Twelve Months of Training and Travel

[annmarieda]

Oh no! Scary scary stuff! I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt! Hope your back gets feeling better soon!

It was more scary than anything. My body can take quite a lot and so I am no worse for the wear.

Hope your Disneyland Half Marathon went well!

It did! We had an amazing time. Well, I can't speak for Cynthia... but I know I certainly had a good trip. I think Cynthia did amazing on her race. Me... well, wasn't my best half but wasn't my worst. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed all of it so that is what matters most, right?

Hope all is well. Will there be a race recap soon? I'd love to see some pics! So proud of you gals!

I have had a hard reentry. LOL. I have been working almost non stop since getting back. (last night I did not get home until after 11pm) While in CA my lungs were still giving me grief and I used two inhalers to get me through. I ended up going in to the do because the feeling of an elephant on my chest was getting to be too much. SOOO a course of prednisone and I was almost better. I had a really good run on saturday (despite some horrid chaffing) Off the prednisone and bam... lungs are feeling crummy again. I suspect that maybe it was too low a dose and too short a course. Oh... and there is trip planning. My inlaws made some changes so I spent my day off last friday going over and over our plans to make sure we had all fast passes and dining reservations squared away.

Race recap? I am not sure what the plan is... a total TR? Individual recaps? I know Cynthia posted a great recap of her experience on the disneyland half thread. I do want to do a Tr of some sort... but I know she has her TR(s) the two of you have your joint to get to. I have mine... ugh. Definitely first world problems to have so many reports to do.

As for pictures... well those I suppose would come with a TR. I know some were posted to FB... I believe Cynthia got some good ones of her from marathonfoto. I did not have very many. However I do like this one so I will leave you with that.

 

[sumlee]

Haha! Cute photo! Glad you had a fun trip! I LOVE running at D-land!!!

 

[annmarieda]

Haha! Cute photo! Glad you had a fun trip! I LOVE running at D-land!!!

Thanks! I tried to be silly in that photo. It is kinda hard to "strike a pose" and hold it while running.

I actually went into the race thinking I wouldn't care much for the course. Other than the stretch back from Angel Stadium along the overpasses... I really liked it!

 

[eandesmom]

First world problems for sure lol on so many threads. You have some cute marathon photo ones too, are you going to do a package with all your races? I will likely purchase mine although I've not done so yet.

As for tr's, good question! I was kind of thinking of just doing one in my current ptr, just converting it into a tr but who knows. Nothing for a couple of weeks on my end though including not much running.

 

[ZellyB]

Ann,
Glad the race went well for you and I love that picture! It's adorable!!

 

[annmarieda]

First world problems for sure lol on so many threads. You have some cute marathon photo ones too, are you going to do a package with all your races? I will likely purchase mine although I've not done so yet.

I am going to see what happens here with the ToT. I hope they keep last years. I suspect they do. I mean... I have the phm from 2013 in there. I do plan to get a "best of" package. I just can't see paying for like 90% of the pictures of me.

As for tr's, good question! I was kind of thinking of just doing one in my current ptr, just converting it into a tr but who knows. Nothing for a couple of weeks on my end though including not much running.

yeah, it will be a bit for me too... at least until after I get back from FL. Then again it is just a quick 3 night trip so maybe it wouldn't be too hard. What I am thinking is a race recap here (like I have been doing with all my races) and then a TR for the trip. I am happy to do a joint or separate. Totally up to you.

Ann,
Glad the race went well for you and I love that picture! It's adorable!!

Thank you!

 

[annmarieda]

Ok, so I haven't been good about updating. So lets just make some progress here. I have shoe shopping, training, a race recap and of course some actual trip related news.

First lets talk

SHOE SHOPPING

I mentioned a while back that Steve had ran in some shoes that didn't work for him. At the time I said I would go into better details later figuring that I would very shortly after actually get to those details.

So here they are.

Road runner had a "lightly loved" sale. The is sale of all returned items. Some... you could tell people had really made use of the "90 days love it or leave it" policy. Others were so new it was hard to tell if they had even seen any pavement. These shoes were $48 each with our VIP and Military discount. (wasn't planning on the military, but I will get to that) Anyway, the sale started on a friday (or so I thought) and ran the weekend. (a little over a month ago) We went in that Saturday and Steve immediately found a table with LOTS of shoes in his size to chose from. In fact, all the tables were very full and most sizes had multiple tables. All sizes except of course mine. Mine had a mini shelf. I asked a clerk if there were more. I was told "no, that they had put them out on thursday and many had gone." So I just play around a bit. I found smaller shoe that I wasn't in love with but for the price might be worth try out. A couple other sales people had come up to me to ask if I was looking for something. I told them that I was just waiting for someone to stop lying to me and bring out more of my size shoe.

Meanwhile...Steve was very caught up in all the shoes that might work for him based on what he currently runs in.

Then Zach and Kimberly came in. I didn't recognize them at first because it was so odd running into them, unplanned, about an hour away from where we live. So they too began their search for a new shoe. With them there, we got to "double dip" on the discounts. We with our VIP and them with their military.

Meanwhile I continued to tell people I knew they were lying and anytime they were willing to tell me the truth I would be happy to try on some shoes.

Then I decided to redirect my silliness to Kimberly. They had my exact shoes that I run in... both pairs. SOOOO I thought she should get them so we could be twinsies. We just played back and forth... crazy mil vs. sane dil. It was fun.

Then... THEN someone decided they were done lying to me.

Out from the back room one of the sales people came with my exact shoe size in the exact shoe I wanted and dropped it in my lap. I laughed and said that I thought they were out of all my size. He let me in on the secret... they did have more of my size. They just didn't' have room to put them all out.



I knew they were lying!!!! I think it is hilarious that I must have really been making the employees nervous with all my "I know you are lying about my size" or "any time you want to stop lying" comments. They were not just a few... basically any time I spoke to a store employee.

So Kimberly found a pair. I don't remember what kind cause she wouldn't match me.. so I lost interest.

Zach found a pair. It was a pair of Newtons. Newtons for $48!!!!!

Steve found two pairs. Asic Gel Kayano 20 and Brooks adrenaline GTS 14. The Brooks do not work. It was probably one that had very very few miles (like less than 5) He didn't put many more on...so I figure they can be sold on the runner swap group. (since they can not go back to RR) The asics he has yet to even run in.

Me? Well, I got a pair of addidas energy boost and a pair of merrell all out flash. The merrrels are a minimal shoe so great for really short runs but nothing much more. I actually have ran several times in them. I like them. They are a half size smaller than I normally would go with. They seem to work though. I just wish they had a bit more cushion since I think they are super cute. The boosts are my go to shoe... and I am SOOOO happy to have got a pair for $48! That is like $100 off!!!! The great thing is that I should have these for both the avengers half and donald. Probably not the phm... but with the rotations I am doing maybe...

 

[annmarieda]

Training

This has been a tough summer for me. My allergies hit hard in May and it seems like my pace has never recovered. I have plugged along though trying hard to meet my 1000 mile goal for 2014. Each race I have done since May I have struggled to meet my goals and in many cases have set lower goals than I think I normally would have. (goal for the DLH would have been closer to 2 hours and I really had a goal of less than 2:25)

So after returning from the dlh, I decided to go the medical route. I went in...and we tried a course of prednisone. It seemed to help a bit... but once the course was done I was just as bad. Now we are trying an added dose of omeprozole to see if it is gerd related. I had a chest xray and an ekg..bot looked great. So I am leaning toward thinking it might be gerd and that the extra acid in my stomach is getting aspirated and irritating my lungs.

Where at am I in my goal? Well, I am at 656 miles. Not quite where I would like to be but 66% of the way isn't too bad. Tomorrow I will get another 8 to 10 miles in. I need to hit 700 by the end of September 800 by the end of October... etc. I really felt like I could hit the 700 by the end of this month. However that is 44 miles. With only 7 days left to train I am just sure it will happen. I would have to do this in order to make that happen

• 10 tomorrow
• 2.5 monday
• 6 tuesday
• 7 thursday
• 10 saturday
• 2.5monday
• 6 tuesday

I have totally dropped the "official" plans from RunDisney. Going back to my "regular" seems to be a good fit for me. This means running 4 days a week.

Monday - 2 miles at as fast a pace I can muster
Tuesday - 4 to 5 miles depending on if I am ramping up or tapering down
Thursday - 5 to 7 miles depending on if I am ramping up or tapering down
Saturday - 8 to 13 miles depending on if I am ramping up or tapering down.

So what do I mean by ramping up or tapering down? Well, at this point I have a race almost every month. So I will either be just returning and ramping back up or just about to leave and tapering down in miles.

Since coming back I have managed some better runs. (thankfully due to some cooler weather) They are still not where I would hope or where I have seen. My 2 miles runs that were once close to 8 minute mile paces if not just under - well, I am now managing under 9 but not by a ton. I did manage a 10 mile run at a 9:38 pace. How did I do that? Well, Steve has caught up to me in ability and is now past me. I am struggling to keep up with him. So he pushed me pretty hard to get that 10 miles done with that pace. It actually was a great run but pretty warm still. I ended up chafing pretty bad about midway through the run. I resorted to picking a slug off the trail and using a bit of its slime to help protect my arm. One arm I paid extra attention to and felt great the rest of the run. It also healed pretty quickly. The other... well, wanna see something gross?

This is the underside of my arm on tuesday (3 days after my run)

So I am still feeling a bit down about my pace but I suppose it is always possible that I just am no longer capable of the pace I had last year. I am not THAT far off I guess. I mean mid september last year I was able to do a 6 mile run at a 8:54 pace. Yesterday it was a 9:25. Any run I look at it is about 20 to 30 seconds off.... I guess I shouldn't sweat it. It is still a very respectable pace running anything at a sub 10... running a half with a sub 11 is still pretty good too.

 

[annmarieda]

Well, I did it! It wasn't like I a. thought I wouldn't or b. thought I wouldn't enjoy it... but it was a blast.

We went to the expo for packet pick up and for some shopping on 8/29. Unlike all the other expos I have been to it was a breeze. Very little crowd and little to no lines anywhere we stopped. The only aspect that was the least bit of a pain was the fact things were not exactly well marked as you walked up from Katella ave. So while we knew it was at the DL hotel and we could follow the herd it wasn't clearly marked. Add in the fact that the sales floor/speaker sessions were in one place and the bibs/tickets/special purchases were in another and we did end up needing to take a couple trips to where we picked up our bibs.


The race itself was on 8//31. We got up at 3:30ish to get ready.




We made our walk to the corrals at about 4:20ish.


I LOVED this. I thought I was seriously going to miss the ritual of getting up early (as if 3:30 isn't early...that extra half hour is EARLY) taking the bus at 3:30 and then trudging along with the mass amount of people to the staging area and then out even farther to the corrals. Don't get me wrong, that all does hold a certain appeal to me. However, being able to just completely control when and where we were headed was really cool. (even if we did make a slight misstep and start down the wrong chute towards NOT our corral)

We were able to get some prerace photos take of us after we dropped off our checked bags.

Cynthia and I were each in C, so that took care of any debate of where either of us was starting.




Once we were in our corral, Cynthia went to make one last trip to the porta poties. I ate my belvita biscuit while I waited. Not to be confused by velveta... not a cheese biscuit. Cynthia and I had a good laugh at that one. She had thought I was planning to eat a velveta buscuit.

A quick selfie before we started. Don't we just look way to excited for that early in the morning??? We were!!!!



The race started and I was a bit surprised by two things. One, there were no fireworks. Two, they released a couple corrals at a time together.

The plan for Cynthia and I was to run our own races and meet at the end. I knew she would be faster it would just be a matter of how much faster.

I could see her for the first couple miles. It wasn't too crowded but was still crowded enough.

I loved running through DCA and then into DLR. Running through the castle was pretty cool too, although here I think I really do prefer WDW for the castle run through. What was neat though was that they had a couple of the animals out of the petting zoo to cheer us on. In fact... the spectators in general were the highlight for me. I did not anticipate that. All the various groups and organizations that came to spectate and cheer us on was amazing!! I loved it and for this reason could see doing more of the DL races.

Around mile 6 I saw Cynthia again. Turns out our 5k and 10k times were not too far off. So close by mile 6 that I thought I might catch up to her. And just when I thought I might she got some speed to her! Zoom she was off and that was the last I saw of her.

We then came to the santa anna trail. I had been a tad nervous about it. "dust and gravel" are not my friends. It turned out to be one of the more interesting parts of the course. I actually enjoyed it!

Next was the Angel stadium. OMG! I am so glad we got to run through there. Better than the castle! The crowd in there was amazing. How many people get to say they were on the field of a major stadium and people were cheering? So cool!

After that it was kinda a tough race. The course runs along a freeway. So super boring to see. It also was starting to warm a tad (although really the temp and cloud cover were so in our favor compared to later runners). I ran out of steam and my pace slowed dowwwwwwwwwn. I was sure that I would not come close to my half PR. I let that get into my mind and I allowed myself to give up and so I took some long walk breaks.

Just after mile 12 there was a cm singing let it go. He was horrid... and being very animated as he sang. It was enough of a boost to get me that last mile. I needed away from him and that song.

I crossed the finish and was actually a tad surprised at the clock time. I realized there was no way that I would hit my absolute no later than time.

I made my way through the chute.

Got my medals, my picture taken, my food box, banana, water, power aid...

Picked up my bag from bag check and Cynthia was just outside waiting. She had finished well before me. Her time was amazing...even more so given it was her FIRST HALF!

How did I do? Well, my PR was 2:17:23 My worst half was 2:25:50 scrathin I just made the realization my worst was actually worse...I thought it was 2:22:xx)

This was 2:19:56.

Ya know you always can look back and realize where you could have shaved off some time. The extra walk breaks? Would they have cut 2.5 minutes off my time? It is hard to say. What isn't hard to say though is that I am very happy with this time. Happy and surprised. I actually really thought there was a chance I would come close to 2:30

My stats...
Total Finishers = 15984
Total Female = 10148
Total in My Division = 1338

My ranking =
3468 overall
1456 female
183 in my division

As down as I have been regarding my pace/performance this really turned out to be pretty good.

Cynthia and I got some more pictures taken and hung around for some free flip flops.


I am so very happy that Cynthia invited me along for this! She was the perfect race companion! I can't wait for the phm! Cynthia and I will room again but there will be more of us gals running "together".

 

[Dis_Yoda]

$48 dollar shoes! Thats awesome! I say this as I've spent $270 in shoes this week. My husband just got a pair of the Asic Gel Kayano 21 that were just released. I got a new pair of Brooks adrenaline GTS 14 but they work for me (and I doubt Steve wears a size 8 men's so I can't steal them)

That underarm looks bad! That sucks! I would have never thought to use a slug for slime to help with chaffing while running. I goes you got to do what you got to do.

Sounds like you had a petty good race for the Disneyland Half! Running through that stadium sounds awesome!

 

[sumlee]

Woo-hoo for shoe deals!!! That's awesome!


Holy moly, that underarm looks sore! Chaffing is no fun! I can't tell if you are kidding or serious about the slug slime. It's like I'm horrified and impressed at your resourcefulness at the same time. Lol!

Fun race recap and pics! Looks like a great time! I really hope to run the DLH someday soon! Maybe next year, if I can talk DH into it. Haha!

 

[dizneeat]

Sorry I have been missing (again). We had a bit of "house" trouble, which needed to be tended to.

GREAT race pics! Your arm on the other hand does not look so nice.

 

[annmarieda]

$48 dollar shoes! Thats awesome! I say this as I've spent $270 in shoes this week. My husband just got a pair of the Asic Gel Kayano 21 that were just released. I got a new pair of Brooks adrenaline GTS 14 but they work for me (and I doubt Steve wears a size 8 men's so I can't steal them)

It added up quickly, but the way we looked at it was that we "stocked up". Granted, I probably didn't need another short run shoe. However, given that I got the boosts it is almost like I got $50 off and a free pair of shoes to try. AND the merrells have an interesting support to them that most minimal do not have. They really cup my arch (which tends to completely collapse) Steve on the other hand... yeah, the GTS are a 9.5. I wish they worked for you! He has yet to try the asics... i wonder if he will. So his $98 wasn't as well spent.

That underarm looks bad! That sucks! I would have never thought to use a slug for slime to help with chaffing while running. I goes you got to do what you got to do.

I need to be more prepared. I didn't even think to bring any anti chafing stuff on that run... the slug worked in a pinch

Sounds like you had a petty good race for the Disneyland Half! Running through that stadium sounds awesome!

I really had a good time. I wasn't that far behind my time in January for the WDW half. I would do it again for sure!

Woo-hoo for shoe deals!!! That's awesome!

The shoe deals were great. Especially getting the ones I "needed". I just thought it was funny that I wouldn't have go them had I not persisted regarding the lies being told.

Holy moly, that underarm looks sore! Chaffing is no fun! I can't tell if you are kidding or serious about the slug slime. It's like I'm horrified and impressed at your resourcefulness at the same time. Lol!

Oh... I was serious. I molested the poor thing good before sending it on its way. The left are that was the worst was so sooo much better after the slime. Slug slime is good for stinging nettles after all. It has a numbing agent and and antiseptic or antibiotic quality to it as well. I WISH I had put it on the other arm because a week later and it is still almost bleeding... yuck. Oh and in case you are wondering. Yeah... slugs freak me out and I have never picked one up like that before. Yuck.. but as Melissa said.. ya gotta do what you gotta do.

Fun race recap and pics! Looks like a great time! I really hope to run the DLH someday soon! Maybe next year, if I can talk DH into it. Haha!

Next year is the anniversary for it and also is the DLR 60th! I think it is a must do!! I hope to even if it is just a down and back.

Sorry I have been missing (again). We had a bit of "house" trouble, which needed to be tended to.

GREAT race pics! Your arm on the other hand does not look so nice.

Oh no! I hope all is well. I have been a bad disfriend and not been on many of the threads like I hope to.

As for my arm... it is still pretty bad.

 

[annmarieda]

This week Steve and I celebrated our 25 year anniversary. We began dating in 1987. I can not believe how long we have been together. More of my life I have been his wife than I was not. It is just crazy to think about.

It was pretty uneventful though. I have had to work crazy these last couple weeks and it won't stop until I leave for the next trip. So after a long day of work we didn't even have a big fancy dinner

Steve did surprise me though with a special gift. He got me a pebble watch. I am so happy with it! I got a pink one.

For those who do not know, it is a watch that connects to your phone. So for me this means no more arm band with my phone in it when I run It isn't a gps, but it works with Runkeeper (among other aps) It is amazing to be able to look at my wrist and see my pace and distance.

 

[dizneeat]

Congratulations to you and Steve on your anniversary, Ann!

That is a great watch he got you. I am one of those who hadn't heard of it and am now going to google it, especially if we have something similar here too.

 

[annmarieda]

I was able to settle on a flight for Steve and I. I had hoped to use the travel funds with SW that are set to expire. $150 would have gone a long way toward a flight. However, when I saw a flight on Jet blue come through I decided it just was not worth the risk of waiting for the funds to expire only to have them not extend them for me.

Since the flight with Jetblue was a direct flight down, at the exact time I wanted on friday 11/14 AND was under $100... I was very happy to book this flight.

So we will be flying on Jet blue for the first time and will arrive to LGB at 7:40pm

Zach and Kimberly have booked their flight for 11/15. It is set to arrive SNA sometime around 10pm, I think. (it may even be after 11pm..but I don't want to think about it being that late) I really wish they were getting in earlier but it is what it is. Kimberly is the cheer captain at the collage she attends so she can not miss a game. That saturday (11/15) there is a game. So they had to book a flight for AFTER the game.

 

[dizneeat]

for affordable flights at the perfect time! (had to look up lgb though. )

 

[annmarieda]

Most likely, a change. I now have done something that I never thought I would do. I don't necessarily condone my own behavior. I booked a second hotel reservation without canceling the first. I will almost certainly cancel the one in the next week. I just am having a slight hard time letting go of a good room at a great price that is RIGHT across the street from the main gates.

I kinda fell in love with the Annabella that Cynthia and I stayed at for the DLH. Ok, so "love" is maybe a strong word. It was an amazing hotel though with more of a resort feel..right down to each section has a special name like the areas of each disney resort at WDW do. It has a nice pool, a quiet pool, a restaurant, lounge... AND is very close to the DLH and thus the expo and start of the race. The room also had a great layout. Once Cynthia and I turned in for the night we each had privacy. Now, not all the rooms have that but the room option we had did. The bed was A- Mazing! I would say more comfortable than any bed I have stayed at in any hotel...short of a high end hotel we stayed at in San Francisco. Getting a solid night sleep in it was easy. All of that plus a couple other factors made me think it was important to consider the Annabella for November.

First factor, Steve and I arrive on Friday night. We will not have a park ticket until Sunday. What will we do until then? Well, a hotel with a nice pool could certainly help to pass the time. However a hotel with a lounge or even really nice rooms would help to give us a place to just be without going to the parks.

Second factor, Zach and Kimberly get in very late on Saturday night. I hate to think about it. It may very well be not too long before Steve and I are getting up for our race. (If we are up at 3:30 and they don't get in until midnight) If there is a good amount of space and they don't have to stumble across us to get to a sink to get ready for bed we might be able to stay asleep when they come in.

Third factor, If we are walking back and forth from the expo it might be easier on our legs to stay closer. All of our park time will be after the race when we don't need to save our legs. So it would make more sense to stay closer to the area we need to be at before the race.

So once I returned from CA, I began pricing out what was still available. I checked with GET travel. (the west coast Travel Agency that RD uses) They had some rooms with the Annabella left but they were not the larger room with a king and double. The agent thought thought they might be able to negotiate it for me. So I waited for a few days while the agent attempted it. In the end though she was unable to make it happen. This left me with trying to use the bounceback offer that was left in the room. Yes, it actually was called a bounceback and the special code was in fact "bounceback". Unfortunately (or fortunately), the room that Cynthia and I had stayed in were all full. This left the concierge level room.

So I booked it!

It is the same room as what Cynthia and I had it is just concierge. We will have the option of a patio if it is available when we check in. I am not sure I want it though because as Cynthia and I came back to our room each day we would walk through a patio on our way to the stairs. I am not sure that having people wander through our outside seating area would be all that nice. Aside from the outside sitting patio we also will receive 2 complimentary breakfasts at the hotel restaurant each morning, in room water, robes and slippers.

With the bounceback it did save a bit. It is however more than I had hoped to spend on the room for the 5 nights. It isn't really a comparable room to the one I booked at the Dessert Inn though since that one is two queens. (I could have booked just the two queens at the Anabella but some of the point was to have that added space.) Plus, can't I say that at least now Steve and I won't have to pay for breakfast each morning? That has to bridge that gap in price, right?

 

[dizneeat]

OMG those rooms look AMAZING, Ann! I do NOT blame you one bit that you prefer them over the Desert Inn.

And to stay concierge and the free breakfast.

 

[annmarieda]

Ok, one more update tonight. (and believe me there are still more to come)

In january of this year, we did something we don't normally do. We rented a car. I liked it and found it far easier than I thought it would be. So after we found cheaper fares when we chose to fly into Tampa rather than Orlando I figured I would rent a car.

And so I watched for a good deal. I priced things out using every possible code from mousesavers. And I watched

and watched

and watched


Recently prices started to jump and I really began to worry. I just could not see paying over $500 for our rental.

Then I found a great deal through costco! I was able to book through costco for a full size car at enterprise for the 11 days.

It wasn't the $500 it had just recently been.

It wasn't $400

It wasn't $300

It was JUST $205!!!

Now lets just hope that I can get all our luggage into a full size car for the ride to and from the airport.