The Running Thread - 2019

Attqotd: worst? Probably my 3 DNS in the past three years at Disney races. Last year(star wars)-baby, two years ago(superheroes)-injured piece of ****, three years ago(W&D)-divorce.

Best-1st in age group at a 5k on MV. Only happened because I was the only one in my age group which at the time was 26-30. Don’t remember the time off hand but was pretty happy considering my overall size.
 
QOTD: Do you think that to put ourselves through the training and other activities that as a whole we as runners are a little crazy? What is something you do during training periods that friends/family comment about that they cant believe you are doing?

ATTQOTD: YES! But it's a healthy type of crazy obsession lol. The one comment I always heard was, wait your going to bed before 10 on a Friday to wake up before 5AM on a Saturday to run "x" miles? My response it well I can't exactly drink beer all night, wake up early and expect to have a decent long run after putting my body through something like that. They are also confused why I do things like that for a race that more than 10 weeks away lol.
 
Thanks all. I know it wasn’t the wisest decision physically. When I get an idea in my head and I am motivated, I am fixated on doing it.

I wanted to post my splits:

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I feel like I had a 3:05-3:10 in me that day. The course is very hilly but the big hills are in the first 9 miles. You can fly downhill after that. The downhill seemed to hurt the most on Sunday. When I gave up my race, my goal was a combo walk/run of 10 minute miles. That lasted until mile 16 when I had to mentally pep talk myself to do 10 more miles.

You can call it bad-a$$, dumb-a$$, or just stupid and crazy. So many adjectives apply. The next time any of my kids complain about a task being too hard, “Remember that time I ran a marathon on a broken leg?”

Now I am off to the gym to build some upper body strength. These crutches are killing me.
 
I'm not completely sure where my time fit into all the races I have run, but I do know my fastest races compared to the slowest ones.

Fastest Half is the 2018 Giant Race. Ironically enough this was perhaps my most difficult race also. I can't quite believe I set my PR as mentally challenging that day was.
Slowest Half is the 2019 Walt Disney World Half Marathon, which more or less went according to plan. Interestingly enough, I finished the marathon the next day in less time than double my half marathon time from the day before.

Fastest 10K is the 2015 Star Wars The Light Side 10K at Disneyland. My first 10K after 3 Half Marathons. Still my fastest, likely because I have since learned how much time I have to play with before needing to fear the sweep.
Slowest 10K is the 2019 Walt Disney World 10K. Days after coming off a cold and heading into Dopey, I chose to take lots of pictures and only worry about time if they told me to. Turned out I never needed to, but for perspective, my fastest Disney Half with photos is an hour slower than my slowest Disney 10K with photos.

Fastest 5K is the 2019 Walt Disney World 5K. See the 2019 Walt Disney World 10K with more pictures and making sure I reserved my strength for the Goofy portion of Dopey.
Slowest 5K is the 2018 Star Wars The Dark Side 5K. I've only run two 5Ks ever, both at Disney, but Star Wars means more picture stops for me.

I'm of the firm belief that Chip and Dale make every single race they appear in better simply because they're awesome. I finished my first half marathon ever getting a high five from them shortly before crossing the finish line, my first multi race challenge with a high five from them dressed as Ewoks, and finished my first marathon ever with another high five from the chipmunks before crossing the finish line.

I love this sentiment for the following reason. My very first half marathon began to get really difficult to the point of feeling like I had shin splints roughly half a mile into the race. Honestly, if I had known that I would get the medal simply by signing up and starting, I probably would have ended my running life right then and there. But the truth of the matter is that every great opportunity/dream fulfillment/memorable opportunity in running has come since that point. I look back at everything I would have missed out on if I had quit right there and concluded that running just isn't for me. So I love reading race recaps where the runner pushed through the difficulties because those are truly inspiring. In a sense, they're more inspiring than the race where everything went perfect.

For me this is the moment that I can't quite articulate to friends and family when they express surprise that I'm doing it again. I worked hard to stay optimistic that I would finish so as to keep my brain in the proper state when the marathon got difficult. It helped sustain me during those last few challenging miles, but I don't think I will hear "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from Mary Poppins the same way ever again because that was when I knew it was real.

If you need to, renting a wheelchair may be the answer. My mom has dealt with foot problems her entire life, and when she realized that she would be unable to walk around Disney World, we rented a wheelchair for her and it saved the vacation and enabled her to enjoy the parks without the severe pain she always tolerated for us kids.

Regular wheelchair or scooter? There is NO WAY I can do this on crutches.
 


For Mothers Day weekend we have the following folks with races:

10 - @tigger536 - Ragnar Cape Cod (NG / N/A)
11 - @PJofNB - Fredericton Marathon Weekend 3k (NG / N/A)
11 - @Neon Cactus - Universal Studios 5k (NG / N/A)
11 - @KevM - Gino's Jog 10K (NG / N/A)
11 - @michigandergirl - Amway River Bank Run 25k (2:33:00 / N/A)
11 - @Baloo in MI - Amway River Bank Run 25k (NG / N/A)
12 - PJofNB - Fredericton Half Marathon (1:44:59 / N/A)

Best of luck this weekend to our runners! Hope you have a great race and we look forward to hearing about how it goes.
 
@Wendy98, for the vacation and cruise check out those one leg up scooter things that more people seem to be using with lower leg issues instead of crutches. There were people using them on my last cruise. They are smaller than a wheelchair and give you better maneuverability, and since you are moving it there are no worries about being pushed into someone.
 


QOTD: Do you think that to put ourselves through the training and other activities that as a whole we as runners are a little crazy? What is something you do during training periods that friends/family comment about that they cant believe you are doing?
I don’t see it as different than any other sport. All sports require training and work. Without it you won’t succeed very well.

I don’t necessarily do anything crazy during training. Many just think I’m just for attempting a marathon or dopey.
 
ATTQOTD: The only times that I have been told what I am doing is crazy is when I have brought up Dopey or Goofy. I get it because it used to seem crazy to me too when I first started running. I started prefacing conversations about it by saying I know its crazy but its cool because there are thousands of people just like me so at least I'm in good company.
 
Regular wheelchair or scooter? There is NO WAY I can do this on crutches.
This was back in 1994 so we rented a wheelchair every day in the parks for the week. It wound up working so well that my parents eventually bought a wheelchair for use at Disney and now when they go on cruises. My mom can go for about an hour or two on her feet before the pain kicks in and essentially sidelines her.
 
ATTQOTD: Yep, certainly a little crazy. I have had coworkers comment on some of the things like running in the rain, running when it is below freezing, running when it is over 100. This morning I call myself crazy for having a Skunk pace me for about 10 yards this morning when it was wanting to cross the street in front of me and being mad at myself because it caused me to have my slowest 200m interval and my watch beeping at me for being too slow!!!
 
QOTD: Do you think that to put ourselves through the training and other activities that as a whole we as runners are a little crazy? What is something you do during training periods that friends/family comment about that they cant believe you are doing?
ATTQOTD: I hear it CONSTANTLY at work, where I'm the only runner. The two main things that apparently strike people as "crazy" are that I run more than a mile at a time, and that I run during summer here in FL. Me, I don't think of it as "crazy" at all. Certainly no crazier than kayaking, or cycling, or gardening, or playing video games, or any other hobbies other people like to do for hours at a time, but I don't personally enjoy.
 
QOTD: I had a random thought while I was driving to work this morning that I thought would make for a interesting question. What is the highest and lowest overall finish placement you have had during any race?

I generally fall at the 50% mark for 5Ks, for which there are walkers to skew the same pace better than in the 10Ks. My worst placement was last weekend being 127/140 (91%). My mile times are improving, but I guess the races are getting more competitive as my % of the field seems to be getting worse.

Worst percentile is probably WDW Half this year 69%. But I had to make that extra stop for the chipmunks :)

The rodent stop was SOOOO LONG! It was my first half marathon and I really don't think the time is reasonable to consider as a race time I spent so much time in photo lines!

@TheHamm
My kids are 5,5,6, and 8 and they have been doing 5k runs with us for at least two years with no strollers. They can now do them in about 46 minutes. I’m pretty sure before each race they secretly decide who will complain that day, because each time it’s someone different who acts like they are being tortured. But they all get excited about the races - each winter they decorate matching shirts that they wear to each race (because the chance of us losing a kid is near 100%, and this helps people send them back to the right family).
I love the idea of a family shirt. There were 200 kids running the kids mile in the school colors, it was impossible to keep track of them! Also, my kids are in the same age, so that is helpful information.


QOTD: Do you think that to put ourselves through the training and other activities that as a whole we as runners are a little crazy? What is something you do during training periods that friends/family comment about that they cant believe you are doing?
This sentiment of runners being a bit off is part of why I wince when people ask if I run. The one thing I do that would elicit comments from other people is get up early to run. In general, I get more comments about my vacationing and parenting than running so maybe I am not doing it right.
 
The rodent stop was SOOOO LONG! It was my first half marathon and I really don't think the time is reasonable to consider as a race time I spent so much time in photo lines!

I know! You can count it as a Disney PR. I figured the only other place I'd even seen the girl chipmunk was in Tokyo and stopping for longer than I wanted was going to be better than booking an expensive trip to Japan. :)
Looking back we should have gone "all in" on our long finish time and added even more pic stops leading up to it.
 
QOTD: Do you think that to put ourselves through the training and other activities that as a whole we as runners are a little crazy? What is something you do during training periods that friends/family comment about that they cant believe you are doing?
ATTQOTD: I think being a runner is no different than any other form of exercise that everyone should be doing every week. Going out running every day or several times a week is no different than going to the gym daily or several times a week. I think when we get into running and training for long distance races (half marathon and beyond) is where some of the stuff we do could be considered a bit crazy. Certainly telling people I am doing the Goofy or Dopey challenge or doing a 20 mile training run will raise some eyebrows.
 
ATTQOTD: I had to take off work once in order to fit in a long run that week. People thought I was crazy to use vacation time to run 17 miles.

Speaking of using vacation time for off things. I worked second shift as a inspector (NDE) and was also taking a few college courses to get my GPA up and get a degree. I would have to use vacation time during finals to go take the final since the times of the class and final were not always the same.
I've also taken a vacation day once for a training run. I had a bachelor party for my BIL and I knew theres no way I was getting 20 miles in, ina city I did not know well after being out that late. So ran 20 miles that morning waking up at 4:30 AM and went to bed Saturday morning around 4:00 AM. BIL was impressed with both lol.
 
ATTQOTD: Everyone I know has commented that me tucking my daughter into bed then going to the gym and starting an hour to 90 min workout at 9pm is insane. And they are right. But some people wake up at 4am. And I think those people are crazy.
Other things people have said are nuts...running on vacation & running being a vacation.

P.S. I need a lot of voodoo or pixie dust or rain dances today. My stupid cold that I thought was going away is showing back up right as the weather is getting better. Kind of want it to go away.
 

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