going. This race was a 10k in pretty much zero shade with a ton of hills (according to my FitBit, I climbed 29 flights of stairs).
The sun stayed away until right before the 6 mile mark. I'll be honest, if the sun was out the entire time we would not have finished as quickly as we did (1:19). The best part of this race series? Ice cold sponges! Yes! They hand out sponges at the turnaround and right before we hit mile 5. They are like gifts from the running gods.
Another favorite from this race? I saw a police office run across the finish line with a fellow racer. We saw him several times on the course and he was a huge encourager along the route. To see him run in full gear to encourage a runner was awesome.
Speaking of the finish line, I hardly ever have a photo unless it is from the race photographer, so I was beyond excited to see a fellow MRTTer standing at the finish line with her phone out.
How great is that?!
So after the race (and maybe a buttered biscuit from Chick Fil A... I mean, they were at the finish line), I had to take my little miss to switch out her running shoes, caught the second half of my dudes basketball game and then we were off to the races again, literally.
Yes. I ran two races in one day. The second race was a fundraiser for our police chief who is running for sheriff.
My miss backed out the race at the last minute (it was realllllly hot) and decided to volunteer instead, so the dude and I ran. It was really nice, I've had a ton of one on one time with my little lady and hardly any one on one time with him. Considering he had two basketball games that day, he did amazing. We finished in 40:19.
It should also be mentioned that he asked me to stop running and then sprinted ahead of me. Yeah.
I didn't stop there. Today was all about strength and the official start of Goofy training. This was the first weekend with an additional walk added to the run.
We are in full on marathon training at this point and for some reason I remember it being easy last year. Maybe it was because I was scared of how hard it was and worried I wouldn't be able to do. Now that I know I can do it I may not be trying as hard.
Anyway, we were in a holding pattern last night because we weren't totally sure what the weather was going to do. After having Scott consult all of the weather sources the decision was made that we were good to go for the morning (even though sleeping in sounded way more appealing).
It was literally pitch black out this morning and I remember it being brighter the last time we met that early. So what does Michelle bring us as we are running in the dark? Oh, just that clown that has been hiding in the woods in South Carolina....
So now I'm running in the dark worrying about a creepy clown jumping out of the woods. Then we hear people talking and we don't see anyone.
It's got to be a clown... a creepy going to murder us clown...
Nope, just some ROTC guys running cadences and showing off that they can do this and not sound totally out of breath.
Can I be real with you? When I first heard them I had that crazy pivot move ready to run the other way. Then when I realized what it was I was all, "Yeah, I think that was a run interval..."
Let's see what else happened...I almost stepped on a frog, I'm pretty sure we both spilled 60% of our water down the front of our shirts (okay, maybe that was just me) and I'm sure there were other things that I just can't remember right now.
While it was not our fastest or best run (hey cramping at mile 9.5, great to see you too), we got our miles in and are pushing forward.
Week 10 of training is in the books...Goofy here we come!
I'm marathon training...again. Oh, and by marathon, I mean Goofy. Yes, I am running a half marathon and full marathon back to back.
I have lost my damn mind.
How did I decide to do this challenge? Well...I looked at the training schedule and said, "Oh, it's only a couple of extra walk days, this is totally doable!"
Sure...
I should also point out I have decided to train for Goofy during the hottest summer ever. I didn't think this through. But I have to say it has been going really well and I'm looking forward to tackling another challenge.
On top of this training my little Miss has decided to join a running club. She will be training for a 5k this winter and I am so proud of her! She has run several, including one this weekend, and I know she will be amazing (I mean, look at her!).
So now with the Miss running I'm going to have to bump up my training even more so I can stay close to her during races.
Part of me is surprised that it is 2019, and then the other part of me is like OMG finally! 2018 was kind of a really long year, is it just me?
I also crushed the Princess Half Marathon. I have been chasing a finishing time of 2:30 for a long time and this year I wanted it more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. I ran with two members of my squad and they got me to mile 7.5 ish before telling me to run and if they caught me they'd kick my ass. It was when I hit the fountain in EPCOT after the turnaround that I knew I could do it. It was within my reach. I dug as deep as I could and when I passed the 2:30 pacer that I had lost around mile 5 I started to tear up. I did it. I did it with seconds to spare, but dammit I did it.
Oh, and I did this little thing called the Chicago Marathon. My niece and I signed up through ALZ Stars and planned to run together. Somehow I got a 43 minute and change PR. While that was awesome, nothing, and I mean nothing, beats running those 26.2 miles with my niece. To see how far she has come in her running and to 
Posts
