Ariel484
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2011
- Messages
- 11,911
Hi DIS friends! Are you ready to run?
The main cast for this report is me, Shannon, and my husband Will. This picture is from Marathon Weekend in 2013!
We were joined by my 3 BFFs and their husbands (and one of their kiddos!).
Why were we all in Walt Disney World on this weekend in January? Well, one of my friends, her husband and her kiddo live there. So that's a given. Besides visiting them, the big pull for the rest of us was Marathon Weekend! Five of us were signed up for events...one was running the half marathon (her first time running this race!), three were running the marathon (the first time for all of them!), and I was in for the Dopey Challenge (the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon).
I documented my training for this weekend here on the DISboards! I had big, big plans for getting ready for this weekend. I am a pretty OCD-level planner, especially when it comes to getting ready for races, and I'd had my training schedule laid out for a year in anticipation for this weekend - all neatly organized in a Google Doc. In 2013 I did the Goofy Challenge (half marathon + marathon) as well as the WDW 5K (the Dopey Challenge and WDW 10K did not exist yet), and leading up to that I had this almost perfect training cycle where I missed one run and cut another short over the course of 16 weeks. I was really hoping to repeat that this year!
Then I got injured during a race at home in September and sat out the first 3 weeks of training (freak IT Band + foot straining incident). Because of this my training was messed up before it began, so I scrapped the original plan I had and started from scratch. Then I rolled my left ankle right before the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, which thankfully didn't result in injury...but it did give me a slight heart attack. A few weeks later I rolled my right ankle, which again, didnt result in injury, but did do things to my blood pressure. Then I got a blister...you get the idea.
I almost never hurt myself running, and suddenly I was just having a string of bad luck. Ugh!
In general I stuck to the post-injury plan I laid out as best I could, along with adding in some core and yoga classes, but a repeat of that awesome training I'd had a couple of years ago just wasnt in the cards this time. Now I realize how rare that really was. Woof.
So going into this race weekend I was not quite as confident as I was in 2013. Really I was hoping that the training I HAD managed to get in, along with knowledge that I had done it before (which was HUGE for me) and the consistency I'd had all year in running, core and yoga before the injuries happened, would be enough to get me through.
Are ya ready? I'm ready. Let's go!
The main cast for this report is me, Shannon, and my husband Will. This picture is from Marathon Weekend in 2013!
We were joined by my 3 BFFs and their husbands (and one of their kiddos!).
Why were we all in Walt Disney World on this weekend in January? Well, one of my friends, her husband and her kiddo live there. So that's a given. Besides visiting them, the big pull for the rest of us was Marathon Weekend! Five of us were signed up for events...one was running the half marathon (her first time running this race!), three were running the marathon (the first time for all of them!), and I was in for the Dopey Challenge (the 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon).
I documented my training for this weekend here on the DISboards! I had big, big plans for getting ready for this weekend. I am a pretty OCD-level planner, especially when it comes to getting ready for races, and I'd had my training schedule laid out for a year in anticipation for this weekend - all neatly organized in a Google Doc. In 2013 I did the Goofy Challenge (half marathon + marathon) as well as the WDW 5K (the Dopey Challenge and WDW 10K did not exist yet), and leading up to that I had this almost perfect training cycle where I missed one run and cut another short over the course of 16 weeks. I was really hoping to repeat that this year!
Then I got injured during a race at home in September and sat out the first 3 weeks of training (freak IT Band + foot straining incident). Because of this my training was messed up before it began, so I scrapped the original plan I had and started from scratch. Then I rolled my left ankle right before the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, which thankfully didn't result in injury...but it did give me a slight heart attack. A few weeks later I rolled my right ankle, which again, didnt result in injury, but did do things to my blood pressure. Then I got a blister...you get the idea.
I almost never hurt myself running, and suddenly I was just having a string of bad luck. Ugh! In general I stuck to the post-injury plan I laid out as best I could, along with adding in some core and yoga classes, but a repeat of that awesome training I'd had a couple of years ago just wasnt in the cards this time. Now I realize how rare that really was. Woof.
So going into this race weekend I was not quite as confident as I was in 2013. Really I was hoping that the training I HAD managed to get in, along with knowledge that I had done it before (which was HUGE for me) and the consistency I'd had all year in running, core and yoga before the injuries happened, would be enough to get me through.
Are ya ready? I'm ready. Let's go!
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I can't wait to hear about your trip! 
Can't wait to hear about your experience and see all your pics!!!
So with that in mind, we left home that morning about 20 minutes earlier than we'd originally planned. The drive wasn't too bad - normally it takes us 30 minutes, today it was more like 40. Just really slow going, but luckily there weren't a lot of cars on the road that early and we didn't get delayed by any accidents or anything. 
PRAISE JESUS.
Not bringing that monstrosity freed me up to bring two other things as my carry-ons - one was my Disney Vera backpack, the other was a smaller, carry-on approved rolling suitcase. In here I had all of my race outfits (4 of them) and both pairs of my running shoes, along with some important documentation I'd need at the expo. I definitely was NOT going to leave it up to DME to get the important stuff to me in a timely matter! The suitcase I had checked is a behemothly gigantic thing that had my other miscellaneous packing items (toiletries, etc.) and throwaway clothes to wear at the starting area of the races - convenient since I'd throw them away and have lots of room in my suitcase to lug souvenirs home. 
Thankfully I had some gift cards and an AP discount with me, but still - yikes!!). 
