Better late than never update from me. I usually fall into life patterns where the rest of life is crazy, but I still manage to fit running in. Probably only because I have a race coming up. After 2020 and 2021 wreaked all sorts of havoc with vacations, I'm taking a lot more time off this year just to feel like I'm not living under constant work pressure.
September 2022: 57.58 miles
October 2022: 77.01 miles
November 2022: 86.26 miles
Week ended December 3, 2022. Spent the week in Disney World so rope drop/close to open to park close every day and that combination of early mornings and late nights meant no runs took place. Since my Disney step count is almost always much higher than exercise days, this has usually not had too much negative impact on my running.
Sunday November 27: 28,925 steps
Monday November 28: 27,096 steps
Tuesday November 29: 20,812 steps
Wednesday November 30: 29,872 steps
Thursday December 1: 23,989 steps
Friday December 2: 22,828 steps
Saturday December 3: 26,611 steps
Disney World thoughts: I need to go back again during the holidays. In 2012 for the Wine & Dine Half, the holidays were not in full force yet. 2020 was pandemic so decorations only. I was there with friends so I didn't get anywhere near as much time in Epcot with the Festival of the Holidays as I would have liked. But there's never truly enough time to do everything you want to there anyways. I did Candlelight, which was amazing as always. I prefer Disneyland because the processional starts at It's a Small World and goes all the way to the end of Main Street so it just feels different. Epcot does offer the Voices of Liberty which is amazing.
I likewise enjoyed
MVMCP. I will say this. If characters are important to you, you need two nights to experience everything the party has to offer. The character lines get long. We got an extra character meet in for my friends' kids because I stayed in the line for Belle while they got in the line for Ariel. So splitting up can help you get more characters in, but the tradeoff is that not everyone in the party is going to be in all the character photos. If rides and shows are all that matter, you should be able to do a lot. If characters are important and you only have one night, then do your research, make a plan, and determine your priorities understanding that you may not be able to do everything. We had a good mix of characters and shows. No time for rides because of our focus on the first two.
Also, this reminds me of one of my rules for more fun with characters. Dress for success. Giving them one more thing to talk about with you can really elevate the experience. I was wearing a Star Wars shirt which led to a very memorable moment in which I discussed lightsabers and my friends in a galaxy far, far away with Prince Phillip and Princess Aurora. I enjoyed describing Star Wars in 14th century terms and their efforts to play along all while remaining completely in character. Combining my favorite two movies ever is always extra nerdy fun for me and to do it with the characters from one of those movies really made it better.
Week ended December 10, 2022. 26.27 miles
Sunday December 4: No run. Waking up at 3:00am for a 7:10am flight out of Orlando is a whole lot less enjoyable than waking up at 3:00am for a runDisney race.
Monday December 5: 6.07 miles in 1:31:49 at Marathon Tempo.
In an effort to work on my mental preparation, I focused on dismissing "negative" thoughts whenever I thought how difficult this particular run might be given that I would be doing after a week at Disney World when I was already tired. I reminded myself that running on tired legs after a week at Disney World is in its own right a preparation for running the Marathon as part of Dopey. I'm pleased with how this run went and felt. It was not a slog that I struggled to get through.
Tuesday December 6: Planned rest.
Wednesday December 7: 3.65 miles in 1:00:46
Thursday December 8: 3.44 treadmill miles in 59:03.
Friday December 9: 6.64 miles in 1:44:23.
Saturday December 10: 6.47 miles in 1:37:17. Ran this one in rain since I decided that I did not want to try running in significant rain for the first time ever in a race if it rains that weekend. I hope I don't have to, but as E says in The Incredibles "Luck favors the prepared."
Currently in progress: final big week of Dopey.