I just came back home after taking a short non-
Disney cruise and I needed to say a few things.
The last few months have been the worst in my life and I wish none of it on anyone. Running DOPEY is the only thing that I have to look forward to now, as my life will be horrible for a very long time - sadly I hope my time is limited. So, I wasn't looking forward to this weekend at all and it was kind of hard to get to the start line because of some personal memories it brought back for me. But I made it to the start of each race and I made every DIS meetup and I'm very glad I did. I really appreciate the people I met for the first time this weekend and some that I've met at earlier races so it was great to see you again. I got to meet up with a few of you before the races:
@The Expert
@Dopey 2020
@surfde22
@Disney at Heart
@HangWithMerida
@Novatrix
@NYC_MW
@camaker
@opusone
@WillRunForPizza
@lookingforsunshine
Everyone one of you were super kind and friendly during the meetups - you were why I made it through.
I truly apologize for anyone I missed, and I know I did - I am HORRIBLE with names and remembering who was there. I also apologize if I'm a downer. Thank you for the hugs, the smiles, the good wishes - you don't know how much that means to me right now. Let me know who else was there so I can remember you for the future.
Thank you
@Dopey 2020 for all of the running info you gave me and sharing your experiences and letting me tag along even though I am mostly annoying - your advice truly helped me for the Marathon. It gave me inspiration to try the Run-Walk method again with some decent results this time so I will try it for my next race.
It was awesome to see
@Bree during the Half marathon - even though she was trying to pass me!
Thank you to
@DopeyBadger for the friendship over the years and the training plans and advice. You are an inspiration and I'm jealous of you. I hope to see you at Princess.
Thank you
@PrincessV for helping me and being so kind. I wish you the best in everything you do.
Thank you
@surfde22, you are an awesome person and I wish you the best. Great job destroying your 4 hour goal!
@opusone, it was awesome to see you again after the Inaugural Darkside weekend back in 2016 - I didn't die this year at least.
Thanks also to
@Blue Caterpillar, I don't know if we met in person, but you are super kind and generous and I hope I can repay the kindness in the future.
I also know I missed a few people from previous years but I appreciate their support in these boards - like
@FFigawi, @
Sleepless Knight, @
cburnett11, @
Baloo in MI, @
cburnett11
RACES
As to the races, this was my 8th DOPEY (including 1 virtual) and I'm really sad I missed the first 2 ones because it would be nice to have guaranteed entries for the future. After my life events early summer I restarted my training to focus on something else - I was running in high heat and humidity of summer in Houston to build up my endurance. I'm at least 25 to 30lbs overweight right now even though I ran on average 200 miles each of the last 5 months - I simply can't lose the weight, but hoping I can do so this year. Considering how chubby I am, I had actually pretty decent times on the runs I did, so I know I can kick butt when I drop the weight.
5K - I didn't plan on racing this race, I just wanted to see if I can hit 25 minutes or 8 min/mile average after having started the summer being so out of shape that I could barely run a mile at 12-13 min/mile pace. I made it in just over 25 minutes - so I was happy.
10K - I wanted to semi-run this race with a target of 55 minutes. I started the race not too fast and kept the constant pace for the entire race because I was afraid of blowing up. I ended up finishing in 52 minutes and I could have run faster. I think 50 would have been achievable because I wasn't overly tired at the end - my best ever was 48 minutes in actual races and about 45 minutes in training. So this race surprised me because I achieved 52 minutes without looking at my watch and being 25lbs too fat. I imagine I can PR if I just lose the weight - this also applies to the marathon.
Half - I walked this thing and I didn't care. Well, actually I ran a little because I wanted to finish it under 3 hours and that was a mistake because I ran the first 3 miles, got myself sweaty and wet and then the temperature got colder and so I was miserable walking the last 10 miles while also being cold. I ended up running one or two of those miles just to be warmer.
Full - My 2022 Marathon time was 6:32 hrs because I gave up running that thing very early, so I wasn't really expecting anything spectacular this time around. My best marathon was just over 4:00 hrs and that was before I had neck surgery 5 years ago. My main goal was to just be under 5 hours since my training the last month showed I could likely reach 4:30 hrs. After talking with
@Dopey 2020, I decided to try to join one of the Run-Walk pacers and in my Corral C was the 4:30 pacer, so I figured let me try it until I can't. On my training runs I could achieve that time, but those were after easy days before hand, and not 22 miles of running like we had with the 5k, 10k and half. Unfortunately, the pacer ran the wrong times - instead of running at 4:30 hrs pace he was running at 4:15 pace. I think he was looking at this split times on the pacer card and trying to match those with the race clock times - but in Corral C we started 10 minutes after that start. But I kept up with him for the fist 19 miles - I started to swear at him (not out loud) at mile 13 because we reached the half at 2:07 hrs - so on pace for 4:l5. This overall time would have been over my PR anyway, so I didn't really care about reaching that time and hence I let them go after mile 19 and just continued on my own for the rest of the race. I ended up finishing in 4:28 - which, considering again how overweight I am, I will happily take. I could have kept up with the pacer probably till mile 22 or so, but personal memories and emotions started to hit me around mile 19 and I kind of just gave up.
Overall I finished this race without any issues - no leg pain, no blisters (I've been using tape on my feet the last few marathons and it helped) and I had no walking issues. I think I'm lucky in that respect because I've only had one marathon where my feet hurt and that was the NY marathon because I spent too much time on my feet.
Oh, and if you've seen my finish line pic from an earlier post, you will see that I am actually the official Marathon Winner - I had confetti cannons go off when I crossed the finish line. I still can't believe the luck/timing of having that happen - the pic proves it even though I hate looking at myself or my own pics. That won't ever happen again - one in a million!
So, Dopey #8 is done - I can't wait till the next one, assuming I make it. I know my life won't be very happy from now on, but I truly hope it continues to be DOPEY.
Thank you all for your support and I am glad that I can look forward to seeing you in the future - I hope I am a better person the next time we meet and not so gloomy.