Disney World Dopey Challenge – 4 straight days of races in Jan – 5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2. On the Hal Higdon plan I’m following, his week’s start on Monday…er, ok. Mine start on Sunday, but whatevs. Going by his plan, it looks like this:
Mon – Rest, Tues – 4 miles, Wed – 7 miles, Thurs – 4 miles, Fri – Rest, Sat – 10 miles, Sun – Cross Train. I also have a couple gym sessions in there, and still deciding on my cross – Def yoga, but maybe a little trail run too? We shall see.
So Dopey indeed!
This is one of the “easy” “off” weeks that we are rewarded with after pulling a back to back weekend of runs. This past weekend was a 6 miler followed by 16.
This morning’s run was kind of eerie. Not many people on the roads, not much light from the crescent moon, very overcast, mighty windy (around 20 mph), humid humid – 90%, and 70 degrees. So yes, my tank top was soaked. The weird thing was that most of the run there was a faint smell of skunk in the air. I hate coming across skunks on my runs. I have yet to be sprayed, but I’d rather avoid any chance. Believe you me you, I was analyzing every shadow to see if there was a white stripe in there (no, I’m not talking about Jack White). Luckily, ole Peppy never revealed himself to me today. Maybe he smelled my musk from my sweat and it was too much to handle, so he scurried off.
True words. It takes a lot of work.
My only dilemma this week is that I usually get up early before work to run. If you don’t know, I work as a TV producer. And the problem is that I have an early shoot on Wed. So I’d have to get up extra extra early to get my 7 miles in. I’d say I should just wait and do it in the afternoon, but we’re supposed to have a massive storm roll through town. Don’t think I want to be running in hail weather.
Oh crizzap, I think I just convinced myself to get up at the butt crack of dawn. I guess it’s good training, after all for the Disney races, we have to wake up at 2 a.m. Yes, it’s an early check in and start time, so the alarm goes off at 2 flippin a.m.
How’s bouts yous guys? Ever come across a skunk on a run? What’s the earliest you’ve gotten up to run?
Piratebobcat 
Oooft! I’m not great at early runs at all- 2am wake up call IS Dopey! I can’t believe you’re almost half way through your schedule already….
….no skunks here 😉
I know, it’s going fast!
You should come to Texas for a run. Lots of snakes coyotes bobcats skunks and tons of people packing heat. Such a magical place, ha.
4 am is the earliest for me, which I did this past weekend. But 2 am sounds nuts. Might as well stay up all night
Ha, you basically do because who can fall asleep when you have a race the next day and your paranoid you’ll miss your 2am wake up call?!?
2 AM wake up call? Seriously 2 AM? I don’t stay up that late, let alone get up that early. Impressive my friend. NOT impressive Disney ;).
They start closing the roads at 3, so have to check in before then. Crazy! But I do understand that they don’t want the parks inconvenienced too much by us runners going thru them. Whatevs
Are you saying the crazy runners aren’t as important as the crazy kiddos? This is blowing my mind!?!
There was a hint of sarcasm there. Haha
Ugh, I forgot there’s a 2 o’clock in the AM as well 😉
The earliest I get up to run is 5 AM. I wish I could get up earlier, but my body says no.
Haha, and btw, my body is not saying yes. I just have to start running before it realizes what’s going on!
I like this strategy. Trick your body- I should just sleep in my running gear and get out the door before I actually wake up.
There you go! Ha!
Glad your training is going well! It’s always hard for me to get up in the morning to run before school (which I’m starting to do more regularly now). But once I’m up I’m awake and ready to run. Luckily I have never had an skunk encounter before! 🙂 The earliest = probably just after 3 AM for me
Wow, that’s early! Glad you haven’t seen any skunks, but don’t you have to worry more about Great White sharks where you’re at? Haha!
Yes, why do you think I’m a runner and not a swimmer!!
I have actually come across a skunk on a run. Luckily did not get sprayed but it was pretty damn close. And I had the dog, which is why we almost got sprayed in the first place because it was very interested in said skunk. The earliest I have gotten up for a run is 4:00 (but this only happened once!). The earliest for a race was 3:30. Usually I get up at 6 to run, so any earlier is always painful!
I hear you! It’s especially painful when you wake up early, hear the rain on the roof top, hear the wind howling, and can just tell it’s going to be chilly. That warm bed is hard to leave!
I haven’t been running with my dogs recently, but when I did, we did come across some skunks. Like you said, that makes it waaay worse!
Earliest I’ve ever gotten up for a run is 4:40am during eight-mile marathon training runs during the week. Yeesh!
I know, right! It wasn’t so bad when it was 3 mile mid week runs, but now that I’m inching towards double digit runs, I need to get up earlier and earlier. Ouch!
2am?! Holy smokes! That’s crazy. The earliest I’ve ever had to get up for a race is 4:00am.
That’s purdy darn early too!
Because of my job, I’m usually still awake at 2 am! The earliest I ever get up to run is on race days, which is normally around 4 am. And since I’m not used to getting up so early, I usually never sleep before a race so I run on 0-2 hours of sleep. On normal run days, I’m up around 10:30am (ish) so I do have the advantage of always running in daylight!
That’s tough to be up that late all the time. I once checked in online around 5am for a run and my friend, who bartends, responded with, “Dear Lord, I’m just getting to bed!” Sounds like you got a system down though!
I’m with you on sleeping much the night before a race. I always keep waking up to look at the clock thinking I might have missed the alarm. Not very restful!
Haha 5 am sounds about right! Friday night is the only late, late shift I have but it’s hard to just go straight home and sleep. You need an hour or two to wind down so I’ve even seen the sun start to come up!
I’m the worse the night before a race, I’m always so worried about oversleeping and excited/nervous for the race! There are a few races that start in the evening, I need to run one of those!
I did a night race last year. Didn’t go so well…mainly because a group of us decided to tailgate before hand. I do not recommend running a 5k after having a couple beers. lol!
Oh my gosh, note taken! I’m useless after a beer or 2, I can’t imagine running!
I have a skunk phobia so I think I’d freak if I saw a skunk while running. I could smell one once while out on a run, and I was really nervous about it. I think it’s a hyper-olfactory thing.
Ha, they scare me more than any other animal I come across on my runs. Bobcat? No problem. Skunk? I’m turning around and going the other way!