Final Dopey Post (maybe): Shout-Outs!

This should be the last Dopey Challenge post (unless I come up with something else later).  If you missed any of my other Dopey Recaps, you can see them here: Expo, Kids Race, 5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2, Post Run, & Meet-Ups.

Much like my first marathon (Disney 2008), my sister is the one who urged me to register for this challenge.  So first shout outs go to her.

2008 – First marathon experience was painful.

Not only for that, but also running with me (and finishing herself), driving us around,  letting us stay at her place, and getting us into the theme parks.  Here’s a tip for anyone wanting to run a Disney race – try to get a sibling that works there, it has its benefits, ha!

Us runnin through Cinderella’s Castle.

Another shout out goes to her roommate.  She had to put up with a few things, like us crowding up their place.  But more importantly she put up with a few days of watching Disney Jr non-stop on the TV as her and her beau watched the boy when we were up early for the races.  She also was able to bring him to the final race in time for us to cross the finish line.  Then she took him into Epcot while we went to meet our ma when she finished.

Glad they were able to make some roomie.

Speaking of which, more shout outs to the mom for not only paying for a couple meals and groceries, but also some theme park photos.  She also gets props for finishing the Dopey herself.  I’ve had many comments from people on how impressed they are with that last fact.  She had never run a full marathon before, and was able to do that after three days of consecutive races.  Not only that, but she finished it faster and stronger than a lot of people who didn’t run the previous three days.

Her arms were being ripped out of their sockets.

Also, I need to shout out to all the bloggers who supported me through all the training and races.  The amount of positive messages you sent was unbelievable!  I don’t want to leave anyone out, so I won’t mention specific people, but know that I appreciate it!

That also goes for all my friends and family who supported me either with words, messages, or even running with me!  Like my “coach” Rexy and the fine folks at Thursday Night Social Run and Project Run 214.  As well as my yoga instructor and chiropractor who helped keep me injury free during all those training miles.

My constant companion, the training sched.

Finally, I have to thank the immediate family for putting up with my months of training.  I tried to do it without inconveniencing anyone – like running in the wee hours before they were awake – but I know there were a few times when I did.  So thanks for TCB and allowing me to put in the hours!

So now it’s time to move on to new challenges.  I look forward to continued support as well as supporting everyone else as they take on their endeavors!  Let’s do this!

What challenges are you looking forward to?  What kind of support do you get?

Dopey Meet-Ups!

I love how that now-a-days pretty much all my friends are so active.  It always amazes me that I can go to a race, or just go on a training run, and I’m almost guaranteed to “run into” someone I know.  I like that.  It was no different when I traveled half way across the country for a race.  At the Disney Dopey Challenge, I got to meet-up with a few peeps.

If you missed my recaps of the races, you can see them here:  5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2

First off, these aren’t really reunions, but traveling with me was our boy and my moms.  The boy was doing the Kid’s Race for the 3rd time.

Collage credit goes to my mom. She got all artsy recently.

My moms was doing the Dopey Challenge too.  She only started running a few years ago, and hadn’t run a full marathon yet, but she wanted to make this happen!

Traditional pre-race family photo.

And of course, my sis.  She lives in Orlando, FL so of course we saw her.  Also, her and her roomie let us crash at their crib (I’m so hip), so that was groovy (see).  And if you’ve followed along, then you know that she ran the Dopey too!  We even ran the whole half marathon portion together.

Sibling photo op.  The castle photo bombed us.

Many of you asked how my mom and sis did, and I’m here to tell you that they both finished!  My sis came across the full marathon line a little after me and we reunited when she passed by me stretching next to the medical tent.

With Sis before the marathon. We looked much better here than afterwards.

After we cleaned up, we went into Epcot to look for our ma.  We bought a rose with a Mickey Mouse in it to give to her.  Our plan was for the boy to hand it to her as she passed so she could cross the finish line with it.  All we had to do was wait.

While waiting, we cheered on all the other runners.  And we saw my sister’s friend and cheered for him!  He had met us each morning (he was Dopey too) before the races and served as our official pre race family photographer.

Pre one of the races with my sis’ friend.

Then we finally saw our ma!  We yelled at her to come over so we could hand her the rose, but get this…she blew us off!!!  Haha!  She literally waved us off and kept going.  Everyone around us thought that was pretty funny too.  They said it was comical that we had been waiting there for her, and she was not interested in stopping.

The boy said he was looking “stylish”.

Now I know how it is in a marathon, and I’m sure at that point in the race she just wanted to finish, but it was still funny to us.  Anyway, we gave her the rose a little later.

You can see the rose on the ground next to her. Don’t marathons look fun???

Another mom collage.

Another meet-up I had was with a friend from high school…who I hadn’t seen since high school.  We ran track together at our Ohio high school, but now he lives in Hawaii.  Not a bad gig if you can get it.  Anyway, he was doing the Dopey too.  I actually bumped into him in my coral before the 5k and we ran the whole way together.

That’s him next to me (he’s in the kilt).

We would see each other before and after each race.  It was cool to catch up.

Representing the mean streets of our hometown – Westerville, Ohio.

I had another long time reunion.  Now I must preface this with a short fun fact – also in high school, I used to travel the East coast competing in (mostly) hip hop dance competitions.  My sis went to a dance school, and I just kind of fell into it.

National championships in Myrtle Beach. I know you’re jealous of my mighty dancing shoulder pads.

So, one of the gals I used to dance with now lives in Florida and her and her husband were running the marathon.  After they finished (PR’d!!!) we met up for some post race re-hydrating.

We had to refill our carb levels somehow.

I hadn’t seen her in a long long time, so that was awesome!

Another meet-up I had was with a fellow blogger.  Danielle over at Live, Run, Grow.  There were many that I wanted to run into, but I was only able to find this one.  And here’s how: before the Dopey she had blogged her race costume – Newsies.  After the 10k, I saw a group of Newsies, and knew it must be her.  So we had a brief meet-up.

Virtual friends meet! We take life very seriously.

That’s a great tip from her – post  your race costumes before hand so people looking for you can find you!  For you other blogger friends who were there, know that I was looking for you, and I’m sorry we weren’t able to meet up.

So there are the running reunions I had at the Dopey Challenge.  So cool!

How bout you?  Ever run into old/new friends at races?  Any surprise get togethers?

Dopey Challenge – To Costume or Not?

Since the Disney Dopey Challenge (5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2) is only a few days away, I have a dilemma:  Should I wear a costume during the first 3 races?

I since the last race is a full marathon, I want to save as much energy for that as I can for it.  So that means NOT racing the first 3 events.  This can be hard to do – once you line up at the start, it can be difficult to fight the adrenaline and excitement and competitiveness.  But I still have hopes of PR’ing in the 26.2, so I must resist the urge to go hard the early races.

To do this, I thought about wearing costumes.  I usually wear costumes when I run in races that I just want to have fun in, to make sure I don’t take it too seriously.  Here’s a few examples…BTW, I went through a mud/obstacle race phase a couple years ago…

Pirate say, “Fire arrgh bad!”

Hippies love mud.

 

Firefighter Scott – in case of emergency.

Can you guess which one of us is the real Santa Clause?

Updated pirate – ear ring and hook!

I went as a Parrothead for this race…and in real life.

So, do you think I should go for costumes?  Check a box  Yes___  No___

If yes, what should I be?  I do have some Mickey Ears and giant Mickey Gloves…

My mickey mitts…do not ask about the rest of my outfit…

The official themes of the races are: 5k – Pluto, 10k – Minnie, 13.1 – Donald, 26.2 – Mickey, 13.1+ 26.2 – Goofy, All 4 races – Dopey.  I could go off of those, or be more creative.  Anything Disney related goes – any character, ride, movie, etc.  Or I could be a tourist.  I also have a whole box of years past Halloween costumes to pick through.  Cross dressing is OK too. The options are endless, but we’re running short on time. 

Please, give me your ideas/suggestions for race costumes!  What’s your fav thing Disney?  Let’s brainstorm!

Dopey Challenge Training Week 15 – The Big One!

I’ve circled this week in my head months ago.  This is the final simulation week for the Disney Dopey Challenge (5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2 in 4 days).  I’m following the plan Hal Higdon created for this event.

Bring it on, mister dwarf!

Here’s what this week looks like:

Mon: rest

Tue: 5 miles (+ weights)

Wed: rest

Thu: 2.5 miles (I’ll do 3 + weights)

Fri: 5 miles

Sat: 10 miles

Sun: 20 miles

I feel pretty good going into it.  My knee feels the best it’s felt in weeks, I didn’t even tape it before my 5 miler today.  We’ve also had a warm front come through, so it’s patio weather right now, but they say the weekend will get cold again.

True words. It takes a lot of work.

Either way, I’m ready to knock it out!  I’m already trying to figure out which taco joint I’m going to hit up after the 20 miler.  That is good motivation right?  Tacos?

After that it will be all taper time until the main event!  We’re getting close!  When I was putting in the miles for this back in July and August, it felt like we’d never get here, but now we are!  Let’s do this!

I know most of my friends are in the off season right now, but is anyone training for anything?  How difficult is it to train this time of year…what with all the darkness, coldness, & rich foodness going on?

How to Train to be Dopey

So I’m still in “pre-training” for the Dopey Challenge at Disney World in January ’14.  And I’m trying to decide which plan(s) to follow.  I do NOT want to sacrifice my cross training as I believe that is key to avoiding injury for runners.  So however I attack it, I’m going to have to remember to add x-training to the running schedule.

I’ve asked several people how they think I should train for Dopey and I get a lot of this, “You’re on your own on that one, brutha.”  All I know is that I’m going to have to do back to back “long runs” to get my legs used to working when they’re full of lactic acid.  So here’s some plan options:

Here’s Jeff Galloway’s.  He’s Disney’s official trainer and advocates doing a walk-run approach.
http://as1.wdpromedia.com/media/ewwos/pdf/rundisney/training-programs/2014/DopeyChallenge14.pdf

Here’s Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 2.  He says it’s good for people doing the Goofy.
http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51140/Marathon-Intermediate-2-Training-Program

Here’s another option called the Hanson Method.  They don’t go more than 16 miles in a long run, but do advocate running more miles more often.
http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/marathoning-hansons-way?page=single

I’m kind of leaning toward Hal Higdon as he has the whole back to back long runs I think I’ll need.  I’ve had a few people recommend his to me.  The Hanson one is intriguing, as I do like the idea of not having to go out on some 20 milers, but also don’t want to have running overtake my entire life – I wish running was my job, but it ain’t.  Galloway’s I think is geared more toward novice level, and that’s great, but I want to be able to run this challenge, not walk/run it.

So that’s what I’m looking at.  Anyone have any suggestions??????  Hollaback if you do!