12 Months of Medals: My 2015 (And Beyond!) Running Challenge

[Keels]

Whew. I escaped mention and the blame for getting you into this adventure.

I'm saving that for the climactic finish.

 

[FFigawi]

Touche

 

[rteetz]

Loving the review/recap! One thing at the expo that surprised me was that many of the shows were still available and there wasn't much of a line at the new balance booth. If and when I do dopey I want to try and get a jacket so I know I'm going to have to be there really early to have a chance.

 

[momabaarjo]

I can't wait to follow along on this adventure...I have dreams of 2018 Dopey! Already writing tips down from you! BTW...I will say it now and I am sure several times before it ends...CONGRATS! AMAZING!

 

[mbwhitti]

I need another update so I can relive the best weekend EVER!!!

 

[Keels]

I need another update so I can relive the best weekend EVER!!!

Until TINKERBELL WEEKEND, of course!!

 

[Keels]

Loving the review/recap! One thing at the expo that surprised me was that many of the shows were still available and there wasn't much of a line at the new balance booth. If and when I do dopey I want to try and get a jacket so I know I'm going to have to be there really early to have a chance.

Yeah, I woke up at the crack of dawn so I could get in line at NB to get shoes - which was kind of pointless, because once I saw them in the cases when you walk in to the Expo, I wasn't interested any longer. But I thought the wait for shoes would be OUT OF CONTROL like it was for the Donald shoes at Disneyland. Who knows?

 

[Keels]

#KeelsDoesDopey: The 5K

So, going in to Dopey I knew that one of (if not the biggest) challenge of the race weekend for me was going to be waking up early. To that effect, on Monday of race week, I started waking up relatively early just to help condition my body to not lash out irrationally when the way-too-early alarm went off. Most days, I would sit outside and read for a bit before going back to sleep like a normal person and waking up again at a reasonable hour. This mostly helped me force myself to go to bed at a normal hour (like by 11 p.m.), since I normally stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. on a normal day.

Anyway. This exercise would prove to be unneeded as every day during Dopey I would wake up, on my own, about 30 minutes before my alarm was to go off.

So, here we were at 3:30 a.m. on the day of the 5K. My husband and Mom, who would be running the 5K with me, were planning to wake up at 4 a.m. so we could be out the door and on our way to EPCOT by 4:45-ish. This will seem incredibly early compared to the rest of the weekend, even considering this race didn't start until 6 a.m. But I wanted to be there and to avoid any traffic, parking issues, security issues, costume issues, anything that could keep me from knocking out the 5K.

Earlier in the week, I had what I can say was my worst Dopey nightmare. I dreamed that I completely missed the 5K altogether - so I would never get to start Dopey in earnest, which ... would be the worst thing in the whole wide world. To lose out on Dopey because of the 5K. However, in my dream after a lot of begging and crying, RunDisney allowed me to complete the 5K leg, but I had to do it Friday AND I had to start and finish the 5K before my corral for the 10K left (I know, I know ... don't ask me why my brain came up with that, but there you go.), and then start and finish the 10K without being swept.

Anyway. So here we are, sitting in the car in the EPCOT parking lot at 5 a.m. At 5:30, we leave the car and head through security (empty) and to our corrals - my husband would be running out of B, my mom would be running out of C and I'm all the way back in E (yay, Dopey Curve!). This was the first 5K for my mom, and she thought about dropping back to run with me - but she also got very nervous that she would mess things up for me (um, no) and decided to stay in C to get a head-start and that maybe I would catch up with her.

It was a little chilly, but I was wearing a top, running skirt, calf sleeves and my favorite lightweight running jacket - I figured I could make the whole 5K with it on, or at worst tied around my waist if I for some reason got way too hot in it.

Everything moved along quickly and about 35 minutes after the start of the race, Corral E was off! I was up towards the front of my corral, so I found it pretty easy to get things moving and drop into a pretty good rhythm.

This was my first "race" since the 10K I ran on Thanksgiving, where I PR'd significantly, and it was weird but I seemed to pick up right where I left off on that race. Of course, I was ready to take my jacket off around .5 in to the race, so I pulled it off, tied it around my waist and motored on ... catching up with the back of the Corral D pack shortly after that. I was a little shocked when I reached the Mile 1 marker, because this is one of the fastest miles I'd run in a while ... clearly, I was ready to be out in a race situation. I think at one point I texted @FFigawi and said that I "felt like Secretariat" - who says that ever? We went around the back of Test Track and then in to the World Showcase and I was still cruising. At that point, my Garmin watch was blowing up with Pace Alerts and I knew that it was time for me to take it down a notch - there were a lot more miles to run this weekend and I didn't want to mess anything up in the 5K that would hinder my performance for the rest of the weekend.

So, I stopped for selfies all over the World Showcase, responded to text messages from friends that were curious about how Dopey Day 1 was going and then next thing you know, it's the finish line. I collected my cuuuuuute Pluto medal and took my finisher photo, walked through the empty Dopey tent, grabbed three Powerades (yes, I LOVE yellow Powerade), skipped the snack boxes and bananas and then met up with my mom and Husband.

My Mom was excited that I didn't catch up with her (she finished about three minutes ahead of me), and now is really looking forward to the 5K over Princess Weekend! My husband? Well, he was just ready for food and to go back to bed.

A quick stop at Denny's for a post-race grilled cheese and then it was back to the house for a shower and a nap. Nothing else exciting that day, except for my normal pre-race ritual ... a pedicure and long leg massage! Also, there may have been wine involved.

Dopey Day 1 was in the books!



I feel asleep around 11 p.m. that night, but not before repeatedly checking the weather and prepping for what would come the next day.

Up Next: The 10K

 

[rteetz]

Having to use Disney transportation I got up at 3:15 I believe. I did the same thing though and woke up before my alarm even went off. This was my first Disney 5k but I have done plenty of other ones in the past. It seems like you had a good time. I was in corral B with my sister and with about 3-4 character stops we finished in relatively good time I thought. I'm usually a night owl but I had to go to bed around 9:30-10 so I would get enough sleep before waking up. Can't wait to hear about the 10K I didn't run that one this year but did last year and enjoyed the course a lot.

 

[Keels]

Having to use Disney transportation I got up at 3:15 I believe. I did the same thing though and woke up before my alarm even went off. This was my first Disney 5k but I have done plenty of other ones in the past. It seems like you had a good time. I was in corral B with my sister and with about 3-4 character stops we finished in relatively good time I thought. I'm usually a night owl but I had to go to bed around 9:30-10 so I would get enough sleep before waking up. Can't wait to hear about the 10K I didn't run that one this year but did last year and enjoyed the course a lot.

Oh, that was by far the earliest I woke up AND left the house over the whole weekend. I think for Half and Full day, we didn't even park and start the walk to the corrals until 5:15.

 

[mbwhitti]

What, no banana?!? It's your fave!

 

[SarahDisney]

You for sure passed me early in the race (possibly while I was waiting on a character line) - I can't believe I didn't think to look for you! It probably would have been really weird if I had just screamed "Keels!!!" as you were running by, but it still would have been cool if I had seen you. I guess I'll just have to wait until you're up here in a few months for the NYC Half to see you running (seriously ... I'm planning to go into the city to cheer for you, so let me know if there's a specific place you want me to be).

Also, how can you not take the free banana? Isn't that the whole point of running the race - to get the banana? (Well, that and the beer, but they make you pay for the beer)

 

[Keels]

What, no banana?!? It's your fave!

I TOOK THE BANANA AFTER THE 10K!!!!!

You for sure passed me early in the race (possibly while I was waiting on a character line) - I can't believe I didn't think to look for you! It probably would have been really weird if I had just screamed "Keels!!!" as you were running by, but it still would have been cool if I had seen you. I guess I'll just have to wait until you're up here in a few months for the NYC Half to see you running (seriously ... I'm planning to go into the city to cheer for you, so let me know if there's a specific place you want me to be).

Also, how can you not take the free banana? Isn't that the whole point of running the race - to get the banana? (Well, that and the beer, but they make you pay for the beer)

Ugh. I'm still so pissed at myself for not getting your attention in the corrals during the 10K. I AM THE WORST. I blame the rain.

** BANANA SPOILER ALERT **

The banana at Mile 19 of the Full was (at that point in the day) the best thing I'd ever consumed in my entire life. I'm pretty sure @mbwhitti looked back at me, did the "W-T-F are you doing?" hands and I started doing a dance holding a half-consumed banana up in the air.

 

[SarahDisney]

Ugh. I'm still so pissed at myself for not getting your attention in the corrals during the 10K. I AM THE WORST. I blame the rain.

Truth ... even if you had tried to get my attention, I probably wouldn't have noticed. I was too focused on the rain to think about anything else that morning. Someone could have offered me a million dollars and free entry to every runDisney race and I wouldn't have noticed.
I had every intention of trying to hunt you down that morning, but that was before the rain. The rain really was the worst.

 

[Keels]

Truth ... even if you had tried to get my attention, I probably wouldn't have noticed. I was too focused on the rain to think about anything else that morning. Someone could have offered me a million dollars and free entry to every runDisney race and I wouldn't have noticed.
I had every intention of trying to hunt you down that morning, but that was before the rain. The rain really was the worst.

My blisters on blisters on blisters from that race agree with you. And I even BodyGlided AND Vaselined my feet!

 

[margitmouse]

So glad you are back posting here! As with others I've been waiting to hear your report!

Sinc

My blisters on blisters on blisters from that race agree with you. And I even BodyGlided AND Vaselined my feet!

since this race, have you learned of any other blister blocking tips beside Vaseline and body glide you can pass on?

Also, how is the tendon in your toe?!!

 

[Keels]

since this race, have you learned of any other blister blocking tips beside Vaseline and body glide you can pass on?

Also, how is the tendon in your toe?!!

Well, before the rainy 10k, I coated my feet in BodyGlide AND Vaseline and I still blistered out pretty badly. I'd blame my socks (I run in Feetures), but I've NEVER had problems with them. So, I'll just chalk the whole thing up to being on my feet too much and a bad run-in with some rain. I also ONLY blistered on my right foot, not my left, so I'm sure how I lace my shoes has something to do with that as well.

But once you get them, Band-Aid makes some blister bandaids that are PRETTY legit. I just wish I had basically covered my entire foot in them.

Tendon is pretty much status quo - I only feel a little nagging "something" on rare occasions, but it hasn't really stopped me from doing anything. It certainly doesn't hurt when I can feel it, it just feels weird - like I've got a piece of tape or something stuck to the bottom of my foot. Which, all things considered is probably the best-case scenario.

 

[Keels]

Sad Life Update

So, back on Wednesday (Expo Day!) of Dopey, I received a text from the wife of one of my husband's VERY best friends (he was a Groomsman in our wedding, and a friend of J's since freshman year in college). He'd been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer about 14 months prior but was given an VERY optimistic outlook from MD Anderson, and from all our visits prior to the holidays he seemed to have been responding well to the very aggressive surgical, chemo and radiation plan. They had just taken a trip to Colorado, followed by a trip to New York (Brooklyn, specifically), with their two young children over the holidays.

But the message I received from the wife-friend was something I was not prepared for - our friend had moved to hospice and she was giving a 10-day window for friends to come in to see him. A week after Expo Day (another Wednesday), my sweet friend and his band played his "living Wake". My husband got on a flight from Orlando back to Texas and spent the weekend with him (one week post-Dopey).

Sadly, our friend passed away early Monday morning. We spent the weekend in Austin for the funeral and to help his wife and family.

This just hits me so hard. Mike was one of the most brilliant writers I've ever encountered. He LIVED through 9/11 when he thought that members of his band (he was living in Brooklyn at the time) were in the second tower and were gone. He won a Pulitzer Prize for the "Portraits of Grief" series that the New York Times produced following 9/11, he wrote books that affected legislative change, he did all these amazing things.

If there was a writer that could capture what exactly happens when you die, when you cross over, when you leave the planet, when you pass ... it would be Brick. I feel like he's so full of words and things he wants to tell us about what happens when you take your last breath, and now he's just pacing and waiting to tell all of us about it.

I'm just so, so, so sad. I feel a little bit lost as well, but mostly just sad. I think about what would happen if I were to lose my husband - they married before we did, and his wife was pregnant with their first child at our wedding nine years ago. I'm pretty sure I would just fall apart, and possibly die too. But his wife ... she's just been an absolute education in what "strength" is.

Here is the obituary, for those curious.

 

[rteetz]

I'm sorry for your loss. Things like that are never easy. My grandma has pancreatic cancer currently and is battling but of course the outlook isn't great. She had breast cancer over a decade ago and beat that so there is always hope. It's sounds like he accomplished a lot in his life despite being gone too early.

 

[SarahDisney]

I saw an obituary for him in the NY Times last week ... it sounds like he was a great journalist and a great person.

I'm so sorry for your loss.