Marathon Weekend 2024

[marty3d]

Back to goals...
I found my 2009 Half plaque (why a plaque? Because, at the time, I didn't imagine there would be more). My time for that half was 2:36:48, which did include some photo stops.

2009 was my first half!

 

[pluto377]

2009 was my first half!

2009 was my first Disney marathon!

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

2009 was my first Disney marathon!

I honestly never imagined using the words "My first...." for either race distance.
And now I have a running addiction. FWIW, some warmish and sunny weather and I managed 4 miles this afternoon in between calls.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Sunday school Christmas party is tonight.
Is it too early to start carb loading for MW?
Asking for a friend...

 

[PrincessV]

With "World Celebration Gardens" officially open today in Epcot, I think it means that most of the construction blocking the paths there is done (CommuniCore Hall isn't done I know). I know we all speculated on this not long ago, but now that I see it open, I am really hoping we get a better path through Epcot for MW and excited to see the maps in a few weeks!

I was just there the past few days. Yes, walls on the Connections side of the World Celebration gardens are down, but that path is still the most direct route out of the park for a race. I’d be surprised if they route us through the gardens: it’s too much twisting and turning with some narrow spots and way too much space where runners might go off course to snap pics and such - they’d need a lot of staffing to keep people on track. And we know they don’t have enough staffing as it is. In theory, we could go under SSE - I’m just not sure they’ll want us to.

 

[PrincessV]

SAFD: no goals! And at the risk of sounding negative, I genuinely do not care if I race at all. I think I’ve just had my fill of races, but honestly not in a bad way. I just spent 4 days at WDW with NO running or racing and it was wonderful To sleep at a normal time, wake up late, relax, and not constantly be aware of what I’m eating and protecting my body. If I could cancel and get a refund on race registrations, I would - but since I can’t, I’ll show up, focus on enjoying some time with dear friends, and if I run, I run; if I decide to skip the run part, that’ll be fine, too.

 

[Let's Get Kronk]

Sunday school Christmas party is tonight.
Is it too early to start carb loading for MW?
Asking for a friend...

I give myself free reign to eat whatever I want between Thanksgiving and New Year's every year, something I started about 5 years ago and it really makes me eat better the rest of the year knowing I get a cheat period. I say go for it!

 

[jrsharp21]

Looking at the monthly forecast on Accuweather, and as expected, the forecast has changed since last time I checked:

1/4 - High: 73 Low: 58
1/5 - High: 73 Low: 58
1/6 - High: 74 Low: 57 (a little rain in the morning, afternoon showers, 12% chance of thunderstorms, 99% cloud cover)
1/7 - High: 67 Low: 54 (periods of rain, 99% cloud cover)

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I give myself free reign to eat whatever I want between Thanksgiving and New Year's every year, something I started about 5 years ago and it really makes me eat better the rest of the year knowing I get a cheat period. I say go for it!

I managed to get to 199 lbs right after the MCM, and now it has gone a few lbs north of that since Thanksgiving, probably due to making some monkey bread for the kids.
I fought hard to get below 200 lbs and want to get back to that before MW, so while I hear you on the cheat period, I think (sighing heavily) that I need to get back on the wagon, especially in chasing a PR from a 14-year younger me.
Dang. Just dang.

 

[Naomeri]

I managed to get to 199 lbs right after the MCM, and now it has gone a few lbs north of that since Thanksgiving, probably due to making some monkey bread for the kids.
I fought hard to get below 200 lbs and want to get back to that before MW, so while I hear you on the cheat period, I think (sighing heavily) that I need to get back on the wagon, especially in chasing a PR from a 14-year younger me.
Dang. Just dang.

Monkey bread is always dangerous

 

[jrsharp21]

Monkey bread is always dangerous

Yes, it is! LOL. I think I am in that same boat with being good until Thanksgiving and then falling off the wagon with monkey bread. And you just can't let it go to waste.

 

[RuntheMouse]

Looking at the monthly forecast on Accuweather, and as expected, the forecast has changed since last time I checked:

1/4 - High: 73 Low: 58
1/5 - High: 73 Low: 58
1/6 - High: 74 Low: 57 (a little rain in the morning, afternoon showers, 12% chance of thunderstorms, 99% cloud cover)
1/7 - High: 67 Low: 54 (periods of rain, 99% cloud cover)

This is also listed as the warmest of the first 12 days of the month.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Reminder email about the expo VQ went out. According to their blog post about it, it opens at 8:30 on Wednesday morning.

 

[accm]

Looking at the monthly forecast on Accuweather, and as expected, the forecast has changed since last time I checked:

1/4 - High: 73 Low: 58
1/5 - High: 73 Low: 58
1/6 - High: 74 Low: 57 (a little rain in the morning, afternoon showers, 12% chance of thunderstorms, 99% cloud cover)
1/7 - High: 67 Low: 54 (periods of rain, 99% cloud cover)

I think it'd be interesting to see between now and race day how the forecast changes. I might just make a spreadsheet to track it...

 

[RunWI1265]

I just spent 4 days at WDW with NO running or racing and it was wonderful To sleep at a normal time, wake up late, relax, and not constantly be aware of what I’m eating and protecting my body.

I just got back from a quick trip but I was keeping up with my running. When I got home I told my husband I can’t wait to go on vacation and not have to worry about running every morning. I don’t like the guilt I feel for missing a run but also don’t love having the added obligation on what is supposed to be vacation.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

I think it'd be interesting to see between now and race day how the forecast changes. I might just make a spreadsheet to track it...

Everything is better tracked on a spreadsheet.

 

[softballpooh]

If anyone is going early to the Expo using CrD or using the VQ on Wednesday I’d be forever grateful if you could pick me up a race weekend shoe ornament. It’s the only thing I purchase from the race weekends and I’m typically able to get in on the first day. However, this time we don’t fly in until Friday morning so I know by the time I get to the expo they’ll be long sold out. I’ll Venmo or PayPal you the money in advance!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I told my wife I am going Aaron Rogers on this and going to be back running full speed in three weeks.

At least you will not have to rely on the Jets offensive line to keep you injury free!

Sounds like we're going to need to rebrand the Goof Troop Roving Road Party to be the Goof Troop Walking Wounded Survival March.

A successful survival march is nevertheless a success. And this one will be a party anyways.

Shoe Question: Do you run back to back races like Goofy in the same style/make of shoe, or go with completely different brands for each race or maybe a different style of the same brand? I know not to use the same exact pair two days in a row, but I’ve been having issues finding a good fit with one of my go to shoes, New Balance, and am debating getting another pair of Brooks in the same style that I already have or try a new style altogether. Being so close to MW is making me nervous about trying a brand new style.

Since I started multi race weekends, I've done both. Personally, I like to have multiple pairs of shoes in case rain or something causes one pair to go wrong. I've been in both Disneyland and Disney World when a pair of sneakers has gone out on me unexpectedly, so a backup is a good idea for races. I've also heard that alternating shoes can be helpful for your feet.

Make sure to have fun and don’t forget to wear your medal in the park.

Of all your great advice here, this one carries so much more weight. I got into this craziness in the first place precisely because of runners wearing their medals around Disneyland. After seeing it for two consecutive years, I finally decided to ask some runners about it. They were not only welcoming and encouraging, but took the time to explain to me just what 16 minutes per mile actually means and that I could do it.

SAFD:

Goal was to finish Dopey total time in under 7:30. However, having an internal argument that I shouldn’t worry about time and should stay with my kids running all the races. Thinking I have to stay with them for memories and put the time aside. So maybe a new goal of just enjoy my family

Obviously, the decision is yours to make. But time flies quickly. My nieces and nephews are quickly approaching the point where Disney is still fun, but Mickey has a friend who helps bring him to life. I'm grateful that I was invited along to be there for some of the trips when the whole thing was real. (Galaxy's Edge is still real).

The full: stop for any photo op that catches my interest, go on a ride or two, and finish. The problem with some of the character stops is that I just don't know the characters of the more recent animated movies, so that plus not-worth-it long lines has led to a number of stops where I just run past.

My character rule has always been stop if I like the character and/or the movie. Even then the line has to be short enough that I feel like it will not cost me too much time. When I know the character list ahead of time, I will even skip some characters I might otherwise stop for because I want to "save" that time for a more important character. Such as 2020 when I chose to save my time for Belle in Epcot and wound up getting to see both Belle and Aurora. Which brings me to SAFDs I've missed.

Favorite Disney movie: This one actually isn't hard for me. Sleeping Beauty. I love the artistic design of the film, the dragon fight sequence is incredible, and the whole thing is just beautiful.

SAFD Goals: I don't remember what I posted in May, and it would have to change anyways. After spending a week in the hospital in early October and then another 3 weeks recovering, I missed a month of running. Billy helped me adjust the training plan and has also been there to talk some sense into me when I proposed ideas that were high risk, low reward to try and make myself feel better about missing a month of training.

So my goals are modified a little bit.

1. As always finish Dopey is goal number one. However, I am working on accepting and making peace with the possibility that missing a month of training has altered my fitness and could mean that I cannot finish the marathon despite my best efforts.

Nevertheless, I will be grateful to toe the line marathon morning and remember that just 3 months earlier I was in the hospital and could barely walk around the hospital wing with the assistance of a walker. I hope that the diligence in training before and after the illness will be enough to get me across the finish line of the marathon.

2. Even if I am unable to finish the marathon, I feel confident that I will finish the half and therefore be set up for the Coast to Coast one week later. Which is something to truly feel great about regardless of what happens during the marathon.

3. Remind myself in the lead up to the marathon that I have done it before and I have prepared as best I can this year. Therefore, I can absolutely rely on past experience to help me not go too hard at the beginning and rely on lessons learned during post hospital stay training to keep me going until the end.

4. Hopefully be able to take some photos during the races. I accept that my current fitness is slower than previous years so I have less cushion. But medal photos after I finish might be even better because I finished given this year's new challenges.

5. Stay healthy for Disneyland the next weekend. I can rest after 71 miles are completed.

 

[RuntheMouse]

Any Costco members out there looking for Disney gift cards for MW? $250 cards for $224.99 now. Also if you have a Chase freedom card, wholesale clubs are the 5% category this quarter!

https://www.costco.com/disney-gift-card-egift---$250.product.4000236470.html

 

[flav]

Canceled