Avengers Half Marathon Recap

I wrote this post on the flight home from the race but then left the laptop that it was saved on at my parents' house while we were trying to move so it took me a while to get it online for you. I am still working on the other post I mention below and hopefully will have it up for you by the end of the year.




I have a post in mind about all that has been going on this year and why I haven't been posting much that I hope to get out soon. For now, I want to give you all a recap of the Avengers Half marathon that Mac and I ran this weekend.

I haven't been training the way I should for several different reasons, so I was not looking forward to Avengers at all. I felt like it might be the first time since the very first attempt at Princess that I might be swept. Disneyland races are always really strict about sweeping since the course uses so many city streets and that made me nervous. Mac was going to be with me but I knew that if I was really struggling, I would have to send him ahead to finish and I would just have to get on a bus.
I flew in to Orange County on Thursday so that I could go to the expo first thing Friday morning. I really wanted to get my hands on one of the Avengers Half edition Dooney and Bourke purses. Since I picked up an annual pass for both DL and WDW on my last Disney trip, I was able to wander around the park a little that afternoon and hit a few rides while I waited to meet up with Heather and Jackie for dinner. Friday morning, we were lucky that Heather was still on east coast time and couldn't sleep. She went down to the expo line an hour earlier than we had planned and found that the lines were already growing. We made it down and into the lines(Heather for the Dooney and Jackie and I for official merch) in time to have a good spot. We met people in line around us and spent 2 1/2 hours hanging out waiting to get in. Our waiting paid off because we were all able to get everything we were looking for at the expo before most of it was sold out that afternoon.
Mac flew in Saturday morning and we tried to take it easy after starting the day in DL until he arrived. Through a random chain of events, Heather, Jackie and I were able to visit the lounge at Club 33 in Disneyland. It was AMAZING and made the entire trip for us. Saturday afternoon, we had our traditional pizza from Naples in DTD and turned in for an early night before the race.

I love that DL races don't require such an early start. We were able to head out of our hotel about 45 minutes before the start time, get in our corrals and wait for the race to begin. I hate that the DL races have not adopted the new corral system. There were around 12,000 runners at this race since this was an inaugural event. In the first 6 corrals, there were approximately 850 people per corral. The rest of the runners were all in the last two corrals. That means over half of the participants were in two corrals at the end. They released the first six corrals two at a time(A&B, C&D, etc) Then they released G and H individually. There were TOO MANY PEOPLE in those last two corrals. It was insane. The first two miles of the race were the only miles that were in the parks, except the last mile which ran through the back lot of Disney California Adventures. That meant you had a ton of people on a very narrow course without much room to spread out. There was a guy that kept yelling that walkers needed to be on the right. That is proper race etiquette(though Disney race etiquette states walkers can be on either side to allow runners in the middle) but with the conditions, it was impossible to move to the right every time someone had a walk interval. The first time the guy yelled, we had just started and weren’t into DCA yet. The second time he yelled at everyone, we were in DCA heading into Cars Land. I am not a morning person, I am not a fan of crowds and I was nervous about the race. When he yelled the second time, I was at my breaking point so I yelled at him. I said “It’s not possible, so shut up.” Everyone around me laughed. I never heard him yell again. The great thing about yelling at the inconsiderate runner was that it helped me get out some of the pent up anxiety and I felt better after I did it.
We had started the race near Heather and Jackie but since we were doing different intervals, we ended up getting separated. Jackie had not been feeling well that morning and she was dealing with an ankle injury. Not too far into the second mile, I received a text from Heather that Jackie was in too much pain and was pulling herself from the course. Mac and I decided to wait for Heather to catch us so we could do the race together. We switched to Heather’s intervals of 20 second run and 40 second walk instead of the 1 minute intervals we had started with. I was glad to shorten the intervals since I knew I wasn’t trained well and I wasn’t sure how long I would last with our original intervals.
I felt pretty good as we made our way through the parks. The temps were nice and things were going well. Then we left the parks. As we got onto the streets of Anaheim, I started to understand the High Wind Advisory I had seen the night before when I checked the forecast. It called for sustained winds of 25-40 mph with gusts of 60-70mph. They weren’t joking. Not far into mile 3, the wind was howling. Posters were being ripped out of spectators hands and flying into the course. I saw a giant palm limb (at least 10 feet long) flying across a parking lot headed straight for the street full of runners. Fortunately, there was a security guard that saw it and stopped it before it could take anyone out. For the beginning of the street course, we were dealing with crosswinds. Around mile four, the course turned and then it was a head wind. Running into winds of those speeds was insane. Sometimes you felt like you weren’t moving. We also started seeing the toll they were taking on the course. Barriers were in piles on the side of the road instead of standing. Mile markers were torn apart or missing by the time we ran by. When strong gusts would kick up, you had to shield your face so you could breathe and to keep the sand from your eyes. My throat quickly became raw because no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t keep from breathing it in. Near the mile 5 water stop, they couldn’t keep the full cups of water on the table. They were being blown everywhere. With no hope of keeping it all contained waves of empty cups flew across the open parking lots around us. Between miles 6 and 9, there was a long stretch along the Santa Ana River that was a bike/running path. Because of the draught in California, there was no water, only dirt which quickly became even more dust in the air. The path was very narrow and there was still so much congestion from the poor corral breakdown that we had no choice but to walk. The only bright spots on this stretch were an awesome mural someone had painted at the entrance to the path that contained Thor and Captain America and the huge group of Cosplayers that came out in all of their Marvel character glory and cheered us on. There was a Loki there that could easily pass as Tom Hindleson’s younger brother and his costume was amazing. I hate that I did not get pictures of him or any of them because I was so focused on simply moving forward.
The path ended at the Anaheim stadium. I was glad to see some of the local runner support that I had experienced at Tink in the parking lot of the stadium. They were handing out red vines, pretzel rods and DONUTS. It was a very welcome snack during a very tough race. Running around the warning track was really cool but I knew there was a really good chance that the official pacers were catching us. After exiting the stadium, I made a quick pit stop at the next water station. I was praying that the port-o-potty I was in would not do what many others near it had. They were scattered all over the parking lot because they had been blown around by the wind. I quickly met back up with Heather and Mac as we headed away from the stadium. I found myself a little choked up as we passed a group of WWII reenactors and many veterans. I always love seeing the pride in Mac’s eyes when he sees those that have served before him.
As we were passing through the gates on the road out of the stadium, I heard people talking about the “balloon ladies” or the official pacers. They are the ones that start walking a 16 minute mile pace after the last person crosses the start line and if you cannot stay in front of them, you will be picked up or “swept”. I turned around and realized that they were only about 10 feet behind us. I freaked out and took off running. We had not been doing our intervals because of the congestion but we quickly started them back up. We had just over 3 miles to go and we were doing everything we could to put distance between us and the pacers. Every time we would stop to walk, I would ask Mac how far back they were.  We finally hit a few areas where we could no longer see them and I felt a little better. I knew I could not keep up that pace for the rest of the race but we need to get away from them. At around mile 11.5, we decided to just walk unless they caught us again because I was getting tired and my lungs were hurting from all the dust.
We were finally within sight of the parks again and I started to breathe a sigh of relief. I knew we should be hitting mile 12 soon after entering the back lot area but we never saw the sign. Turns out, it was destroyed by the wind like so many other mile markers that day. Finally, we left the back lot of DCA and crossed over Disney Way into the parking lot at Paradise Pier. I knew we were finally safe. We made our way past the hotels and to the finish line. I grabbed Mac’s hand and we crossed the finish. I immediately lost it. I was crying so hard I was having trouble breathing. I was so overwhelmed by emotions because I knew that if I had not been with Heather and Mac, I probably would have been swept. They helped push me when I was tired and distract me when I was frustrated. They kept me going when I didn’t think I could any more. I was so grateful to have them with me. I was so overwhelmed by the way God works and how he brought Heather into our lives.  Thanks to her and my loving husband, I was able to finish my 9^th half marathon.
We received our medals and made our way through the maze to get our food boxes, water and powerade. The thing I hate most about RunDisney races is the insanely long walk you have to do after finishing. This one was even worse than most because in order to get back around to our hotel, which we were in the parking lot of, we had to walk about a mile from the finish, through the exit area and then around the block to get back to a place that was about 100 yards from the finish line. I was tired and sore and PISSED to be walking so far after running over 13 miles in insane conditions. We finally made it back to the Disneyland hotel for our breakfast reservation where we had great food and some time to enjoy our accomplishment. We were able to meet back up with Jackie at breakfast. She had gotten her ankle taped up and was feeling a little better even though she was down about not being able to complete the race.

We ran(waddled) into DL after we ate to get pictures with a few characters and in front of the castle with our medals. Then Mac and I hit the pool and hot tub while the others went to the room to shower and change. We had big plans of closing down Disneyland that night after ice skating in Downtown Disney , having dinner and watching World of Color at California Adventures but while we were eating, we all nearly fell asleep in our food. We found out that we could swap the preferred viewing tickets we got with dinner to another night and we were all back in the room and in bed by 9pm instead of watching the 9:45 show and then partying in the parks until midnight. I have closed down the parks after every other DL race I have done but running in that wind all morning just took everything out of us. Monday and Tuesday were full of park time hitting everything we had not done in the days before the race and making sure we checked off all of our must do and see items.
All in all it was a great trip. The race was tough but I am glad I did it. I truly enjoyed the theme even though I was not a fan of the course. 10 of the 13 miles were off property and barely over a mile was actually inside either of the parks. I am interested to see what they plan to do for the Star Wars Half coming up in January and I hope to be more prepared for it once it rolls around. I’m so grateful I have the opportunity to do races like these with amazing people and I can’t wait until the next one.
Rebel Challenge, here I come.

Labor Day Road Race 2014

I traveled home to Georgia again to run the Labor Day Road Race in Macon. I made sure I was there in plenty of time this year instead of sprinting to the start like I did in 2011. I tried to warm up the best I could but the opening hill still killed my calves. They were so tight by the time I got to the top. I ended up stopping and pulling of my compression sleeves and trying to massage them out because the muscles were so tight they were restricting blood flow to my feet. I finally loosened up about half way in to the race. Everything was going ok but it was hot. The sun was killing me. It is one of the downfalls of running at night. The temps were actually about the same as when I run at night but the sun was baking me. I was feeling a little light headed as I got close to the 4 mile mark so I popped a couple pretzels in my mouth since I could see the next(and last) water stop at the bottom of the horrible hill at the end. When I go to the stop, they were out of water and I was livid. My mouth was so dry from running and then the pretzels made me almost choke. All I needed was a sip of water and they had NOTHING. I battled my way up the last hill, wanting so badly to just stop. I made it to the top and started taking advantage of the downhill for the last two miles. Every time I passed someone with a water bottle, I really wanted to ask if I could have some. Finally I reached the fire hydrant that they turn on for us and I took full advantage of it. I was SOAKING wet but I felt so much better. I finally felt good enough to really run the last mile or so and started passing several people that were loosing steam. I ran into the park and across the finish line with a time that was 10 minute better than in 2011. I really wanted an even better time and I know I could have ran better but things were just off that morning. It was nice to see that everything wasn't packed up when I finished this time and there were 10 people behind me instead of one. There was a group of girls handing out bottles of water with their church and I was very grateful since the race refreshments were no where near the finish. I grabbed the water and headed straight to the firetruck where they were spraying anyone that wanted it(mostly little kids). Rachel and I met back up, I grabbed a bagel, and we headed off to breakfast. Like I said before, it wasn't my best race, but I did improve from the last time I ran this race. One day, hopefully, I will be able to run it and feel great about it at the end of the day.

Finding a groove again

It has been a while since I have been running consistently. It has been hard with moving and losing motivation. Last week was the first time in several months that my RunKeeper log looked like this.

It felt good to be back out there. Now I just have to keep it up. I have a 10K coming up on Labor Day. I'm not expecting a great race since I got a later start than I wanted but I am hoping it will still be good.

I've let myself go too much in the last 7 months. I have regained more weight than I ever wanted to and I am trying to get it off again. I've been so disgusted and disappointed with myself that it has been hard to refocus like I should. I have had the old fears and doubts nagging me saying that it's just not possible but I know it is.

I think I am going to need to take a break from the weight lifting or at least scale it back. I really want my focus to be running again so that I can train well and succeed at Avengers in November. I keep going back and forth with what all I am planning to do. A while ago, I posted this pic on the blog's facebook page when I posted about getting serious.

I'm still using it to help me move forward, but there is a reason everything is on stickers. They are removable, so I can move them around or just throw them out if I find that it is just too much. Every time I open it up, I tweak something. But that is how I have found success in the past. Any time that I had something too rigid, I would get frustrated and just give up, but allowing myself to make changes and adapt has helped me move forward. I am trying to get back into eating the right things on the right days. I still need to get more protein but I'm working on it.

I'm hoping to post more again. I know I have said that before but I really do want to do it. I have just felt so bad about how things have been going, I felt like I had no right to post anything. When in reality, these are the times I need to post the most. So I can work through my struggles and stop just hiding from the world.

There is a lot of uncertainty around the next several months for us. Mac is applying to grad schools and waiting on answers so he can make a decision and let the Army know. Then we will have to figure out another move quickly. By the end of the year, we will no longer be here but I have no idea where we will be headed. Uncertainty is bad for me. It causes me anxiety and that leads to bad habits. I am trying to break through some of that by focusing on what I can control and what I do know. No matter where we are in January, I still have a 10K on Sept 1 and 14th, a half on Oct 18th and another in California on Nov 16th and I really want to be prepared for them. I really want to feel like a runner again.

But first, I need new shoes...

And that will be a post of its own very soon.

Weight Lifitng Stage One = DONE!

So I had plans for a big post at the end of stage one recapping the first phase of the program and telling you how it all went but then all hell broke loose. Well, actually just the tailgate to be exact.

I finished stage one while I was home in Georgia helping out a friend and visiting family. I was planning to write my post the week of July 4th which was my rest week between one and two. I never got around to it though because on July 2nd, as my parents were leaving North Georgia where we had been for a few days, the tailgate of my dad's truck fell open and my suitcase, containing all of my clothes for the two week trip, fell out and was swiped before he could stop and grab it. I was in my car on the way to Atlanta on a different road. My parents were taking my stuff with them so that I would not have a truck full of luggage to tempt thieves. Turns out some one is more likely to steal your suitcase on mountain roads in North Georgia. I was almost a week away from returning home so I had to start replacing clothes quickly, which included four of my beloved SparkleSkirt running skirts. Because of all this craziness, I never got around to writing my post. Now I am back with the hubby and pups and two weeks into stage two which means I am half way done with it.

Stage one was really great and a learning experience. I learned how to do lots of exercises I had heard of but never attempted. I learned that eating protein while weightlifting is VERY important. Days when I did my workouts but did not have enough protein, I would wake up the next day completely exhausted because my body did not have what it needed to rebuild my muscle. Stage one is six weeks long. It consists of two workouts that are alternated three times a week. You do each workout 8 times each and increase the difficulty every two weeks. The last week is filled in with two special workouts that include the same exercises you have been doing but you drop back to the original weight used and complete as many reps as possible to see how you have improved.

I really enjoyed the stage as a whole even though I did prefer one workout over the other. I had originally hoped to throw a few runs in there but I never was really consistent with that part. Instead I focused on my strength and developing a good base for the rest of the program. After the craziness that went on during my rest week, I had a hard time really getting motivated and getting started on Stage two. I also ended up leaving Georgia a day later than I had planned so that interfered with my MWF workout plan.

I finally got settled back in here and adjusted my calendar a little to allow me an extra day to get started but not throw off every stage after this one. One of the good things is that you don't have to take a rest week after each of these next few stages because they are much shorter, only 4 weeks. The break between 2 and 3 will be just a little shorter than the breaks between 3, 4 and 5. I must admit though, I am not loving the workouts in stage two. I have to start running this week to do the full training program for Avengers and this stage is VERY leg intensive. As part of the B workout, you are supposed to finish with 15 minutes of interval training, which would be fine but my legs are burnt out by the time I get done so doing a higher intensity interval run is tough. It got a little easier this week but it is still a tough set of workouts.

Tomorrow night will be my first training run for Avengers. It's just 3 miles but it will be my first real run in a while. I'm swapping my run and workout night so that I can take advantage of the awesome weather we are supposed to have tomorrow before it starts to warm back up this weekend. I'm still figuring out how all of this is going to work. I am definitely not going to over do it on my long training runs. They will be slow and steady to get the miles in. I am hoping the strength training will help with my speed even when I am not going fast in my running. I'm also trying to refocus on my eating because I have let that slide for way to long. I need to clean it up again and start focusing on good lean protein on my lifting days and smart carb choices for my long training runs without over doing it.

Mac and I are planning an anniversary trip to Disney this fall. I remember where I was when I went last year and I am hoping by some miracle, maybe I get get back there by the time we go this year. I hate that I have to do all that work again but I am also not surprised because some of how I got there was the wrong way and I am really trying to do it right this time. Either way, it will be nice celebrating my anniversary at California Grill with my husband this year instead of from afar.

Week One in the books

I have had a running theory in my life that if it feels like the devil/world is fighting you every step of the way, you must be doing something right. If that is in deed true, I must be on the right path with my current plan. This week has been a nightmare to get through and it is all because of annoying little things that can set you back. 

Monday was day one of my training plan using the New Rules book that I talked about in my last post. I had to get our workout space set up which meant I had to do some rearranging. We had originally planned to use the "sun room" as the spare bedroom and what would be the master bedroom normally as the workout room. Once we started moving everything in however, we decided to switch it around but the movers had already put the spare bed and most of our boxes in the sun room. So Monday night started with me clearing out the air mattress from the back bedroom and moving LOTS of boxes so that I could move the spare bed into the right room. Then I had to continue shifting boxes around to make room for the workout space. This, of course, was a pain in the ass. I got a little beat up in the process as well.(Moving a queen size bed alone can be dangerous.) I was frustrated and tired before I ever began my workout, but I sucked it up and did the first work out in the plan. I felt good but was really reminded of how far I really have to go in this journey of strength. 

The plan calls for you to do their workouts three times a week. I will be doing MWF  with some running on TTS. That means Tuesday night called for a quick run. Nothing major happened that night when I did my two mile run. I could have gone for more but I wanted to make sure I wasn't pushing too hard during the week since I really want to do the strength stuff right. 

Wednesday was my birthday and I decided I wanted to get myself a gift. that gift was a tiny barbell set from Academy so that I can start the program completely at home while I get comfortable with all of the moves and figure out how much weight I should/can lift. The thought of walking into a gym with NO CLUE how much weight to use made me want to stay at home. I had looked several places but couldn't find what I wanted. We finally hit Academy just before they closed and they had EXACTLY what I needed. It is a total 110lb set. It has a 5 foot,  25lb bar and 85lbs in discs(four 10s, six 5s and six 2.5s) It is perfect for a newbie like me. Once we were home, I still had a few more things I needed to set up. Workout A(Monday) didn't call for too much equipment other than a few dumbbells but for Workout B, I needed a bench. Luckily, I had picked one up for Mac's birthday last month but we had not put it together yet. After searching what seemed like forever for the tools needed to put it together, I finally located everything.(FYI: I HATE MOVING) The instructions said it was a two man job but I was on my own because mac had already gone to bed. It was all fine until  the wrench slipped and I knocked a huge chunk of skin off of the knuckle on my right pinky. It hurt like hell and bled like crazy. I had to get Mac up so he could put a band-aid on it because I couldn't control the bleeding and put on a band-aid at the same time. He helped me get the last of the bench put together. I was hurt and angry and really just wanted to go to bed, but I didn't. I grabbed my lifting gloves I picked up for cheap at TJ Maxx and decided to just get it done. My hand wasn't always comfortable but I made it through the workout. 

Thursday was the first day I was really sore. We were heading down to Fort Worth that night so I wasn't going to get in a run but I was hoping to get some time in the pool at the hotel. Unfortunately, we got there a little later than we had hoped and that wasn't an option either. It didn't end up being a total wash though because we were staying in the Stockyards area and did a lot of walking that night. I got a horrible night's sleep at the hotel and woke up feeling off on Friday. I just felt bad all day. I think something I ate Thursday night didn't sit well with me and I felt it all day. As the day went by, I wondered how I would be able to do the workout that night. Mac finally suggested that I start it, see how I felt and then either stop or continue. I ended up making it through the workout and only cut one set short but that was because I still have to work up to being able to complete it.

I was hoping to get a long run in this morning but running this weekend is going to be hard because we are supposed to have rain and thunderstorms every day for the the next few days. I am hoping I can at least get a short run in tonight if it holds off for a couple hours but we will see. In reality, at this point, if I can't do any of my runs, I'm ok with that, as long as I am doing the strength workouts. I have to get my body used to these new workouts first and the training plan I was hoping to use for Avengers, doesn't actually start until the end of July so as long as I can throw in some short runs here and there just to keep my legs moving, I should be fine.

I am considering doing the Runners World Summer run streak but I ma not fully committing to it yet. I will see how running a mile on my workout days feels and if I feel like my body can handle it, I will continue. If I feel like it is too much, I'll stop.

For now, week one is in the books. I did all three workouts and I am happy with it. I still have to tweak a few things to find the right amount of weights to use but I am getting there. I also finally have our workout space completely set up. The entire room isn't done because there are still boxes we need to deal with in one end but the  required area for everything else is cleared and set up. Take a look below. You can see my tiny barbell set in the corner. It currently has 10lbs on it and the rest of the discs are stacked in the corner. Hopefully, now that it is done, I will quit beating myself up and all of this will get easier. 

Here we go

So I have been wanting to blog more but just haven't done it. I try to blog during the day so that people will actually see my posts but now I think I am just going to have to start scheduling the posts because I always want to write at night, while you are all sleeping. I want to get back to sharing my story because even though it is not pretty right now, it is real and I think I need that to keep me accountable. I've let myself slip way too far and I really want to make a big change in the right direction during our short time here.

I'm finding myself feeling like I am starting over. I'm not, but I am just as scared as I was when I started all of this. I guess it is because I had done so well and come so far and then I let myself mess up and go backwards. Those fears that it just isn't possible keep creeping in. The reality is that it is possible, I just have to find the right way for me. A lot of the success I had last year was the result of the fear I had from the crazy medical stuff that was going on. When you are scared to eat anything, it is easy to cut back and lose weight. Now that I am not afraid of food anymore and not depriving myself, I need to learn how to eat what I like, feel satisfied and lose weight.  Mac and I have done way too much eating out for the last month or so with the move and I am really trying to get away from that again. It's still hard though because there are still so many boxes and we can't find everything we need. Plus the kitchen is so much smaller than our last one and it feels like there is no room to do anything.

One thing I have really wanted to do for a long time and been too scared of was weight lifting. I knew that I needed to do more strength training but I had no clue what to do or how to do it so I tried to find other ways around it. While I love Insanity and gained a lot of strength from it, I still wanted to do something more strength focused. I have toyed with the idea of getting a personal trainer but it is just so expensive. I have really been wanting to get to a point where I can do a pull-up and looked at a ton of different possible plans but they all felt overwhelming.  Last week, I noticed a blog post from a FB friend of mine that I found very interesting. She was reading a book about weight lifting for women and it sounded really interesting. I decided to do a little more research on the book and found a fitness blog with a review of the book. He loved it(and the others by the same author) and only had wonderful things to say. He is a personal trainer that doesn't treat his female clients like they are incapable of really working out and lifting real weights. So many times, you see stuff for women recommending 2 or 3 lb weights or doing lots of reps with basically no weight and these guys(the blog author and the book author) don't do that. They tell you to really lift real weights.

The book is called "The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift like a Man, Look like a Goddess". I read a few sample sections and finally bit the bullet and ordered it on Amazon. I also had some credit on my Nook so I downloaded it there as well. I really like how it breaks it all down, explains the methods and thought process behind all of the rules and then gives you a training plan to follow. It also talks about nutrition as well. The full training plan consists of 7 stages with stage 6 being optional. If you complete all seven stages, it is a six month program. I am going to be skipping stage 6 for now so it is about a five month plan for me. Some of the workouts I will be able to do completely at home, like tonight, and other days, I will need to go to the gym. The awesome thing is that, on a military base, the gyms are free. I just have to get over my fear of them. I'm still self conscious but I am hoping to work on that this summer as well.

One of the other cool things that I found when I was looking up the reviews of the book was in the review I read by the personal trainer, he also mentioned his progression to pull-ups for women. I looked into them and really liked what I saw. One thing that I really liked was that his first stage incorporates a TRX for those of us that are really starting from scratch. I am going to be throwing some of those workouts in the mix as well but I will be taking it very slowly so that I do not over do it at all.

On top of all of this, I will be running and hopefully swimming. I will either do an easy short run on weekdays or maybe spend some time in the pool and then run my long runs on Saturdays as usual. I want to really have a nice solid base before my mileage starts going up as I prepare for the Avengers half in November. I want to be sure that I can get the miles in early in case things are really crazy right before the race with the possible move being around then.(Which seriously has me stressing over airfare. It's hard to buy a ticket when you have no idea where you will be flying from.) I want that race to be a really strong race. Lots of people talk about not trying to get a PR at a Disney race but I am really aiming to do just that. I don't stop for pictures and the DL courses are actually really good for having a faster race since the last half is spent on city streets so there is nothing to stop for at all.

I also want to possibly go home and run the Macon Labor Day Road Race again. I still have a bone to pick with that race and I know that it could be a great way to get a good proof of time for a future race. I'm not expecting the 10K at the end of May to be a great race but I will still do my best. I haven't been getting the right training runs in like I had hoped. The following weekend is a half marathon on post that I am considering doing(so I can check Oklahoma off the map) but it will be a slow race I'm sure. We got permission for Mac to pace me on his bike so that he can carry lots of water and some snacks for me since I am sure I will need them on June 7th. They were finally smart about it and moved the start time up to 6:30 so it won't be horrible, but it will still be hot by the time I am done.

I have lots of great plans, but I have had lots of great plans before. I just have to ignore the fear and do it this time. Mac is trying to help me stay on track and I am hoping to leave Oklahoma a new person.

Getting back to it

I just went for my first run in 4 weeks. The last time I ran was the day of the shooting at Fort Hood(April 2) and was my way to process the events of that day. Since then we have moved to another Army post in a different state. Tonight was sort of an exploratory run as I try to find new running routes. The route we used tonight will be good for long runs(even though we just did 3 miles) but I will have to find something closer to home with better lighting for my short week night runs.

It wasn't a great run but it was a way for me to shake out my legs and get ready for some upcoming races. I am hoping to do a 10K at the end of May here on post and possibly another race the weekend after. I know the 10K is completely doable, the second race I am not as convinced. We will see how my body feels and what the weather is like. I am going to be trying to get in some runs that are longer than a 10K during the weekends leading up to the race so that my 10K will hopefully be a little faster. I am hoping to have a good finish time to possibly use for race proof of time down the road. My goal this summer as I train for Avengers in November is to get faster and have a strong finish at that race.

I had made great strides last year but I let the disappointment at Tower of Terror get me down and I didn't continue training like I should have. If I had, my last few races would have been much stronger. I am hoping to be able to have a sub 3 hour half by the end of the year, but we will see how it goes.

I'm ready to refocus on  my training and get back into everything. I am going to start really trying to work on my strength training this summer as well, since my Avengers specific race training doesn't have to start until the end of July and if I am maintaining a decent mileage each week until then, it won't start getting hard until a few weeks later, giving me all summer to work on my strength.

We are only going to be at this post for 6-7 months and I am going to try to use that time to really buckle down and start making some progress with my running and my overall fitness. Mac will have a lot more time since he is in a school and no longer a commander so he will be able to help me work on building upper body and core strength. As long as I can figure out a good week night running route, everything should be set up for a successful summer.