From Pa to Marathon Weekend 2020- turning into a trip/race report 2/2020 (Comments welcome)

1/8/2020- getting there is half the fun
We were up early, and it was cold. Plus, we had the remains of Tuesday's snow to contend with. The roads were in the worst shape of our (mostly snowless) winter, until we got to the highway. That was not without its stress, as the check oil light came on in the car. We pulled into a parking lot, and power cycled the car, which didn't fix it. So I pulled under the gas pump canopy (not yet open) to check the oil. Hard to see at like 0530, even with the station's lights. I told DW to prepare for a return home and stat change to my car, and turned the key to start the car. And the light turned off! We debated returning to base for a moment, and decided to press on. Our thoughts were: the cold and being parked slightly downhill in the morning were the cause.
Epilogue: the light didn't come on again during the trip down or back from the airport. It did come back on a couple weeks later, and did require me to add some oil.

The trip to BWI was uneventful, and we parked in our favorite lot. With our membership in their frequent parker club (really like once a year) we get their lowest rate, plus I redeemed some points for a day of free parking! SWA check-in was pretty smooth, until your humble scribe threw the baggage ticket receipt into the trash. We couldn't remember which one it was, but the nice agent was able to easily reprint a copy for us to have. I was tracking where our plane was coming from, and good news- it arrived early! Unlike 2018 Dark Side's flight to MCO, we had no technical issues, though I was ready for another round of SWA stuck on the ground trivia just in case. I got a nice photo of our plane's shadow on the snow below as we took off. I'll have to get the photos from my phone to pc and then here.

By 12:30, we landed in sunny Orlando. Large crowd in line for DME check-in, many wearing their best "shirt game" entry. We chose left, when most chose right, and it paid off when an iPad-armed CM started coming down the line asking if everyone had their Magic Bands ready. When I said yes, he held out his iPad, scanned mine, and told us to enter line 5 (I think). There were 15-20 ahead of us at the head of the line, so I started incessantly checking to see if our Boardwalk room was ready. Nope. Then I noticed our route was YC, BC, and BWI. In recent years, we've usually had a value, moderate, and deluxe. We're usually the last stop, no matter what the resort permutation has been.

We were boarded by 1:30pm, and departing by 1:40. At 1:46 (I just checked the text time stamp) I got news our room was ready! This meant we could drop our stuff, eat, and get to the expo bus as per our "master plan". Next thing we knew, we were seeing the Disney Skyliner for the first time. For me, the "Skyliner" will always be a ride at the former Roseland Amusement Park in Canandaigua New York. What's this??? We're the first stop! For this trip, we booked a club level room at the Boardwalk. Not knowing how to get there, I went to Guest Services in the lobby. A very nice gentleman scanned my MB and said he would assist us in getting upstairs to get checked in.

Our room was on outside the club level door, but it was very quiet. I know there were runners around us, as I saw them coming and going for the races all weekend. We grabbed a quick snack in the lounge, and headed to the expo bus stop, where we walked on a bus and were almost immediately on our way...
 
1/8/20 The Expo
This was our 4th rD event, and 2nd where they've used the new building for the main rD merchandise area. I can't imagine how crowded it must have been in the past. We went straight to the rD area, and it felt like we had to walk around half the building before they let us onto the main floor area. We could see the temporary queue area that was used earlier in the day, but we were able to just keep walking.
Error on our part! We thought we had to get something like a ticket or voucher at bib pickup to claim our pre-order merchandise. That was not the case. Keep this in mind for the future, dear reader. While there was a line for pre-orders when we arrived, it was a fraction of what it must've been earlier in the day, judging from the tape queue on the floor. We split up at rD, and shopped, meeting up a little while later to see what each had found and give feedback/check sizing. Neither of us got much stuff. I just looked at the Wineglass Marathon store online. If rD had stuff like that, I'd be picking up a lot of extra shifts at work. But it was all in-house branded stuff at name brand prices, except for a Nike hat that I saw everywhere. I got an "I did it" magnet for the half to celebrate DW, the full and Goofy I Did It! shirts, and a couple of long sleeve hoodie marathon shirts. Had it not been my first marathon, I might not have purchased that much, even. We came in around 50% of what we spent at rD in 2016 at W&D, and also below 2018 DS. DW bought a long-sleeve top, but ended up returning it, because the neckline was not to her liking.

Next, we headed over to the bib pickup area, waivers in hand. We got our bibs, I got a nice surprise with the Goofy luggage tag, and we got all our Castaway Cay Challenge stuff (shirt, bib, bag). Next it was off to get the shirts. We headed straight to shirt pickup, and heeding the advice of the DIS collective, we made sure to try them all on immediately. My men's large shirts looked like I was 10 and trying on one of my Dad's shirts, as far as the sleeves were concerned. No taper at the cuff, and quite long. I've not experienced the scratchiness some have reported, but I agree they're not as soft as the Champion ones. Nor are they as breathable. I was pretty bummed about them, as I wanted my first marathon race shirt to be practically perfect in every way. @lhermiston and I talked about the shirts at the HH meet on Friday. He was right: once I started completing the races, I began to like the shirts a lot more, because of the memories they brought to mind. I've found that wearing a short sleeve shirt under one on a cool day can be a pretty good outfit for a run.

DW and I were welcomed at the Cigna tent with open arms. They explained how to get our Team Cigna shirts, and were all very friendly and upbeat. We didn't do too much shopping at any other vendors that day because we had tentative plans to return on Friday. Another stop (and line) in the first building again, and we had our pins, magnets, and magic bands. I love the design. Unfortunately, we were plagued by MG issues with the BWI doors, so DW didn't wear hers. I wore mine a bit, but for the races, I used one I'd worn during some training runs to break in and check for issues (like pinching, etc.).

As we were leaving, it was a little after 5:30. And it was then I said to DW, "I know why people like Florida. The sun is still up, and it is still in the low 70s". We dropped our purchases in our room, and headed to the lounge for a light dinner. There was a chef named Reggie there, and he was preparing small plates of steak salad, as well as fresh macaroni and cheese. The steak salad was really tasty, and I went back for a second plate.

General rule: you can't replace meals with the club level food offerings. In the YMMV category: we did just that several times at BWI. Maybe it was because we had Reggie there making and plating fresh offerings. Maybe it was because we were quite content to have a smaller meal now and then. But it can be done under the right circumstances.
 
"Race" report: YCDS Greyhound 5K April 4, 2020

Christine here.
After my successes with my 10 mile race last August and the WDW Half in January I decided my next goal would be a 5k PR. I set my PR in May 2011 with a time of 33:48. We searched for the perfect Spring 5k and found it. We've done this race the past 2 years except it has been the first Saturday in May. This year they moved it to April 4th. With only 8 weeks to train I decided to go for it and got a @DopeyBadger training plan. When everything changed in March the race was postponed to June 6th. I decided to continue the plan and we decided we would run a 5k on the original date. I did all of the training runs except I changed one of the Sunday speed workouts at the last minute so I could do on the rail trail instead of a local church parking lot. After consulting with DB last Sunday's speed workout was altered so I could do it on the rail trail also. The official race course is about half residential streets with some elevation changes and the other half on the rail trail. . We did the entire run on the rail trail. My goal time per the plan was 32:32. I usually do run/walk and the plan was to do continuous running. This was very challenging cardiovascularly and I'm glad DH was pacing me. I did end up taking 3 walk/jog breaks of 30 seconds each. My finish time was 34:02 and I am very happy with it. It is my second fastest 5k. My third fastest was November 2010 at 34:15. Last year I ran 37:51. After dealing with knee issues for the past few years I never imagined I'd run this pace again. Instead of focusing on "what ifs" I'm treating this as a learning experience in terms of what is involved in training for a 5k PR.
 


I should post this here also: we adopted another greyhound this past Monday: Austin. He rode perfectly in the car the whole way home. He's very mellow, and is bonding with us. Walking daily, learning his commands, and playing with the toys we've handed him. He sure likes his squeaky toys! New and unknown sounds, not so much.

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He looks like such a sweetie. I am sure it’s a little tough but he will get settled. As for loud noises though, that might be hard. Yeti could not get past the garbage truck or loud motorcycles. He hated them.

have fun!
 
DH here. It looks like "something" stopped my TR in its tracks back in March...

It has been a year now. I find myself thinking back to what was happening "on this date in history" a lot this week. One year ago right now, the HH meet was breaking up. I remember walking towards Epcot with a group from the event, and then we all parted company, with us heading to ESPN Club for pre-half dinner. I'll see what I can do about trying to start up the TR again.
 



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