Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

[Sleepless Knight]

Next question is whether I pause my MCU watching until January 8th or watch Avengers: Infinity War without having seen Homecoming.

I think you can watch Infinity War without having seen Homecoming. I don't remember any specific things in Homecoming that impact Infinity War.

 

[SarahDisney]

Updated Disneyland To-Do List:

• Figure out Outfits - In Progress
  • Captain America - one of the DCA days
• Figure out must-do attractions - In Progress
• Airport transportation
• Grocery Shopping
• COVID testing plan
• On-Call Coverage (I'm supposed to be on call at work that week - I may have a solution, if not I have a few other options)
• Packing list

There is still lots of work to be done and the trip is in 2 weeks. Oh boy.

 

[SarahDisney]

Updated Updated Disneyland To-Do List:

• Figure out Outfits - In Progress
  • Captain America - one of the DCA days
• Figure out must-do attractions - In Progress
• Airport transportation
• Grocery Shopping
• COVID testing plan
• On-Call Coverage (got that taken care of! I'm on call this week instead and my coworker who was supposed to be on call this week but is under the weather a bit will cover my shift.)
• Packing list
• Carryon situation ... because apparently my carryon suitcase (which I took to florida 2 years ago) might be too big for American. Friggin airlines.

There is still lots of work to be done and the trip is in 2 weeks. Oh boy.

 

[SarahDisney]

Return to Running: 12/27/2021 - 1/2/2022​

Short Version:
1 runs, 2 in-person barre3 class, 1 online barre3 stretch, 2 walks

Long Version:
Monday:
3.11 mile run. I think this was fine.

Tuesday:
barre3 In-Studio with Nida. Nida counts differently than I do (seriously I was always off count) but it was still a good class and I felt really good coming out of it. And my back, which always acts up during barre class, was fine. So yeah, good class.

Wednesday:
Rest Day! Got my booster Tuesday night and it hit me harder than the vaccine, so I took a complete rest day.

Thursday:
53 minute walk. Woke up planning to go for a walk but google said it was raining. Tried to do an online barre3 class but my arm was still bothering me, so I made hot cocoa and went out hoping the rain had stopped. It was gloomy but mostly not raining so all good.

Friday:
15 minute online barre3 stretch.

Saturday:
Rest Day

Sunday:
Walk to barre3 + barre3 In-Studio with Vicky. Was originally planning to run down but then I didn't want to so I walked instead.

 

[SarahDisney]

Forgot to include an MCU update in my last post. I think I'm going to hold off on more movies for a few days and I'll watch Spiderman: Homecoming and Avengers: Infinity War next week. Maybe if I have time I'll do the second Spiderman movie too. I think that should put me in a decent place and I'll pick back up after the trip.

Speaking of the trip ... it's coming up fast and I'm nowhere near ready. Beth and I have plans to talk tomorrow night and hopefully after that I'll be in a good place to start writing up a packing list and getting organized.

I'm also trying to not freak myself out with COVID stuff ... I've been on the cautious end throughout this pandemic (because better safe then sorry is a good policy for all diseases) and air travel is not the safest activity. Plus, we've had 3 positive tests on my team over the last week (we're all remote, so no close contact issues), so that's a little bit worrying me. But I know I can minimize my risk by masking and hand sanitizing (which I've been really good about), and I know that overall this trip will be really good for me, so I'm trying to not freak myself out too much. It's tough.
(Cue all the comments about "you're vaccinated, you'll be fine" because personal comfort level and personal decisions mean nothing to people)

 

[SarahDisney]

Updated Updated Updated Disneyland To-Do List:

• Figure out Outfits - Mostly done but subject to change based on Beth things
  • Captain America, Han Solo, Toy Story Aliens, Dopey
• Figure out must-do attractions - Mostly done, will do more planning when we're together
• Airport transportation
• Grocery Shopping - Planned
  • Beth will be doing some grocery shopping on Sunday (and may also buy some things on her regular Thursday night shopping trip tonight)
  • I may go to TJs before we leave for breakfast and extra snacks (I forgot to ask Beth if she wanted scandanavian swimmers). May go to Krispy Kreme for donuts. We will see.
• COVID testing plan - Figured it out! I ordered rapid tests and will need to try to make a PCR appointment at the place I like a few days after the trip (if I can't get an appointment there I'll go to urgent care)
• On-Call Coverage
• Packing list
• Carryon situation - Just gonna take the suitcase I have, and if I have to gate check, I have to gate check. It is what it is.

Also ... I had a 1:1 with my skip-level yesterday (for those of you who don't speak startup, that's a one-on-one meeting with my manager's manager) and we talked MCU. He was not a fan of the second Thor movie (which I did not watch) and did not think it was relevant to later movies.

 

[Naomeri]

Also ... I had a 1:1 with my skip-level yesterday (for those of you who don't speak startup, that's a one-on-one meeting with my manager's manager) and we talked MCU. He was not a fan of the second Thor movie (which I did not watch) and did not think it was relevant to later movies.

It is true that it’s not a great movie, and while it doesn’t tie into much of the wider MCU, it is relevant to Thor: Ragnarok, and to the Loki series (if you’re planning to watch that). And since Natalie Portman will be returning in the 4th Thor movie, it might tie into that as well.

 

[SarahDisney]

It is true that it’s not a great movie, and while it doesn’t tie into much of the wider MCU, it is relevant to Thor: Ragnarok, and to the Loki series (if you’re planning to watch that). And since Natalie Portman will be returning in the 4th Thor movie, it might tie into that as well.

Thanks for the info! I watched Thor: Ragnarok and got through it, but maybe I would have liked it more had I watched the second one? And I'm not sold on the idea of Loki yet, but maybe if I watch it I'll catch up on the films first.
Although Natalie Portman being in it kinda makes me want to watch it less ... I'm not the biggest fan of hers. Something to think about.

 

[SarahDisney]

Alright. Quick update now, and hopefully the week update + Spiderman: Homecoming thoughts (I'm watching it in about an hour and am very afraid that I overhyped it in my head and will be let down) will come at some point tomorrow.

I've started on my Disneyland packing list. So far its just underwear and socks. But I have three packing lists - for my first night in Philly (which will basically just be stuff I want on the plane), for the trip itself, and for the post-trip weekend in Philly. Packing lists are stressful.
EDIT: Also, I started packing. I have 20+ surgical masks in a plastic bag ready to be packed. File that under "stuff I didn't have to pack last trip"

I ordered super cute ears from Etsy for the trip and I don't think they're gonna come on time. It's partially on me for not confirming with the seller that they will be delivered on time before purchasing, but also it said on the page that it would be delivered with a week to spare and there was no message about holiday delays so it's a little bit on the seller for not keeping their page updated with actual expected shipping times. I reached out and the seller created a shipping label and sent over that info, but that was Wednesday and the tracking still says that the package hasn't been dropped off yet. So I don't have high hopes. I have to decide if I want to attempt a trip to the Disney Store to buy ears so that I have for day 1 or just wait and buy a pair at Disneyland.

In exercise news ... I'm contemplating cancelling tomorrow's barre class. I've been having some issues with my foot and ankle today and I'm not sure I want to risk walking 4.5ish miles + class. I gotta think about what I want to do. I think they're back to a 4-hour cancellation window so I can wait until before bed to decide.

Also ... marathon weekend makes me miss runDisney like crazy. I'm kinda feeling like I regret not doing Dopey in 2019, but I also know it wasn't possible. It's rough. I know I'm officially retired from marathons but if they changed Dopey to be T/F and Su/M with a day off on Saturday, I might do it. But for as long as Disney has a Saturday race as part of all of their challenges, it will always just be something I wish I could do. I'm okay with it and I will never regret putting religion first, but I do hate missing out on things sometimes.

 

[SarahDisney]

Return to Running: 1/3/2022 - 1/9/2022​

Short Version:
2 runs, 1 livestream barre3 class, 2 walks

Long Version:
Monday:
2.50 mile run. I don't remember why this was so short. I had notes but lost them when my computer restarted.

Tuesday:
barre3 Livestream with Ashley E. I think I did livestream because it was too cold to outside.

Wednesday:
33 minute walk. I was scheduled to run in the morning but slept in instead. More on that below, but I think this will be normal from now on.

Thursday:
4.51 mile run. This was a good one. Probably could have gone longer.

Friday:
Rest Day

Saturday:
Rest Day

Sunday:
40-minute walk. I was originally schedule for barre3 but cancelled because I wanted to make chocolate chip pancakes and the timing wouldn't have worked if I had gone to class. Meanwhile, I got home from my walk + grocery shopping at 9:45am, aka 20 minutes before I would have gotten home from barre3. But I think the sleeping in was a good idea. It's gonna be a long few weeks and I need to take the sleep when I can get it.

Week Thoughts:

• Realized that I need a day to sleep in. I'm figuring how best to make it work around meeting schedules, but I think it's gonna be sleep in Wednesday and walk at some point during the day.
• This felt like a low exercise week and I was fine with that. I like exercise but I also like being lazy and some weeks its just not gonna balance and that's okay.

Spiderman: Homecoming Thoughts:
Took me a bit longer than I expected to get into it, but overall, I liked it. I like Spiderman because he’s usually portrayed as a kid just trying to figure out the world but also do good. I definitely did get that sense from this movie. I still don’t like Iron Man. But I did like this movie a lot and I think it lived up to my expectations, mostly. I was very worried that I would be let down because of the wait and the fact that I like Spiderman but it was good.

A few New Yorker things I wanted to call out:

• Peter’s school is actually filmed in Brooklyn, not Queens. I had to google that because that subway stop right outside the school area didn’t look familiar to me.
• The whole thing with the Staten Island Ferry was very unrealistic because CARS AREN’T ALLOWED ON THE STATEN ISLAND FERRY ANYMORE. And this isn’t a new thing, it’s a post-9/11 thing. That kinda killed that part of the movie for me because it’s such a glaring mistake. I feel like this could have been done better without the Staten Island Ferry.

 

[SarahDisney]

I've been very into the nostalgia lately which is extremely bad for me but I'm having trouble breaking the cycle and ... sigh. So my mood has been less than great because of that. I know I need to break out of the cycle but it's hard.

 

[SarahDisney]

Updated Updated Updated Updated Disneyland To-Do List:

• Figure out Outfits- Mostly done but subject to change
  • Captain America, Han Solo, Toy Story Aliens, Dopey
  • I ordered a shirt for my Cap bound that Walmart says arrived but the doorman didn't have and it wasn't in my mailbox. So we'll see what happens with that. Doing some shopping tonight to see if I can get something to take my Han Solo to the next level (if not its gonna be a white shirt with a black tank since I don't have a vest) and pick up one or two other things so we'll see if I can find a Cap thing on this shopping trip. Although, spoiler alert, I wasn't thrilled with Cap in Infinity Wars because what was with that dumb beard.
• Figure out must-do attractions - Mostly done
• Airport transportation - I checked Uber prices on Monday and they were acceptable (well, Uber was a bit high, Lyft was acceptable). I'm not convinced that's the best answer but its cheaper than a shuttle so we'll try it.
• Grocery Shopping - Partially Done
  • Beth has done some grocery shopping and we'll get anything else we need on Sunday
• COVID testing plan - Rapid tests have arrived, will figure out PCR appointment next week
• On-Call Coverage
• Packing list - In Progress
• Carryon situation -

Also, I watched Infinity War last night. Thoughts will come in the weekly update.

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm extremely stressed right now (partly Disneyland-related, partly because I'm torturing myself by reading things that I know will make me feel bad), so I will share my Infinity War thoughts now to see if that makes me feel better.

Avengers: Infinity War thoughts:
I honestly found myself not caring about the Thanos parts of the movie at all. Which is kind of the point of the movie. I did not get into the movie at all and I don’t think I could even tell you what it’s about. Thanos is Gamora’s father and went after the infinity stones, then he killed Vision (and WandaVision makes so much more sense now) and half the characters disintegrated, including Robin Sparkles. Does that about cover it?

There were some fun moments in the movie. My highlights:

• Bruce Banner trying to Hulk and it didn’t work. Also, Tony Stark’s response to that at the beginning. And also every Tony Stark calls Spiderman “kid”.
• When the Guardians of the Galaxy met Iron Man/Spiderman/Dr. Strange. I actually rewound that scene and watched it twice because I loved it.

The main lowlight:
What was up with Cap’s beard? It was terrible. It made it hard to watch his scenes. That beard better be gone by the next movie he’s in.

Next up is either Captain Marvel or the next Spiderman Movie. I was considering AntMan and the Wasp, but I’m pretty sure I saw that already and I’m not ready for rewatches yet.

 

[FFigawi]

Watch the second Spider-Man movie. It’s good and leads well into the third one playing in theaters right now.

 

[SarahDisney]

Watch the second Spider-Man movie. It’s good and leads well into the third one playing in theaters right now.

I'm planning to watch it at some point! The question is just whether I watch Captain Marvel first. No time to watch either one before the trip, though, so I have a week to make the decision.

 

[SarahDisney]

Return to Running: 1/10/2022 - 1/16/2022​

Short Version:
2 runs, 2 livestream barre3 classes, 0 walks

Long Version:
Monday:
barre3 Livestream with Bond. Class was ok, but I kinda started to miss being in the studio (its been about 2 weeks now between schedule and weather stuff) . I looked into whether I could make it work later in the week, but I would want to walk one way to minimize subway time and it was just too cold for that this week.

Tuesday:
2.92 mile Treadmill Run. Felt like single digits out there so boy am I glad I moved into a building with a fitness center. The fitness center was warmer than my apartment + really bad static electricity in the room meant my earbuds shocked me every time they touched the treadmill and I got shocked when I touched the treadmill. So not the best run but better than being outside in that weather.

Wednesday:
Rest day. Plan was to try out this new waking up later on Wednesdays thing. Original plan was to go for a walk after I woke up, but it was cold so I took my sweet time getting my *** out of bed instead. Went to run an errand later in the day which was probably about a mile walk there and back but I didn't track it.

Thursday:
2.62 mile run. My 3rd marathoniversary. I’ve been going back and “getting context” by reading through some of the interactions I had in the leadup to that race and while that was a terrible idea and it was pretty bad for my mental health, it also shows me how far I’ve come in the last few years. But I still have a long way to go and I need to put in the work to make myself better. (this is not running related at all, btw, although I do think I’m in a better running place now too)

Friday:
Rest Day

Saturday:
Rest Day

Sunday:
barre3 Livestream with Vicky. With the trip coming up later today, we're in the "no unnecessary exposure" zone so livestream it was. Good class overall, but nothing really stood out as special

Week Thoughts:

• I wish I had gotten in a walk or two, but other than that, this was a pretty good week! I need to work on getting the distance back up but I'm waiting until after the trip to deal with that.

Next week will be a full rest week but with lots and lots of steps. I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!! It's been 9+ years and honestly I can't believe its actually finally happening.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I'm also trying to not freak myself out with COVID stuff ... I've been on the cautious end throughout this pandemic (because better safe then sorry is a good policy for all diseases) and air travel is not the safest activity. Plus, we've had 3 positive tests on my team over the last week (we're all remote, so no close contact issues), so that's a little bit worrying me. But I know I can minimize my risk by masking and hand sanitizing (which I've been really good about), and I know that overall this trip will be really good for me, so I'm trying to not freak myself out too much. It's tough.
(Cue all the comments about "you're vaccinated, you'll be fine" because personal comfort level and personal decisions mean nothing to people)

If it helps at all, I chose to double mask on all of my flights to and from Disney World in both November 2020 and just last week. As you said personal preference and risk tolerance plays a part. I masked up whenever I felt like I should at Disney World. While I was often unmasked outdoors, if I was in close crowds I would more often than not mask up. I understand your concerns. Hopefully you don't come home with an unwanted souvenir.

I'm extremely stressed right now (partly Disneyland-related, partly because I'm torturing myself by reading things that I know will make me feel bad), so I will share my Infinity War thoughts now to see if that makes me feel better.

I felt the same way leading up to Disney World. A lot of stress and I was not in my best mental place when that trip started. It did start to get better once I was in the parks (or really Galaxy's Edge because that's home), but it was not my normal excitement level.

 

[SarahDisney]

If it helps at all, I chose to double mask on all of my flights to and from Disney World in both November 2020 and just last week. As you said personal preference and risk tolerance plays a part. I masked up whenever I felt like I should at Disney World. While I was often unmasked outdoors, if I was in close crowds I would more often than not mask up. I understand your concerns. Hopefully you don't come home with an unwanted souvenir.

Thanks for sharing this, it definitely helps to hear that others are being cautious as well! We masked in most places (I was double masked just because I had cute character masks that didn't fit + masks that did fit underneath) and I think that knowing that I was doing the best I could to protect myself helped. Fingers crossed I didn't bring home any unwanted souvenirs ... so far so good on rapid tests, but I'm definitely self-monitoring and will get a PCR if anything feels off.

I felt the same way leading up to Disney World. A lot of stress and I was not in my best mental place when that trip started. It did start to get better once I was in the parks (or really Galaxy's Edge because that's home), but it was not my normal excitement level.

Yeah, I definitely felt better once I was in the parks (also, side note, Galaxy's Edge was amazing!!!!), maybe not 100%, but definitely being in Disneyland makes me feel so much better than anywhere else.

 

[SarahDisney]

Rest Week + What's Next​

I was out of NY for a full week, so I took a full rest week. Got plenty of time on my feet in the parks, although, as we said several times during the trip, "things at the Disneyland Resort are closer than they appear." Especially when we used the private entrance into California Adventure (seriously it was probably less than 5 minutes from the hotel to the park).

The trip was amazing and felt like coming home. I didn't want to leave. I didn't buy nearly enough stuff. I want to go back. And that's all I'm gonna say (although I will try to remember to attach a picture or two to this post).

Now that the trip is over, it's time to officially start training for the NYC Half (March 20th). I'm not convinced that I'm in a great mental space for training. I'm hoping that making a plan is the first step and that if I have a plan I will stick to it.

Here are the bones of the training plan, which is still a WIP:
8 week plan - alternating 2 run and 3 run weeks
2 run weeks (odd # weeks): 3 + 5 mile runs (maybe one being a tempo run?), 2-3 barre3 classes, 1-2 walks
3 run weeks (even # weeks): 3, 5 mile runs + long run (starting at 8 mi and going up 1 mi each week, topping off at 10 mi), 2 barre3 classes, 1 walk

This is very low mileage and probably not really the best possible plan, but I think it will work and hopefully not burn me out. Stay tuned.
Goals for the race:
1 - Finish
2 - Sub-3:00
1 should be manageable, 2 will probably happen if I train but we will see.

Forgot to add these before:

 

[SarahDisney]

Note to Sarah: Never poke your head out of your hole. It's always a bad idea.