Marathon du Medoc: Bucket List Run #2

Back about 14 years ago as we prepared to move from Illinois to the French Alps, a guy in my running group told me about this race I had to do. He couldn't remember the name, but said it was a marathon in Bordeaux where all the rest stops had wine. Interesting.

While we lived in France I thought often about that race, but didn't try very hard to actually make a running of it happen. Did run the Dublin (Ireland) Marathon during our time in France, but really spent more time biking, hiking and skiing while living there and so running took a back seat.

A few months ago I was descending down the rabbit hole of the internet, one event search sparking the dive into another search, and landed upon the Marathon du Medoc. The race with the wine.

Words cannot begin to describe how insanely fun this race looks! First and foremost, the French know how to have fun. We learned straight away while living there that family and recreation are priorities. They embrace their leisure time. Be it a long lunch or a 10 hour randonee through the mountains. Life is to be lived to it's fullest. There is no tomorrow, only today and have no regrets with the choices you have made. So keep that in mind as you imagine a race that has a theme each year (last year it was Aliens and Superheros) and according to the race webpage, 90% of participants dress in costume. That's more than Disney. There is a huge party the night before....making the race a "hair of the dog" thing for many. There are 21 wine tasting stops, charcuterie/hard sausage tastings, oysters, cheese and ice cream and all of these are labeled on the course map along with view points. So you can plan your dining and your kodak moments.

When you finish the race, not only do you get a finishers medal, but a finishers tshirt, a race poster, "surprise gifts" and a bottle of Medoc wine! And there is a BALL that evening in the Marathon Village with more food, wine and fireworks. The next day there is a recovery walk in which you can participate.

 

 

There are youtube videos that can do a much better job of bringing to life this crazy cool race better than I have. I highly recommend checking them out. And registration for this year's race (September 13, 2014) opens in February.

Daily Drop in the Bucket (List) #1:Enchanted Forest Wine Run, OR

I am hoping to resume some racing late summer/fall and have a few races that are in my sights, but while I play good patient and be patient with my training, I may as well start filling up that Bucket List of Runs that I would like to experience before I have to hang up my running shoes permanently.

These races are in no particular order at this point, although I'm starting with ones that I actually believe I will run which makes the list making exciting vs. depressing (seems like I teeter between the two emotional states lately w/out being able to run).

Today's race is the Enchanted Forest Wine Run which is held at the Wooldridge Creek Winery in Grants Pass, OR. They offer a half-marathon, a 5K and a Kids Fun Run. My plan would be to run the half. The half and 5K start and finish in the winery; the half takes you up into the hills to the enchanted forest on what looks like some very nice single track. Costumes are encouraged, especially of the fairy/woodland enchantment variety. There is camping offered at the vineyard the night before the race with a dinner and breakfast provided (to purchase). Wine and other lovely local Oregon nibbles and sippies are provided during the half at Noble Coffee's Enchanted Forest Aid Station w/cold brew coffee, enjoy a sweet pick-me-up at A Gnome's Chocolate Picnic Aid Station and a taste of wine at Wooldridge Creek's Vineyard Aid Station. Post race there is food that is provided by Fulcrum Dining, as well as I would imagine there is the opportunity to grab some more of that lovely wine! While the 2014 info has not been posted yet, the date of the race last year was September 28.

Chafing: It's Not Just For Running

Yesterday I was fully embracing my Rx of rest the leg and figured since I would be just lounging around the house with only my canine companions, I channeled my inner hippie and went bra-less. Well that was a huge mistake! It would seem that the bra works much in the same way that Body Glide does in preventing chafing. Running has NEVER done to me what these stupid crutches have. Live and learn. And the girls are not running free today.

What is interesting about this whole painful lesson is the amount of different antichafing products that are out there! I went to google images to get a picture to put on this post and was bombarded by products (and some quite distubing images of chafing....you've been warned). More of them seemed to be marketed towards cyclists but(t) runners could benefit from them as well.



Body Glide is to antichafing as Q-tip is to cotton swab (in our house anyway)

nubutte looks a little thick for runners' use, but would be great under my arms right about now

Silke had me at their clean lined label



Love the fact that you can carry your Chamois Butt'r with!

Sport Shield is actually what we use and have never had problems!

Booty Balm

 

Asmaster of fact, pretty funny.

 

Seriously great product name! Hoo Ha Ride Glide.

                                   

I think this logo for Ruby's Lube is my favorite!



With so many great options out there (and extremely fun packaging), I may need to try some of these out! 

 

Femoral Neck Stress Fracture

So now I know why my leg hurts.

I have a compression fracture that starts at the lesser femoral trochanteric process (where leg and glute muscles attach) and extends up to the femoral neck. The bulk of the damage is at the process which explains why adductive movements have been so painful, as well as just running. It also explains how I managed to mangle my toes so incredibly in shoes and socks that had logged many, many miles.

                               
So after the race I was feeling the usual discomfort after having run a marathon, with an added bonus of multiple blister pain from my toes. Immediately after returning to our hotel room I took an ice bath which I had never done before but had heard that it is really useful for recovery, took care of the toes on the other foot and then focused on rehydrating. Other than difficulty walking down stairs (or any type of step down, really) I felt pretty good. Phil and Kate headed to the Magic Kingdom for a last splash of pixie dust fun while Alex and hung out in the room for a while, and then met them later at Epcot. The next day didn't feel crazy bad. Took a slow walk to get some breakfast, then spent some time at the pool and hot tub and then it was time to get to the airport to come home.

A couple of days home and the toes were no longer bothering me but my hip and knee were a pretty constant annoyance. I got in to see my doctor and had xrays done that day. Next day got the call that they looked good, but to be sure and rule out stress fracture we set up an MRI. Day after the MRI got THE CALL. Stress fracture. Come in immediately. My MRI looks alot like the one below.

 

No running, no walking, no nothing on that leg for 6 weeks. In fact I have crutches that I have to use. I've never had them before. Not a big fan. But I don't want my next MRI to look like this one:

 

 

So I will use the crutches. I am going to have a bone density scan done since this is not my first stress fracture and I was ordered to take Calcium and Vit. D supplements. Not a big fan of supplements, but I'll do whatever it takes to help the osteoblasts rebuild my leg! I even did some research on other minerals, etc that aid in bone and cartilage health. So I've got a few other pills I'm popping in addition to the Cal and D. Plus loads of calcium rich foods and the few D foods since I'm not out in the sun getting my daily D that way.

Next week my leg buoy will hopefully have arrived and I can go to the pool and swim with my legs floating along lifelessly behind me. For now I sit and watch youtube videos of people running....and search for dream races.

I Love a Great Sign

I find it amazing how much energy I get from spectators at races, especially the signs that they hold or post. This sign is thanks to Joe at the Marathon Show!

Disney World Marathon Weekend Part 2

It's hard to believe that it has only been a week since we got home from Florida. With not being able to run, it seems like it has been much, much longer. But I've jumped ahead, so I'll rewind back to Disney....

I know I've mentioned my leg issues leading up to the race. Sartorius? ITB? Hip? I'd put in some mileage after my slip in the snow, but not much, and zero miles the week before the trip. I was in a pretty good amount of pain, mostly knee, on the flight and the first several days at the park found myself limping along having to ask the family to slow down. I'd gone from concern about a DNF to real fears of a DNS. Seeing everyone in their medals and playing games of identify the running shoes on Thursday and Friday had me alternating between excited highs and near-to-tears lows. Saturday morning, taking the monorail from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom and seeing all of the volunteers on the course getting water stations set up, the Black Pearl and Captain Jack Sparrow and several high school marching bands getting out of school buses and set up on course had me so pumped up! I decided a DNS was not even an option and if I ended up walking the thing it would be better than nothing.

Saturday night we had lights out at a little after 9:30pm, and after triple checking that the two alarms we had set were indeed set, settled down and fell asleep pretty quickly. Woke up around 2 to use the bathroom, was fearful that I would be up from this point on, but fell back asleep to be woken by the alarm at 3am. Felt really excited. Leg/hip/knee wasn't yelling at me. Ate half a bagel with peanut butter and drank some water. Stuck my head out the door to check weather, see if it was as amazing as what had been forecast, and it was! Clear sky, no humidity and temps in the mid 50's. Lovely! Grabbed my clothes, got dressed, strapped on my garmin, vacillated between socks for a few seconds, then got my Brooks PureFlow 2 laced up and hubby and I took off. Probably about 4am when we headed out to the bus stop.

Saturday's ride over to Epcot on the bus was a nonevent for Kate and I. Sunday morning, this morning, was a nail biter. We got to the bus stop to find probably 20 runners and at least as many spectators waiting to catch a bus. Not a huge deal since the buses are full sized, seat tons, Greyhound style buses. But buses were passing our stop because they were full. The drivers would put on the interior lights as they passed to show us just how full they were. Apparently this had been going on for about 10 minutes.

We had only been waiting about 5 minutes when a bus pulled up that was 3/4 full. Several of the spectator only folks immediately stepped back and said not to worry about them, they could wait for a later transport. Then a booming, very authoritative voice started calling for runners only, by corral. Good idea. There were only 2 runners left when all the seats had been filled and the driver started closing the bus door. Turns out that the booming voice was not a runDisney employee as I had initially thought, but just a runner and he yelled out, "Don't leave anyone behind! We'll make room!!". And we did. People scootched together in seats so that three could sit in seat designated for two. And no runners were left behind. Even Phil was able to come with me to the start, which made me very happy!

So off we rolled for the 10 minute bus ride to Epcot from our resort. Only it wasn't 10 minutes. It took an hour. One hour to go what should have only taken 10 minutes. Traffic was unreal on the road to Epcot. You would have thought that each of the 20,000 runners had each driven in their own car. The longer we sat, not making progress, the more antsy folks got. I'll remind you that it is a 20 minute walk to the starting corrals. That doesn't include if you have to go through security because you have a bag or need to check that bag at bag check. And forget about that last minute trip to the porta potty. I may be wrong, but I don't think they are going to hold the start of the race just because traffic was heavy.

At 5:10 am we hop off the bus and join the mass of humanity heading for the Explore Lot (where the security bag check is located), then on to the Wonder Lot (where bag check and porta pottys are located) and then on to the corrals.

Long, nerve racking story later, we jogged (and hip screamed in fury) our way to the entrance area. Fortunately I didn't have any bags with me so I was able to avoid that line, then we made our way on to the bag check area which is where runners pass through to get to the road to the corrals. Phil said goodbye there and off I went, more trotting (along with many others) to make my way to the corrals. Just before the corral area, the runners are split, with corrals A-H going to the left and I-P to the right. That split thinned the crowd with only a quarter of the runners heading off to the left (I was in H corral), so that helped quite a bit with being able to move forward swiftly. I rounded the bend and could see my corral, fortunately the closest one, when the National Anthem started up. Most of us stopped. Those that continued forward I would imagine were in one of the first couple of corrals. They still probably should have waited but I understand why they kept moving. I'm sure that once the race got underway and the corrals began moving forward, if you were not in your corral you probably would have been placed in a corral further back.

After the National Anthem, I had plenty of time (a few minutes) to get into H corral and make my way close to the 4:30 pacer. I hadn't had a chance to speak to her at the Expo and obviously missed the chance before the start, but I was curious what her water stop strategy was. Some walk the water stations, some do not. I have not yet mastered the ability to drink and run at the same time so I usually walk the aid stations. Plus I had a few gels and planned on taking one at the 4 mile water stop and again at the 8, since food wouldn't be offered until close to mile 12 and power aide, the drink offered, is not one of my favorites.

And then it was start time! It's funny because leading up to today, I figured I'd have all this waiting time in the corral before the race got going. Figured if I didn't find someone to chat with, I'd listen to a podcast, or music to pass the time. Thanks to the crazy traffic, I had almost no wait time. Mickey began his count down for the first athletes, the wheelchair division, to start. He yelled "Go!" and then the sky was lit up with the first of many rounds of fireworks to mark the start. This was my view of the first "go" from corral H.

I put away my phone and began the slow march up to the starting line. It was fun listening to the starters talking to the crowd ahead of us and as we got closer I could see the jumbo tron and all the runners up ahead starting out on their 26.2 mile adventure! It took no time at all for us to reach the start and have our own countdown from Mickey and our set of fireworks (it was probably 5:50am?), and then off we went!

The first couple hundred yards really were brutal for my hip. I was feeling really uncertain about whether or not I had made the right decision to go through with the race. But then, nothing. No pain. So I kept my eyes locked on the pacer balloon dancing up ahead and just enjoyed running again.

I trucked along with the pace group, never getting more than 4 people deep away from the actual pacer, but found several taller people who were running with the group that I could keep an eye on when the course narrowed and I'd lose sight of her. Started talking with a few folks in the group, two from Florida and one from Pittsburg, and the miles quickly rolled by. At the first water stop, which was 2 miles in, I noticed that our pacer didn't stop. I didn't know if this was her plan for the entire race or just the first since it was so early into the run. I didn't grab anything, but kept trotting along with her in sight.

The crowd of runners was really thick. It made it difficult to see when a water stop was approaching, plus I was too far back from my pacer to hear her (sometimes they will call out "water!"), so when we got to the next water (when I was planning on gelling) it came up so unexpectedly that I couldn't get my gel out quickly enough to have eaten it and then wash it down with water, all while running....cause pacer still wasn't stopping and I was having trouble keeping her in sight. I grabbed a water, drank as much as I could and then scurried to get closer to her. From that point on, I kept myself really close to her. My hope was that I could anticipate, with my garmin, when the next water might be coming up and be able to get slightly ahead of her so I could gel and hydrate. Well, my garmin was off. Not by much but by the end of the race it told me I had run just over 27 miles. So I did the best I could with staying hydrated and ended up not getting a gel til close to mile 8. I wasn't feeling like I was lacking energy or not hydrated enough, it just wasn't going according to my original plan. And I know that if you feel like you need food or water, then it is too late!

Running through the Magic Kingdom was so much fun and just whooshed by! I saw Phil on Main Street, about at the same point I had waited with Kate on Saturday to see Alex. That was super exciting and he had a huge smile and a big thumbs up for me, especially knowing all of the pre-race angst....After Main Street we took a right to run through Tomorrowland and then made our way to Cinderella's Castle. It really was lovely, all lit up in the dark morning. I was torn, kind of wanting to stop for a picture in front of the castle, but not wanting to lose my group. Plus sometimes when I make a long stop during a run it is difficult to get going comfortably again and at this point I really felt good.

We left the castle, ran past the place we had nutella and fruit waffle sandwiches for breakfast (yum) on Friday, through Frontierland, over the train tracks with the engine and engineers cheering us along and then we were out. Finished with our first of four parks, 19 miles to go!!

A huge suprise was awaiting me...I saw Phil again!! So unexpected, but he was waiting just after mile 8 when we were heading into the parking lot of the Walt Disney World Speedway! Another boost and off I went towards the Speedway. There was a steep down, under a tunnel (the speedway itself, I think) and then a steep climb back up on to the track. Loads of cool cars, including Herbie, the Love Bug, on the track and a soundtrack of engine noise to accompany us.

Once we popped out of there, it was only a couple of miles to Animal Kingdom. I was still keeping up with my 10:30 pace group when at about mile 12 I starting seeing signs that said "who let the dogs out?" and "woof, woof, woof, woof". And then I had to make my first character stop! Doug from Up, Bolt and Pluto were all standing in front of a giant doghouse!

The line wasn't too long and actually moved rather quickly, with one official Disney photographer and two helpers that would take your camera and get a shot (several usually). My picture with these pups is my favorite character photo of the day!

Pace group was officially out of sight. So now, just outside of Animal Kingdom at mile 12.5ish I started on my own race. And I walked all my water breaks without having to worry about trying to catch up. I saw Joe, from the Marathon Show interviewing someone as he ran. After listening to his podcast of the race, it was a guy from the UK that he knew from a previous race (and they were wearing similar shirts). I saw a large, furry pig on a leash. And a goat. I used a real bathroom in the Animal Kingdom! Washed my hands in a sink! And got some water from the water fountain before continuing on. Felt so decadent!

 

We exited Animal Kingdom to find loads of people outside the park cheering us along. It was such a great surprise to see so many people. Bigger surprise yet was that Phil was there, too!! He gave me another big thumbs up and said he'd see me at Epcot (with the kids who got to sleep in).

 

Mickey was waiting as we left Animal Kingdom.

                                       

 My plan before leaving home, after studying the race route map, was to have my music at the ready once we had left Animal Kingdom. Once you get out of the parking lot area at mile 14, it seemed like it could get a bit tough, distraction wise until we got to Disney Hollywood Studios at mile 22.5-ish. The course looped us through the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex where the Expo was held, but I seldom enjoy looping around almost like switchbacks where you are hit in the face with how far you still have to go. So as we left Animal Kingdom and turned out onto Osceola Parkway, I dug out my phone and earbuds, and plugged in.

 

I was good for a mile or so with the tunes, but then I realized that the toes on my left foot were feeling a bit off. I did a quick eval of my gait. Didn't think I was striking differently than usual, so just tried to ignore the feet and kept moving on. By the time we got to the ESPN park (mile 17) my toes were screaming, not to be ignored. I grabbed a tylenol at a medical tent (got a red letter T Sharpied onto my hand) and while there grabbed some BioFreeze to slather on my right leg which was now sending empathy noises to my toes. The combination of stopping and BioFreezing was much appreciated by my lower limbs, so I added in visits to each and every medical tent until the end of the race.

 

Highlights of running through the ESPN complex were running on the very cushy track (as much as I hate track work, my feet were campaigning to just run the remaining 8 miles looping around the track) and running the outfield of the baseball stadium. Just after leaving the baseball stadium, at the next water station, the 4:45 pace group caught me! And they were walking the water breaks! I joined their ranks, happy to have a bobbing balloon to follow again. I turned off the tunes and tried to enjoy the sounds of the spectators cheering and the conversations among the runners (although there really wasn't a whole lot of talking going on). After about a mile and a half I realized that the bobbing balloon was drifting further away and I couldn't for the life of me get my legs to move faster to keep up. It was the wierdest, most depressing thing I've experienced in a long while. I was on my own again. I gave in to some walk breaks, 15-20 seconds every half a mile or so, and kept trying to calculate whether or not I could finish sub 5 hours.

 

Left ESPN, back to the Osceola Pkwy and then took the first exit onto World Drive towards Hollywood Studios. As we cruised up the on ramp, we passed the green army man from Toy Story telling us to "GO, GO, GO!". And then before I knew it, I was turning into Hollywood Studios and only a 5K left to go!! We left Buena Vista drive and turned a hard right onto Cypress Drive, and then left on to Theater of the Stars Drive, which is almost like an out and back, running parallel to where we were on World Drive. Saw the Earful Tower (the water tower with mouse ears) and then entered the costume and materials building that is a part of the Studio Backlot Tour. Highlight here was the young (younger than me) guy, extremely fit wearing lycra running shorts and a well-fitted tank, singing along with the piped in music from Cinderella....you know the one. The mice are making her a dress. He caught up to me just as he was belting out the line "leave the sewing to the women". Cracked me up and gave me a much needed boost of smile power.

 

Left that building and just as we were heading onto New York Street, I saw Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc. Toes agreed that a photo with those two would be great, so I had a quick stop there, and then it was on my way through New York! Turned past the coffee shop where we had hidden from the rain on Thursday and then we were running past the huge sorcerers hat and even bigger crowds of people! It was about 10:45 so I'm pretty sure that the park was officially open and there were people everywhere. It was wonderful and horrible all at the same time. I really wanted to walk. Often and for longer stretches. But pride wouldn't let me do it with so many people around. And it was nonstop people from here until the finish. Good. And bad.

 

                          

 

Left Hollywood Studios and ran along the connector path to the resorts and Epcot that follows along a lake/lagoon thing. It was lovely and I wish I hadn't been hurting so much as it was a rather painful blur. People were sitting on the grass, picnic style, chearing on runners as we approached the Disney Boardwalk and the Yacht and Beach Club Resort. I stopped for oranges and water and sponges. Any official opportunity to walk was fully embraced!
 

Our turn into Epcot happened so suddenly. I was really taken by surprise (a very good thing!). One minute we were running past the yacht club, then we turned to the right passed our last water stop and passed through the gates into England! And Epcot. The water stop was probably in Epcot, but I didn't feel it until I saw those red phone boxes and smelled the chipper. Mile 25 was right as we crossed the bridge into France. I glanced down at my watch and knew that there was no way I'd be in the 4's. Oh well. Kept moving, shuffling and in China I saw Mooshoo! Love that character from Mulan, plus now I love any official reason to stop.....

 

Just as I was stepping away from Mooshoo and getting my phone back, I heard the most lovely sound....Alex' voice! My cheering squad had decided to split up, Kate and Phil at the finish, and Alex came into Epcot, waiting for me along International Road (his favorite of all the locations that Disney has to offer). He said he knew I'd have to stop and take a picture with Mooshoo! I gave him a hug, and my earbuds, and continued along, so excited to be almost finished.

 

I stopped for two more pictures, one with Jasmine and one with 2 of the 3 Caballeros, and then it was past the big Epcot Planet Earth and around the corner past the choir, hallelujah! I had .2 miles to go! I searched the "grassy knoll" (where we had waited for Phil during the half) for Kate and Phil but there were so, so many people....then I was approaching the finish line and Donald Duck stepped up and gave me a huge high-four and I was over the line! Just after crossing I heard Phil yell out my name from the stands. It was great to see them up there!

I continued moving through, left foot now officially declaring that it was done with me, so after I got my space blanket and medal, I headed over to the self-serve medical area. I had noticed people getting their feet looked at when I'd stopped at the medical tents along the route and thought that maybe these guys could fix me up. I grabbed some bags of ice just to stick on my quads and knees and inquired about some help with potential blisters. They directed me to the official medical tent.

Waiving naively as I go to the medical area,

They triage at the gate before you even get to the tent. I said I thought I had a blister on my left foot. She jotted down some info (bib number, name and chief complaint) and then escorted me into the tent. Once in the tent, they sent me to the orthopaedic side (vs the dehydrated runners on fluids side) where not one, not two but five medics set about helping me! The guy who was officially in charge of me was a blister virgin. We took off the shoe and sure enough, my middle toenail was extended out of the nailbed with a whopper of a blister underneath. The medics were oooing and aaawwing, telling the newbie that this was a good one! Then the mentor medic says "you've got another one on this toe, and here's another.... "  They got to work draining and bandaiding the toes. I was given some water and laid there enjoying the ice on my legs. Got the sock and shoe back on (ouch!) and was asked if there was anything else. Nope. Feel much better, thanks! Started limping out and realized that maybe I had a blister on the right foot but felt too stupid to say anything. Besides, it wasn't nearly as painful as the left had been so I figured I could handle it myself back in the room.



Couldn't get the 5th medic in the shot. He was to my right.



                   

 

Left medical, got my box of food and bottles of water and poweraide, and went to find my family. Seeing them standing under the Mc-P sign in the family reunion area was so great! I was so happy to have done the race and so happy to be finished and ready to enjoy our last full day at Disney.

Official Disney results:

Place	Name	Bib	Age	Div Place	Gender Place	5 Mile Split	10 Mile Split	Half Split	20 Mile Split	Clock Time	Net Time
7133	YVETTE MCKENZIE	4283	45	277	2646	51:06	1:42:19	2:20:49	3:42:10	5:22:58	5:01:36

Unofficial Disney results:

Had a GREAT time! Didn't get enough fluids (now I know what rust colored pee looks like), ended up with a total of 6 blisters, 2 toenails that are not long for this world. Had my first ice bath. Brrrr! Would do it again, hands down, wonderful race!

The Disney World Marathon Weekend: Part 1

Well, I've experienced my first Disney Marathon and I will say that they do know how to throw a party!

We left the bitterly cold Midwest on Wednesday evening and arrived in balmy Florida late that night. The flights were really uncomfortable for me, with my knee in particular having painful spasms pretty much the whole time. Thursday morning Alex and Phil went for a short run around the Port Orleans Riverside resort, where we were staying, and saw a lot of the runners returning from the Family 5K that took place that morning. The jumping off point for all of those Dopey runners!

We grabbed a quick breakfast and then hopped on the shuttle to the Marathon Weekend Expo. It was probably close to 10:00 when we got there and it was not crowded at all. I think the rainy/misty weather probably had a lot to do with folks not feeling like they needed to get there first thing in the morning (as our plan had originally been so that we would have a full day in the park afterward). Alex was in corral A for the half marathon and Phil in G, and both walked right up to get their bibs. I had one person ahead of me for my marathon corral of H. T-shirt and bag pickup were in the main expo hall (the one with the official Disney New Balance shoes), and that was equally as swift. They had a table just past Tshirt pickup where you could exchange your shirt for a different size. They had plenty in all sizes, but I would imagine as time goes by you might be out of luck.

We browsed both the main expo hall and the Champion Stadium Expo. Alex bought a half marathon jacket. We looked at the shoes. Phil was tempted as that is the exact shoe (well, minus the mouse stuff) that he runs in currently, but we all walked away without any in our possession. Did buy a flipbelt, which worked brilliantly on race day. Returned back to the resort, dropped off our stuff and then headed to the parks.

Fast forward to Saturday morning, bright and early! The alarm went off at 3:15. I was worried on Friday night that it would be difficult getting up so early, but with all of the excitement for Alex running his first half, I was up and ready to go. The boys took off for the shuttle at 3:45 and I continued to rouse a slow moving 14 year old daughter/sister who didn't have the same level of excitement for the day ahead. She did rally, though, and we managed to walk out the door at 4:20 to head to the starting area at Epcot.

Phil was sending me text updates about where they were and how long of a walk it took to get to the start, etc. If Kate and I had been out there earlier, we might have tried to get to the corrals to see the boys before the 5:30 start. We got to Epcot around 4:50 and decided we'd better head directly to the Magic Kingdom to see Alex when he hit Main Street USA, at around mile 5.2. According to our calculations from the previous day riding the monorail between the two parks, it would take us at least 30 minutes to get to MK from Epcot, and that doesn't include walking from the bus drop off area to the station and the station to the park. Alex figured he'd run the 5+ miles in about 35 minutes, which means we needed to be on Main Street by 6am.

Main Street on Sunday morning. No jackets required the day Alex and Phil ran.

 

I had signed up for the runner tracking, but really had no idea when or how often I would get updates. When we got ourselves situated on Main Street, I saw a group of spectators wearing what looked like "official" WDW spectator t-shirts so I asked on of them if they knew how it all worked. The guy I talked to said that he remembered there being a timing mat at least a quarter of a mile from the turn on to Main, and that I should have plenty of warning before Alex arrived. Good. The first wheelchair athelete came tearing through, then a couple of others and then the first foot runner came flying around the corner. Then a few more, then the first female runner. More fast runners came through and still no text. I started getting a bit concerned that something had happened to him. Let me back up and say that it was extremely humid and warm that morning. It really felt like a sauna out there. We had gotten pretty comfortable with running in cold, dry air so this heat was oppressive. Then, all of a sudden, I see his floppy hair!! No text, but at least he was doing well! His 5K split, which I received on the monorail back to Epcot, was 19:14/pace 6:12. The text updates were really great. They gave split times for the 5, 10, 15K plus an estimated finish time that updated with each split time.

 

 

As much as we wanted to stay to wait for Phil on Main Street, we had decided that it would be better if we were at the finish for Alex. So Kate and I headed back to Epcot. We found a great spot just shy of the finish to watch for Alex and cheer him to the finish line. I took a super short video clip of him going by, but I will apologize because I was not watching him through the camera so you see him, then you don't, then you see him. Oh well. I'd rather witness the moment. BTW, he's not the guy in a green shirt that I do seem to have captured...he's the shirtless one.

 

 



He ended up finishing his first half marathon in 1:38:45! Super proud of that guy!! He said it was tough and that he probably started out too fast (his goal was to catch the elite starters, ugh). But he said he enjoyed it, too.

Phil was in corral G which got started around 5:50, so more time hanging out in the humid weather. He said it definitely had an impact on him but it also caused him to be really proactive at hydrating! He hit the 5K split in 33:48/10:53 pace and finished in 2:37:28.

Post-race hydration!

 After Phil finished, we headed back to the resort, took turns clening up and relaxed a bit before heading out to enjoy the parks wearing some bling!

The Magic Kingdom Awaits!!

This weekend we will be at Disney World for fun and run! A birthday to be celebrated on Thursday (daughter Kate's), a half marathon to be run Saturday for the boys (the first for son Alex) and the full marathon on Sunday for me. I have not run since last week. I'd like to run on Thursday morning to get acclimated to the warmer weather (really, compared to the negative temps we've got going on now, Florida will be downright hot) and see how things feel. But I'd hate to re-strain if my leg still needs a few days off. I'll make a decision Thursday am.

I'd been pretty noncommital about a costume for the race. Everything I've read about running a Disney race is that you should really run in a costume. You don't run to PR, you run for fun. And really, there is nothing more fun than running in a costume (as long as it doesn't cause chaffing). But I can be a great procratinator so nothing had really be done toward making a costume happen until last week. At first I thought that maybe I would be pre Fairy Godmother Cinderella. Cinderella in rags.

 

 

So I went out to the HobLob in search on tuille to make a tutu for the skirt. I had great sucess with a tutu I made for the Screaming Pumpkin, a 10K run through a local cemetery, so thought it would be fun for the race and easy at such a last minute to construct. When I got to the store and had the rolls of brown tuille in my hand, it just seemed so "blah". Given my current mood regarding my ability to complete this event, I thought I would much rather be sporting something brighter and more fun than a brown tutu. I was immediately drawn to a glittery light blue tuille that resembled the snow covered and frozen view out our windows. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I thought how appropriate to represent a character from the movie Frozen given my slip in the snow and my state of woe.

 

Looked up pics on my phone and decided that I would run as Elsa, or at least a non-animated version. I snatched up that lovely tuille, got some elastic and got to work on a new tutu. After an hour or so of cutting and attaching, with glittery puddles everywhere, a lovely wintery tutu was complete. I pulled on my booty shorts and the tutu and contemplated. Six miles in a tutu was no big deal, but would 26? I had to admit that as cute as that skirt was, in the end (pun?) I would probably be a rather chaffed and raw runner.

Screaming Pumpkin Wonder Woman tutu on my dress form/medal display, with the wintery and reluctantly abandoned Frozen tutu.

 So. Back to the drawing board. Since I had no time to try to order anything, I decided that I would make a running skirt similar to a pink one that I had purchased from Sparkle Athletic. I went to the fabric store hoping to find a light blue sequin fabric, but no luck. I did get silver sequin fabric for the skirt and found a gauzy, veil like fabric for Elsa's cape. A fortuitous stop at the grocery store (had to stock up for the polar vortex headed our way) with all of their Christmas stock on severe mark down got me some felt snowflakes and some ethereal plastic and furry snowflakes (? hard to describe but really quite lovely) to add to my costume.

Once home, got the skirt stitched out pretty quickly and glued one of the felt snowflakes to a light blue tank that I already had. Then on to the cape. Got it cut out easily enought and gathered and sewed the top, but hand sewing the snowflakes took a long, long time. End result is that it looks pretty cool. A bit bride-ish, but hopefully with the snowflakes it will scream Frozen, rather than bride. I'll top it off with my white visor and we should be good to go!

As nervous as I am about the strength of my leg and whether I'll run on Sunday, the excitement of a vacation at Disney is winning out. This is our second time to go to Disney as a family. Our first time was five years ago and we had such a wonderful time. We really have great memories of that trip, so much so that we've talked often about going back, which is huge because we really prefer vacations going skiing or camping/hiking. This will be the first winter in several years that we didn't get Epic Season Passes for skiing in Colorado. And of all the places where I might have to walk(mostly)/run(?) a marathon, I think Disney World tops the list!

Current Pain vs. Future Races

My 18 mile long run in prep for the Disney Marathon (next weekend) was tough due to the snow and ice on the ground. I ran most of it outside with my newly screwed shoes and did the final 3 and change on my treadmill. Felt pretty sore the next day, figured it was normal and rested and iced, then on Tuesday went out for a 5 mile run. Didn't feel awful but didn't feel quite right either. Tuesday night couldn't sleep. Tossed and turned with pain in my right hip and down through my knee. Wednesday I was not only tired, but any abductive movement (like moving my foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal as I was running Christmas errands) was excruciatingly painful. It got to the point where I would use my hand to lift my leg to assist in the gas to brake movement. I got an appointment for the next day with my doctor who also specializes in sports med. Thursday there was almost no pain, but I went anyway to see the doctor. Based on my description of the pain locations, and a description of a misstep in the snow less than a mile into my long run that prbably was the cause of the pain, he suggested that I pulled my sartorius muscle. Told me to stay off of it the entire weekend, gave me a heavy duty anti-inflammatory (Meloxicam) and said to be cautious when resuming running.

Well, it's been two weeks later and I have only gotten in 24 miles, most on the tread because the roads and trails have been dodgy and I don't want to risk a spill with an already weakend leg. Ran 5 on the tread yesterday and I am in pretty big pain today, inner hip/outer knee being the pain points. My plan is no more running until race day. I'll hit the gym tomorrow and spin on a bike for a bit and see how that feels, but I think it's stretching and resting for now.

Muscle in red is the sartorius.





For spring 2014, races that I hope to participate in depending on what is actually going on with my leg include:

March 29: Clinton Lake Ultra (already registered)
April 5: Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon (will register when I get back from Disney....)
May 18: Run River City Marathon Relay (I run this with my husband and two kids...)

I'm still working on some races for the fall. There is a 50K in Michigan and the Hokie Half Marathon that I am thinking about, but I'm waiting until my son makes a decision about which college he is going to go to and when his start date is before actually committing to anything.